Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Bamboozled



Bamboozled
By Deborah J Lindsey

“Honey, I’m afraid you’ve been bamboozled.  Ed Shanks is nothing more than a “hot air artist.”  He’s not going to marry you and walking the coral fence without falling really doesn’t qualify as gymnastics.”

Sixteen-year-old Marney looked full into her Mama’s care worn face. “Mamas’ as old as the ark and twice as dreary.”  She thought. Ed was “going places” and he promised to take me. “Mama just didn’t like him because he was a yank.”

Mama reached out to touch her daughter but Marney shook her hand away and turned her back.  She certainty wasn’t in the mood to listen to Mama quote some parable about a seed sower or some such rot.  Hadn’t she heard that stuff every day of her life? 

Marney huffed her way back to the farmhouse.  She climbed the stairs to her room and took out a small suitcase from the closet. She pulled a few items from the chest and then remembered Grandma’s lucky coin. It wasn’t a rare coin or worth anything more than just face value but Grandma said it was lucky and that was good enough.  Marney took the coin, tossed it in the air for the flip- “heads” she left- “tails” she stayed. 

It was “heads.”

Marney started to pack in earnest. She was surprised by the hot tears that stung her cheeks.  Marney looked at the dolls that sat on the window sill.  They seemed to to mock her with “I told you so” eyes.


“Mama doesn’t know anything! 
She’s wrong! 
Ed isn’t a “hot air artist”!  He’s afraid of heights! He’d never even go near a hot air balloon.”

Marney smiled, Ed was a long-haul trucker who drove a reefer cross country.   He wore a fedora like Indiana jones and he loved her. 

“He will marry me.”  Marney whispered.

She looked at her dolls again and wondered which one would like to go.  She chose the one with the Olympic Medal. 


                                                  C Copyright June 2017 By Deborah J Lindsey

6/6/17 Word List Prompt
Write what ever you want, about 200-500 words. You have to use the following words: (You can change tense, make it plural, etc., as long as the root word is there.)
reef
coin
bamboozle
fedora
dreary
ark
gymnastics
yank
seed

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