Wednesday, October 19, 2011

third campaign challenge: delicate tastes.

 *First of all, want to be a part of a fun contest? I'm celebrating 100 followers by hosting a little blogfest (open through Oct. 28) where we all dish about the hilarious things we wrote as children. There will be prizes!


Time to get our third challenge on! The guidelines:
Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:
  • that it’s morning, 
  • that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
  • that the MC (main character) is bored
  • that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
  • that something surprising happens.
Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise."   (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

Are you ready for this? I know this wasn't a requirement, but it came out to 300 words exactly.
Here we go.

DELICATE TASTES

On June seventh, I woke up to my father slamming his hand print onto the foggy windshield. “Get up, Cameron!” he bellowed through the glass. “She’s here!” He darted from campsite to sand, and the squelch of his boots disappeared.

“Mughh. Fantastic.” That man and his turtle-watching.

“What did he say, Vijay?” I opened my eyes a slit. Phoolati smiled at me, her wooden spoon aloft.

“Oh, ugh!” I yanked a blanket up around my nose and mouth, but the fumes dripped down my throat, burned my eyes. There was no way I could go back to sleep.

“Open a window or get out,” my stepmother chirruped. “Your dad wanted wastopaneer, so that’s what we’re having.”

“In the bus?! It’s not even light.” I untangled myself and stumbled through our synbatec apartment, hand over mouth. The top of my head brushed a path through the painted eggshells Phoolati had hung from the ceiling.

“You used to love wastopaneer, Vijay,” she said. “It’s a tacise blend of our cultures.” She rubbed her finger over a suspended eggshell.

I grabbed my sweatshirt and unlatched the door. “It’s Cameron, and that was before you changed the recipe.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’d started calling it “waste-of-paneer” behind her back. Not that it ever got a laugh.

After kicking against the roots and pebbles of our campsite, my bare feet relished the cool scrape of pre-dawn sand. I found my dad where the tide had washed out, hunched over a nest. May as well help. The light from his headlamp twitched and I noticed something red.

“Dad?” I choked down some wastopaneer-flavored bile. “What are you doing?”

“What’s wrong, Vijay?” he asked, holding up an egg and a flipper. “Don’t you like the new recipe?”

***


If you likey, and you don't think I've completely gone off the deep end (sea turtles are my favorite animal, promise. I don't know what got into me), please go votey! I'm number 66 this time. Thanks! 

**edited to add**
DISCLAIMER!
No actual sea turtles were harmed in the writing of this story. :)

21 comments:

  1. I know I already told you, but seriously...I love it. :D

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  2. Yes, I love it too! Great read :)

    I'm entry #5

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  3. Not the poor turtles! how could you?

    I definitely enjoyed the setting and characters, and that is one creepy dad. Great job! :)

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  4. I'm so glad my dad isn't like that. Well written, even if it was a little creepy and sad.

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  5. I think you should get multiple points for using the "crazy" words multiple times :) I also enjoyed your characters! Nicely done.

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  6. How nicely done, even though I had a scowl on my face when I was done reading! Poor turtles! Great writing. :)) Mine's 51 & thanks for following me on Twitter:)

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  7. I love this. You know it. But I wanted to tell you multiple times. Love love love. I especially love that his stepmom calls him Vijay. :)

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  8. This is really a cute story. It was different than a lot of the ones I have read. Great job!

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  9. What a family! Lol! Love the Wastopaneer! ; )

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  10. This is really cute! Great entry! :D

    I'm entry #69 :)

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  11. The wastopaneer cracked me up. Loved your use of the words and the family interaction! I'm #65, returning your visit:)

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  12. Nice. Some animal lovers really love animals.

    mood
    Moody Writing
    @mooderino

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  13. Good job. You had almost the same idea I did for wastopaneer, except I made it the bakery. And you elicited a really good "ugh" at the end. Aside from the poor turtle, it's always worse finding out you already ate something awful. I'm number 20.

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  14. Poor turtles :( but lots of fun :)

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  15. Very creative! Great story...poor turtles!!

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  16. I'm feel queasy now, but that was a great piece. :)

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  17. ahhh, sad story for the turtles, but the picture is soooo cute!

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  18. Oh man! Poor turtle. This is fun. I am impressed that you used Wastopaneer as a sort of food. (a yucky one at that.) Fabulous job.

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  19. I love this entry. You did a great job in the creation of your story. Nice job.

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  20. My favouritest line: the cool scrape of pre-dawn sand. I could SO feel that underneath my feet while I was reading it!

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