The bored young thing with the drink in her hand drifted to a stop in front of the massive fireplace. She stared up at the painting above it. The young man who had been lounging on a sofa, equally bored despite the party going on about both of them, rose and joined her in looking at it.
“What do you think of it?” He leaned on the mantle of the useless monstrosity of a fireplace. It made no sense to have it in this house, in this climate. He’d spent his life there, looking at the picture, but he’d never actually seen a fire in it. The girl was pretty, though.
“It’s fascinating. A slice of life, so plebian... not the sort of thing you see done in oils.”
“True. But Grampa commissioned it to always remind the family where we’d come from. Where we could go back to if we weren’t wise in business.”
“I think it’s charming in a post-modern way. What is it called?”
“Tuck Lisenbee scratches off a lottery ticket inside the Save & Sak convenience store in Billy Goat Hill, Alabama.”
She turned and looked at him, her brilliant blue eyes sparkling. “Enough about the origins, what do you do?”
He smiled down at her. “Shall we go lounge by the pool and I’l tell you if you’ll tell me?”
She took his arm, laughing, and they left the portrait of the poor redneck trying his luck... and winning.
For the IndieInk Writing Challenge this week, Lance challenged me with "Tuck Lisenbee scratches off a lottery ticket inside the Save & Sak convenience store in Billy Goat Hill, Alabama." and I challenged jahedgepath with "Write a horror piece with rainbow balloons and a monkey in it. "
2 comments:
The portrait's name is hilarious. But the parallels - trying your luck and winning - are obvious and excellent.
http://jesterqueen.com
Thank you :-) I got so stuck on the challenge, and then it came to me to title the portrait as the challenge. It was a fun write, as always.
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