Cindra's Monday games

Every Monday Cindra has a game. She posts her blog with 18 words underlined throughout. The deadline closes on Tuesday around midnight or so ( read the weekly rules for any changes) . I found this to be fun and interesting. The truth is that "games" like this help one stretch in new directions by asking one to focus on a particular facet . This was my entry in the first game I entered. The winners were Tall Chick and Tina , but I thought all the writers did well and had a lovely time playing! The readers vote for the story they like most. Anyone can vote. Anyone can post a story, a poem, lyrics, whatever - as long as one uses the 18 words. The next game starts Monday. Go see. Go vote. Come back and play!


The first time I met grandpa's friend Mr C was back in November . That was the same year my mother ran off with that slick- shit as my grandpa used to say. Mr.C likes to talk a lot. He was taller than my grandpa and still had some hair... although it was white and thin. He is always smiling, laughing.. and talking.

My grandpa was taking in his "baby" for an alignment. He owned a Ford truck he had bought in 1946. Once when my grandpa was sick; my mom painted the sides silver and a sort of salmonberry colour. My art teacher called it a mosaic style. The truck looked kinda funny though... like a lot of birds pooped on it... People used to gawk at us when we drove the car down the back roads of Oregon. Sometimes we drove down Highway 101 a bit... following the twist of the Pacific Crest Trail ; find a place to have a picnic while grandpa fished. I'd lie down in the grass and watch the clouds.... and wonder what my mother was doing. And where she was now. Or read a book.

But I digress. My name is Sugar. My grandpa said my mother was a beatnik. First because she named me Sugar. Second because he never really forgave her for painting his "baby". And third, because she ran off with a charismatic salesman after daddy died. ... leaving me behind with Grandpa on the farm. Grandpa used to say "Well it doesn't take brain surgery to figure out that your mum ate too many mushrooms when she worked out in the fields. She never did use the sense that she was born with" I still think he missed her though because he was always saying things like that. "Life is full of crap .. and then you have mushrooms." Or my personal favorite... " Don't judge a man by the ass he keeps." For some reason that always made me giggle.. which made my grandpa hysterical,

Anyway, back to Mr C. He lives alone. Grandpa said it was because he liked his solitude. Personally, I think he liked being the only cock near the hen house. He had a lot of women baking him cookies and cake and things. Sometimes he'd bring me some of the cookies. I never did learn how to bake cookies so I always enjoyed eating them. Mr C was very funny. He used to tell me stories about my grandpa and him when they were young.... and about all the trouble they'd get into.

Sometimes when my grampa is grumbling about my mom..I simply tell him , "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." I learned that from Mr. C . Like I said, he talks a lot!