| "The List" (the ninth ACW monthly writing contest) |
Assignment: Write a story or poem using the following title: "The List" 2500 words or less. Deadline: May 15, 2002 |
| The List by H.J. Lazarus lazdom@ono.com (Entry #4) |
| ~Winning Entry~ |
| In first throes, I would have said
You forgive me .....• my brown eyes and .....• uneven smile .....• my wide hips and .....• rebellious hair all divulged in secret pages of curly-cue pink lock and key with a stolen lipstick kiss. With steamy permanence, I would say You love me despite .....• my reckless indecision and .....• tidal needs .....• my sharp starts and .....• slow returns shared behind the opaque curtain of smoke and sweet coffee steam on summer day sticky sheets. But now, resting your smooth head on my belly, soft from birth and years, I say You cherish me for .....• my endless transgressions .....• and banal idiosyncrasies .....• my reluctant humility and .....• weathered compassion Both of us wrinkled and naked, awash in our sea of imperfections fitting safely together within each other elbows and all. |
| The List by Erica Rich ekrich@uswest.net (Entry #3) |
| ~Runner
Up~ |
| The list goes on and on An endless section of my mind Words scribbled onto burnt paper Names strewn across the walls All of them written in blood The blood of mortals Tainted souls chained to the walls The list is endless Names no one can remember Or even tries Across ships they came Names no one could pronounce Frightened things that noone cared to recognize as People List of names List of souls That no one remembers That no one wrote down The list is endless Written and Rewritten Over centuries of pain and torture Most names were forgotten Many were never on the list to begin with Faceless prisoners of a thriving economy Their ancestors still fighting for the names Fighting for their familys’ names All contained on The List. |
Here are all the entries, posted in the order they were received.
| The List By Loretta A. Stradley LORETTA.STRADLEY@DFAS.MIL |
#1 of 5 |
| Saturday started like any other Saturday. I slept till
seven, got dressed, drank my coffee, and ate the breakfast that my husband
made. "After you drop me off at work, you need to go to Klemm's and get some potato sausages. We need milk too." He said. "I want to get some flowers to put out in the yard." I said. "That's fine dear but make sure to get the sausages first before they close. They close early on the weekend." He said. I got out a piece of paper and a pen to make a list. I knew he would want me to do some things while he was at work. We both hated it that he worked Saturdays because we didn't get to do things together as much. His job was from twelve in the afternoon to eight thirty at night Monday through Thursday with Friday off while I work Monday through Friday from six in the morning to three in the afternoon. Needless to say Sunday was our time to be together so we wanted all chores and errands done before then. What he couldn't get done before he went to work I did. After I got dressed I took him to work. Waving to his co-workers who were outside smoking I drove off to begin my day hardly imagining the way it was going to turn out. I was expecting a letter that was to be delivered registered mail so I went home first. Sipping a cup of coffee I watched the ducks on the pond. It was going to be a beautiful day by the looks of the sky. I loved spring when it started getting warmer and lighter. The doorbell rang, which made my cat go nuts. He hated that doorbell. I have considered replacing the bell with another but haven't gotten around to it yet. It is on my other list of "Things-To-Do". After signing for the letter I thanked the postman and shut the door. I put the letter on the desk in our office and then left the house. According to my list I had to go to Lowe's to get a flat of flowers. Lowe's didn't have flats but they did have some lovely Lilly-of-the-Valley so I bought a few of those. We just bought the house and the yard, though landscaped, needed flowers. I also bought a magazine on gardening. I wanted to make a raised flowerbed for the front yard. Next on the list was Frank's Nursery. I needed some potting soil and wanted to take a look at their hanging baskets. The front porch was missing something and I thought a hanging basket would just do the trick. I went outside to the hothouse. I love hothouses because the humidity level is nice. And the smell of all the different flowers waft about. I didn't notice the man until he bumped into me. I was too busy trying to decide which bunch of what colors would look good together. "Excuse me." I said. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." "Where's the list. You got the list?" the man said. "Pardon me?" "Give me the list." He said. I was so shocked by his tone and manner that I handed him my folded list. Why he would want my list I have no idea, but that is why I forgot the milk. He took the paper and quickly left. I picked up my flat of pansies and the hanging basket and put them in the cart. I quickly went to the check out keeping my eyes open and looking around the store. I didn't see him anywhere but I was spooked now and wanted to get out of there. I took my purchases home and made sure the doors were locked. I didn't think I had been followed but I was still jumpy from my encounter with the list man and wasn't taking any chances. I then left for the German butcher shop to get the potato sausages. It was an old establishment downtown. I kept looking in the rearview mirror expecting to see a black sedan with tinted windows following me. Too many spy movies I guess, but that guy scared me. I hardly noticed the trees that were all leafing out or the pretty lawns in front of the houses I passed. I was too preoccupied with men in black and double oh seven type people. I parked in the parking lot next to the shop. There were only one or two cars in it and no black sedans with tinted windows. There was a panel van across the street but I paid it no mind. Entering the small store I saw a meat counter with two women behind it. It was a very small place and not much room. A man was ordering some sausages and meats of various types. He had a slight German accent to his voice and was very stern. He glowered at me when I came in and but I just stared back. One woman asked me for my order and I said, "I need some potato sausages. How much are they?" The man continued to glare at me and paid for his purchases. He then left with one more look at me. I don't know what he was thinking but by the look he gave me it couldn't have been pleasant. I paid for my potato sausages and the kielbasa I decided to get. I left the store and went to my car. The van was still across the street but now there was another one. They looked innocent enough but my instincts were screaming "DANGER". I qot in my car and locked the doors. After turning onto the street I headed for the highway. I lived in the north part of the city while the store was actually downtown. It would take me about thirty minutes to get home. Long way to go for sausages I know but they were well worth the extra miles. I glanced in the mirror to see if I was followed. There wasn't much traffic at the time so the sedan was easy to spot. It didn't have tinted windows but I wish it did. The man from the nursery was in the passenger side while the man from the butcher shop was driving. In a panic now I sped up. I didn't know what I was going to do but I didn't want to take them to my place. I got my cell phone out of the glove box and called my husband at work. "Yes dear?" he said. "I know you are never going to believe this but I am being followed." "What do you mean you are being followed? Who is following you?" he said. "I don't know who they are but earlier some guy took my list and there was another man in Klemm's and two vans were across the street." I said. "Across the street from the house?" "No, no, across the street from Klemm's store. Where I got the potato sausages." I said. "What man who took what list?" "Some guy at Frank's demanded I hand over my list. I have no idea why but I gave it to him. He was scary." I said. There was a pause and then he said, "Are you sure you aren't making this up?" "Of course I am not making this up. Why would I make something like this up?" I said. I glanced in the mirror again and now the two vans were behind me. They each were in different lanes and stayed behind the sedan but I knew they were the same ones. "Now the vans are following me." I said. There was another pause. Then he said, "Where are you?" "I am on four sixty five going north. I just passed the Meridian Street exit." "Get off at the next exit and go to the nearest police station. I am going to call them right now." He said. "Okay!" I said. I hung up the phone and threw it on the passenger seat. I kept watch on the vans and the sedan but they kept their distance. I got off at the exit and found the police station. After parking the car in front I ran inside to the first police officer I saw and hysterically explained what was going on. The officer sat me on a bench in the waiting room and told me that he would send someone to see me. A policewoman came out and walked over to me. She introduced herself and asked me what was going on. I quickly explained the whole thing and we both walked out the front doors to see if I had been followed to the station. There wasn't a thing out of place. No vans or sedans to be seen! We went back to her office and after getting me a Pepsi she took down my information. I don't think she quite believed me but she was polite anyway. She had two police cars follow me home and I didn't see the vans or the sedan. The police waited till I got in the house then left after saying that they would be in and out of the neighborhood patrolling. I put my sausages in the fridge and then sat down on the sofa. My cats came and lay next to me but I was jumpy as hell. When the phone rang I almost had a heart attack. "Hello?" I said. "Mrs. Davis? This is Detective Dodge here. I was given your report because I have been working on a case involving illegal drugs. I wanted to give you a call to tell you that because of your experience today we were able to arrest a major gang of drug dealers. The vans you saw today were police vans following that black sedan. The man who talked to you at the nursery is a drug dealer. The top dog in the city!" I listened in disbelief as he recounted the rest of the story. It seems I became mixed up in some kind of deal accidentally. The man mistook me for a contact he needed to make and the list was a list of names and places. It was the biggest gang in the Midwest, I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But with my help they were able to catch the man who headed the outfit, and the whole network, when he went to Klemm's based on my list. He assured me that they had caught the whole gang and there wasn't anything to worry about. He also thanked me for helping out even though I was an unwitting police accomplice. When my husband got home later that night I told him everything the police detective had said. That was when he asked me what happened to the milk. I had forgotten to get milk because it was on the list the man had taken from me. What a way to spend a Saturday! © 2002 |
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| The List by Charles Langley talespin@netacc.net |
#2 of 5 |
| The Pulitzer Prize Committee was in an uproar. Hattie
Hamilbrod had lost her list. Without the list of criteria for good writing, she
couldn't possibly select a book for this year's prize. "Can't you just read the books and decide what you like?" Greta Grenal wanted to know. "Impossible. You can't call a book great literature just because you like it. Or just because the Prize Committee likes it. Or the public (she made a wry face) likes it. There are rules and regulations that apply to such things. The last time they went just on enjoyment and instinct was 1954 when they picked that bull-fighter, Ernest Hammerstein." "Hemingway," Jose Esteban offered. "Whatever. I knew all along he had no talent. "For Whom the Bull Toils." Hopelessly maudlin. When that editor shot him it proved my point." "It was 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'. From John Donne's poem. And you have the shooting story all wrong." "Whatever. Another time without a list, 1955. they picked that fugitive from a cornfield,. Falconer or Fulchrum or something. "Faulkner," Giannino Romano corrected. "Yeah, Gerald Faulkner." "William Faulkner," Tami Morrison said. "Yeah, William Faulkner. His stuff was so dense he couldn't read it himself without a helper of two of bourbon. He couldn't even spell his name right two times in a row. You people excuse me for a minute. I'll be right back." She stood and went out the door. The Chairman of the committee rose, retrieved a paper he had been sitting on, shaped it into a paper airplane and sailed it out the open window. "I sure wonder what happened to her list," he said. "When Miz Hummingbird returns we'll have to start voting without it." Every face in the room had a broad grin. |
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| The List By Erica Rich ekrich@uswest.net |
#3 of 5 Runner-up |
| The list goes on and on An endless section of my mind Words scribbled onto burnt paper Names strewn across the walls All of them written in blood The blood of mortals Tainted souls chained to the walls The list is endless Names no one can remember Or even tries Across ships they came Names no one could pronounce Frightened things that noone cared to recognize as People List of names List of souls That no one remembers That no one wrote down The list is endless Written and Rewritten Over centuries of pain and torture Most names were forgotten Many were never on the list to begin with Faceless prisoners of a thriving economy Their ancestors still fighting for the names Fighting for their familys’ names All contained on The List. |
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| The List by H.J. Lazarus lazdom@ono.com |
#4 of 5 Winner |
| In first throes, I would have said You forgive me .....• my brown eyes and .....• uneven smile .....• my wide hips and .....• rebellious hair all divulged in secret pages of curly-cue pink lock and key with a stolen lipstick kiss. With steamy permanence, I would say You love me despite .....• my reckless indecision and .....• tidal needs .....• my sharp starts and .....• slow returns shared behind the opaque curtain of smoke and sweet coffee steam on summer day sticky sheets. But now, resting your smooth head on my belly, soft from birth and years, I say You cherish me for .....• my endless transgressions .....• and banal idiosyncrasies .....• my reluctant humility and .....• weathered compassion Both of us wrinkled and naked, awash in our sea of imperfections fitting safely together within each other elbows and all. |
|
| The List MGAFT@aamescorp.com |
#5 of 5 |
| “What are you doing Hammie? The tablets are
fragile. You’re going to destroy the list?” Shem exclaimed looking at
Ham who scattered the piles of clay tablets all over the warehouse floor.
He grabbed Ham from behind not letting him move. Ham was shorter then his brother and had a much smaller frame. Nevertheless, it took several minutes of struggle before Shem was able to spread Ham on the floor face down and mount him, holding his hands behind his back. “Abate your rage and tell me what happened”, said Shem breathing heavily. Ham continued struggling, emitting sounds more similar to the roar of an animal than the distinct speech of a human. “Stop it, this is crazy!” tried Shem to admonish him. “It’s easy for you to say.” hissed Ham turning his neck at the impossible angle and spurting a gust of rage. “You sit at home in the warmth. It’s I who has to wander around looking for all those friken animals and it’s Japhie who has to drag all this lumber and build the boat. Five years, five friken years since we started doing this! Why?. Why, why, why?” Seeing that Ham reverted to the human speech and feeling that he passed beyond the pinnacle his rage, Shem released his brother’s hands and got up. “What is the problem, Hammie? Tell me what’s the problem this time?” Ham jumped up and started circling around the room shooting his angry stare at Shem. “The Berberic lion has escaped”. “Male or female?” Shem’s vice expressed concern. “The male” “Did he break his cage?” “No, the cage door was open”. Shem whistled and rocked his head, appreciating the degree of the problem. “Sabotage?” Shem continued rhetorically. “No. I talked with the keeper?” “And so?” “He said it was dad. He was drunk again, rumbling something about God as usual. The keeper tried to prevent him from opening the door, but you know dad. He is as stubborn as a donkey!” “So did you order your hunters to search for the lion?” Ham’s anger returned. “Why me? Why has this become my responsibility? I am young, I want to live! I want to have fun for a change. I want to make love all night long, get up late and have breakfast in bed. But noooo, we’ve got to make the deadline! We have to make progress on the list? Hammy do this and Hammy do that…” Shem sat in the corner of the room sorting out the clay tablets in his hands and placing them back in the correct piles. He was ten years older than his brother, tall and big boned like his dad. He was already used to Ham’s rants and gave them little consideration. Today though, it went way overboard. “You know “, said Shem in the conciliatory way, “I only follow the orders of our father”. “Our father”, repeated Ham scornfully, “ the old man went totally insane! Just think what he proposes, to collect these friken animals from all over the place. The notorious list given him personally by God! And then he turns around and let’s them go!” Shem raised his eyebrows in silent reprimand. “Don’t look at me like that Shemmy. I can feel your look!” continued Ham with irritation. “Tell me”, he continued, “when he came up with all these revelations, was he sober?” “You shouldn’t doubt your father, Ham” said Shem in the same conciliatory way. “Your father has lived a long life. He is wise.” “Yes, he is wise occasionally, but more often he is drunk” Shem shook his head in disapproval. “You are walking a dangerous road Hammy, a dangerous road.” “Dangerous my ass.” Ham said imitating the movements of a baboon. “I don’t care!” Continued he, with even greater zeal. “I’ll tell you what I think and I will tell the same to dad’s face, if he is sober of course. There is no point talking to him if he is drunk. This Ark project is destined to fail. Think about it.” “Just to write this damn list took us almost a year, yep, five hundred cubic cubits of clay. How’s that for entertainment? And look at this list. Well OK sheeps, goats, cows, pigs, horses, chickens, turkeys and geese; I can understand that. I can even agree with lions, leopards, buffalos, reinosaurus and elephants although God only knows how hard and how expensive these African safaris were and how many sacrifices we had to make in order to get these beasts. But where in the world did he come up with all those bears? Tell me Shemmy, tell me. Did you ever heard of the Grisly? What about a Polar bear?” “No I didn’t” responded Shem melancholically. “What about kangaroo, dingo and ostrich, jaguar, anaconda, anteater? Where is the guarantee that if I go to end of the World looking for these beasts I would be able to recognize them let alone capture them and safely deliver them to Mesopotamia? And even if we could collect them, we’d never be able to dwell them. What were the dimensions of the Ark?” Shem dug through the stack of tablets briefly looking at the content of each. “Here it is”, he responded, “300 cubits length, 50 cubits width and 30 cubits height.” “That’s pitiful. Look at the size of our zoo right now. It’s already three times bigger. And we don’t even have all the animals on the list… By the way, did ‘God’ directed us about the wall thickness?” “No, but Japheth decided to make it a quarter of a cubit thick for the outside walls and for those partitions that encase the large animals. For the rest, including our dwellings, he used one eighth or one sixteenth”. “So what we need is “, Ham mumbled doing quick mental math, “Twenty thousand cubic cubits of gopherwood”, he whistled in astonishment. “Where would Japheth find so many trees? Six or seven thousand of them, it’s the entire forest! And what’s left only two years. Ridiculous!” “And you know what Shemmy, you know what people think of this so called “flood?” Ham changed his angry tone to a quieter and private almost spiritual. “People laugh at us. They call dad ‘a crazy old man’. And yes “ he raised his arm stopping Shem’s question,” I certainly got in several fights defending him. But you know what I think in my heart? You know what I think, Shemmy? I think they are right. I think our dad is insane and we are even more insane for going along with his crazy ideas. But lets even assume for a second that there will be some kind of flood in Mesopotamia.” “The flood will not only be in Mesopotamia” retorted Shem. “It will be all over the World”. “Shemmy please. While you sat on your tuchus here in Mesopotamia, that is basically flat, I traveled. Boy where only was I not? I traveled to the South where it was hot and humid like the inside of a boiling kettle, and to the North where it was so cold that your blood stands still in your veins. And when I went far to the East where people are dark skinned and live in a great big forest where my hunters have caught tigers and elephants with small ears, I saw a mountain. Shemmy, you think that what we have here are mountains? No Shemmy. It’s a shame to call them mountains. What I saw there was so lofty that a human being cannot see the top off. Only God might live up there. Do you think that the water would ever get as high as the sky? No Shemmie. No. So you know what I’d tell you to do if you really believe that there’re would be a flood. See I give you the benefit of the doubt. If there will be a flood, then we all go to a really high mountain with our wives and our cattle and our fowls and dwell there. There is enough food and water and the grass for our cattle there for many years. And I don’t mean for us to go into the remote forest in the East. We could load our camels and our donkeys and we go 30 days to the North and we see the mountain Ararat and we can dwell there. This mountain is has plenty of height to save us from flood. This way neither you nor me nor Japheth nor dad or mom would have to make the list and deal with the friken circus and build the friken Ark. Shem stopped sorting out the clay tablets in his hands and got up. He stood silent for a moment, thinking as if trying carefully to select his words. “What you say makes sense little brother. In fact it makes the whole lot of sense. And I agree that what dad says does not make much sense”. A little smile of the hope of a conspirator visited Hams face, but it disappeared with the following words of Shem. But that’s not the point.” “Not the point?” said Ham holding up his disappointment. “What is the friken point?” “The point is Hammy that we are chosen for the task. Why is it us I don't know? How is all this is going to happen? I don't know. Are we going to accomplish everything that God commanded us to do? I don't know. This is not my plan, it’s his" and Shem looked up the sky and lifted his eyebrows. "But I am willing to give it my best effort". "So you admit that there is no guarantee that we are chosen?" Ham retorted. "There is no guarantee. You see, we might not be chosen. The whole idea of the flood and Ark and list might be fiction, fatamorgana. But you see little brother; I am willing to take this risk. If none of this is going to happen people are going to laugh at us, and they already are, but put this thought against His plan. Are you the one who is going to jeopardize His plan?" Shem pointed his finger up. He came close to Ham who sat silent on the chair. "I know it's hard for you, brother", he patted Ham on the shoulder, "but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Come and help me pick up all these scattered clay tablets. The list has to be in order. And then we will make sure together that this damn Berberic lion is going to make the list. One thing at a time.” "Is it also part of God's plan?" asked Ham ironically. "No that's just me, little brother. I don't like a mess". “You do that big brother” Ham sad with the smirk. “What do you mean?” “Constructing the Ark yes, but there is no point in catching the lion or maintaining the list for that matter. Let God worry about this. He is sort of invested in our family already, has made his choice. There are too many consequences are attached to his decision. There is no turning back at this point.” “You are walking a dangerous road Hammy, a dangerous road.” Said Shem shaking his head. “Come on brother, why don’t you get a life. Let’s go with me and have fun. I want to introduce you to a couple of ladies. There are really fine.” Shem smiled but shook his head in disagreement. “Well suit yourself. You make the list and listen to a drunk, and I am going”. Having said that Ham left the warehouse and walked towards the city. Shem followed his silhouette until it disappeared from his vision shrugged and continued putting the clay tables in accurate piles. An unusual thought came to him. How could God not to know that Ham would behave this way? It couldn’t be an accident. And if Ham acted according to his plan then should we really be so concern with getting the animals from the far lands. Perhaps God limited the Ark size knowing that not all the animals on his list are going to make it. The chill ran down to his spine. “That’s a dangerous thought” Shem made an internal comment stopping himself from digging any deeper. He finished arranging the piles of clay tablets and went towards the site where Ark was built. “I should tell Japheth to make our personal dwellings larger and more comfortable though. Why not? There are really no specific directions on the list”. |
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"You're Too Loose"
The Aspiring Editors Club