James made a choice to do something impromptu, just off the cuff. Tiffanee always moaned about him being so predictable. So, I’ll show her, James decided.
The local historical holidays held in their town of Brand, Missouri, were insane. Annual Celebration of Composting? Yearly Harvesting of Brussels Sprouts? Slopping the Pigs Race? Good times.
James decided that this year he and his dim companions would create a new product line: the largest sound maker known. They stole the cannon from behind the barn scrubbing it inside and out. In the dark of night, they rolled it over to the center park and set it all up.
First, James set up the fuse and black powder taken from Grandad’s old double barrel shotgun shells. It took hours, but the rest of the crew were rounding up odd items for the projectile. Then came the afternoon, which would be part of the town's history.
Odd stuff, indeed. When afternoon came about, the community eyed James’ creation skeptically. But they gave him the okay to shoot it off. With the barrel tilted at a 50-deg. angle, they fired it off. The barrel belched.
Instead of being a glorious showing of colors and toys, the cannon exploded, and all were covered with the stuff from within…Hair curlers, marshmallows, mismatched socks, ping pong balls, old shoes, strips of crepe paper, Christmas decorations, and other odd stuff like crayons, with containers of tempura paint stolen from the Sunday School rooms.
James and his crew slowly backed away and took off to quieter places. Tiffanee had assorted underpants on her head and screeched “James! We are so done!"
This is from this past week's Wed. Words.
- Brand
- Veered
- Afternoon
- Impromptu
- Holiday
- Unaware
- Companion
- History
- Paintings
- Solace
The Wed. words was a challenge by Delores Oenstra a decade or so ago. Then Delores handed the baton off to Drifting through life and Elephant's Child for each week's words.Go there!
It must have been glorious. I wish I had seen it.
ReplyDeletethis would come along only once in years.
DeleteIt's one of those things which makes you laugh later -- much later.
ReplyDeleteI predict that this event might receive a monument statue.
DeleteI'm sure they'll talk of this for years.
ReplyDeleteMy husband fainted at our wedding in a small rural town. that was recalled for decades!!
DeleteI would have loved to have been there.
ReplyDeleteYou and me both.
DeleteHopefully he had clean underwear...
ReplyDeleteHopefully, James has a stock pile of underwear.
Deletevery funny tale. Clever use of the words. What a mess - ha!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. sometimes the words work out, sometimes not.
DeleteSuch a wildly creative story, Susan! I love how you used the words you were given here. That's not easy. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Words are fun for me.
DeleteFun vignette. My rural, farm community has a working Civil War cannon named Old Ben. Ben booms in the New Year where he's fire behind the blacksmith's shed.
ReplyDeleteSounds like he was always successful. Yay!
DeleteVery sweet, amusing and funny story dear Susan 👍🥰♥️
ReplyDeleteYou are such an amazing writer and you really know how to wave the storyline 👌🤗
I so enjoyed ♥️♥️♥️
I am so glad to please you. Not everyone appreciates my quirky sense of humor.
Delete