Fic: Odd Man For Hire (original)
I let the dice choose the title! This is written for the writerverse An adjective, a noun, and a prepositional phrase walk into a bar... challenge.
Title Chosen: Odd Man For Hire
Word Count: 350
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): none
Summary: She had no where else to turn when she saw the ad in the newspaper.
She laughed the first time she saw the ad in the paper. It seemed out of place even though it was the same format as all the others. If anything, the simplicity made it stand out.
Odd Man For Hire
All Jobs Taken
Reasonable Rates
Can Start Immediately
There was a phone number listed on the ad that she’d dialing before even thinking through the ramifications of what she needed done. Her mother’s house was old and it seemed a shame to call in a licensed handyman when the structure was sure to be torn down within a few years. Not before she died, of course, but soon after. None of her siblings wanted to take responsibility for the family homestead. It was ramshackled when they were growing up; now it could barely withstand a stiff wind.
He met her on the front porch within the hour, his tools in a leather bag slung over his back. “What can I do for you?”
There was no talk of money or how long he thought it would take him to do the job. He merely went to work, whistling the entire time. Even though she’d never made any in her entire life, she looked up how to make lemonade from scratch. He seemed the sort that would like that sort of thing. His appreciative lip-smacking was thanks enough but he made sure to say the words several times.
“What is that you do?”
He looked up at the roof that he’d been patching. “I’m an odd man. Seemed appropriate that I do odd jobs. It fills up my time.”
When she tried to ask him more specific questions, he demurred and went back to work, his head down and a slight frown marring his expression. As the sky darkened, she tried to talk to him about payment but he refused. “I’ll be back tomorrow. And the next. When the job is finished, you and I can discuss payment.”
It wasn’t how the world worked but she figured that an odd man would work on an odd time schedule. Who was she to argue?
Title Chosen: Odd Man For Hire
Word Count: 350
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): none
Summary: She had no where else to turn when she saw the ad in the newspaper.
She laughed the first time she saw the ad in the paper. It seemed out of place even though it was the same format as all the others. If anything, the simplicity made it stand out.
Odd Man For Hire
All Jobs Taken
Reasonable Rates
Can Start Immediately
There was a phone number listed on the ad that she’d dialing before even thinking through the ramifications of what she needed done. Her mother’s house was old and it seemed a shame to call in a licensed handyman when the structure was sure to be torn down within a few years. Not before she died, of course, but soon after. None of her siblings wanted to take responsibility for the family homestead. It was ramshackled when they were growing up; now it could barely withstand a stiff wind.
He met her on the front porch within the hour, his tools in a leather bag slung over his back. “What can I do for you?”
There was no talk of money or how long he thought it would take him to do the job. He merely went to work, whistling the entire time. Even though she’d never made any in her entire life, she looked up how to make lemonade from scratch. He seemed the sort that would like that sort of thing. His appreciative lip-smacking was thanks enough but he made sure to say the words several times.
“What is that you do?”
He looked up at the roof that he’d been patching. “I’m an odd man. Seemed appropriate that I do odd jobs. It fills up my time.”
When she tried to ask him more specific questions, he demurred and went back to work, his head down and a slight frown marring his expression. As the sky darkened, she tried to talk to him about payment but he refused. “I’ll be back tomorrow. And the next. When the job is finished, you and I can discuss payment.”
It wasn’t how the world worked but she figured that an odd man would work on an odd time schedule. Who was she to argue?