Wednesdays Words on a Friday



On Wednesday’s, Delores, from Under The Porch Light, has a meme which she calls

“Words for Wednesday”.

She puts up a selection of six words which we then use in a short story, or a poem.

I’m hopeless at poetry so I always do a story.

It’s a fun challenge…why not join in?

This week's words are:

1. nefarious 
2. boa
3. streamlined
4. seltzer
5. lackadaisical
6. classic

we also have this....."in draperies of darkest night, a sliver moon, an owl's flight"
I left a sentence using this phrase at Delores' site, hop on over and have a look....

Here is my story:

Lisa was exasperated with her parents lackadaisical attitude, to life in general and parenting in particular. She drank the seltzer water, hoping it would help unravel the tight knot her stomach had become.

Why couldn't they see what their lack of discipline was doing to Bobby? 
It was a classic case of overkill. 
Both parents had come from families where discipline had meant harsh punishments, physical punishments. 
Dad had scars across his back and buttocks from the many beatings with his father's heavy leather belt. Mum was afraid to eat cake, because only "good" little girls were allowed to eat cake. Bad girls were locked into an empty room.....each had vowed to never treat their own children like that. 
They'd made the mistake of going too far in the opposite direction; neither Lisa or Bobby had boundaries or ground rules apart from attending school.

In vain, Lisa had tried to explain that discipline didn't mean punishment, that proper discipline meant training and teaching your children to do the right thing, to think for themselves, to learn self-control instead of wilfully giving in to selfish impulses. She'd come to realise they had no idea how to do this, having never been taught themselves.

Lisa briefly wondered how she herself knew these things.......she glanced at her watch, seeing she had an hour still until presenting her case once more in the Principal's office.
She'd taken the day off school and made a mental note to drop in on Cathy later to get the homework assignments. 

Bobby and that nefarious gang of thrill-seekers had been caught again last week, this time at the zoo, throwing rocks at the boa constrictor enclosure in an attempt to wake the large snake from his slumber.  Jungle Jim, as the snake was known, had recently been fed and showed no inclination to do anything but doze. Luckily none of the rocks had been large or heavy enough to crack the thick glass of the enclosure.

Principal Jones had wanted to suspend all five boys, but Lisa had bargained until he agreed to modify his decision. The boys would stay in school, but further class excursions would be denied them until the end of term. Lisa didn't care about the rest of the gang as long as Bobby was allowed in school.

Today, Lisa wanted to plead with the Principal to have Bobby removed from that class and placed in another, with recess and lunchtimes being spent in scheduled activities that didn't include Fred and that crazy Marvin who insisted on dressing only in green and calling himself Marvin the Martian. The other two, Will and Terry, might also be persuaded to move away from Fred's influence if Bobby was no longer there, but Lisa's main concern right now was Bobby. 

At twelve, he was in his final year at Kingston Primary, next year he would be attending Kingston High School. If Lisa could get him separated from the gang now, perhaps he would begin to take more notice of the school counsellor, maybe even start High School with a different mindset, on the right track instead of the highway to hell he was currently on. 

Her own future plans were streamlined, Lisa would be a school counsellor herself and work with kids who'd got in with the wrong crowd, help them onto the right path. She'd work with the wrong crowd too, helping to set them straight. Or at least trying to. Some kids just wouldn't be helped.......that Fred was a bad egg for sure.

Lisa thought ahead to her eighteenth birthday, two and a half years away.

As legal adult, she hoped to petition for guardianship of Bobby, but he'd be close to fifteen by then. If she didn't get him away from those boys now, it might be too late.

Comments

  1. Great story and what a sensible sounding young lady.

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  2. What a caring protective sister. Bobby had no idea how much she loved him.

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  3. River, that brought tears to my eyes. If only parents would take the middle road when bringing up their children. Not too strict but caring enough to point their young ones in the right direction using the right wort of discipline to do that. One can only hope that Lisa's plans for he brother worked out as they grew older. A wonderful story.

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  4. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
    And I hope she finds someone to love and support her the way she does Bobby.

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  5. Delores; there's one in every family I hope, just like in most families of decent people there's a black sheep.

    Susan Kane; she doesn't want to see him end up in jail or on the run. Or dead...

    Mimsie; most parents do I've found, yours certainly and many others I've known. My daughter and son in law are excellent parents; my other son...not so good, but doing okay.

    Elephant's Child; you're very welcome and I believe she does, but it takes a while.

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  6. Very touching.
    For one so young, Lisa has an incredibly mature, responsible and empathetic head on her shoulders.
    Thank you River.

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  7. Quite a story and good use of the chosen words. I've known a few rock throwers in my day. In fact today is a field trip.

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  8. Vicki; I drew a little bit on my childhood when I had to keep an eye on my older sister going to and from school, as she is retarded and would accept rides in cars from anybody.

    Linda; I hope you don't have any rock throwers in your group. I knew boys who would drop rocks onto freight train carriages from the bridge, thankfully just small rocks, pebbles really, but that's bad enough.

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  9. Wow, that is so good! Great character study of Lisa and really inventive use of those words. A great read!

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  10. Excllent story, River and such an imaginative use of those words, which I admit had me stumped when I first saw them. Me being me thought of a "feather boa" as soon as I saw boa and lackadaisical... I need to get my mind out of the gutter :-)

    As the oldest child of a very large family, I recognise Lisa's caretaker role with her younger sibling. I hope she can get some help with him - it's tragic to stand by and watch someone you love being led down a path that you can see will come to a sticky end.

    As an aside, I LOVED the name of the snake! Did you ever watch that tv series? I think I had a giant crush on Johnny Weismuller! Yes, yes, I know "crush" and "boa"...

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  11. I love your imagination, and where it leads you with these lists of words. You've come up with yet another terrific tale. You have a real knack for developing believable characters.

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  12. Jackie K; thank you. I couldn't get something going with feather boa, so went with boa constrictor and the rest just wrote itself.

    Marie; I started with feather boa but couldn't get past a strippergram...
    I'm a second child but was often left "in charge" as my older sibling was incapable.
    I never saw Jungle Jim, but I saw Johnny Weismuller as Tarzan on Saturday afternoons.

    Susan; thank you. I'm often surprised where my imagination goes. It's good to know my characters are believable.

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