Friday, June 14, 2013

Family - #FridayFlash Fiction

He held the massive head between his hands and crooned, softly. "Tonight will be the last, I promise you. Just one more. Then you'll never have to go in the ring again." The scarred and heavily muscled body wriggled with puppyish glee.


*****
"Blood in, blood out, bro. We was family, took you in, raised you up, had your back. Now you turn on us, squeal like a stuck pig, think you can walk away. Nah, you ain't walkin'. And you sure don't deserve to wear our name."

He felt the concrete pressing into his spine, knees on his joints, pain blooming in red and white flowers. Just another beating, one he would survive; and the loss of his prized jacket and colors another memento of a bad decision made when he was a kid. It had seemed the best way to survive, back then. His "real" family had been practically useless, this gang "family" parasitic and opportunistic. No such thing as family, really; born alone, suffer alone, die alone. He watched JJ approach with a chunk of wood wrapped in something. So, the clubbing would continue.

He felt JJ place a finger on his chest and trace the outline of his tattoo. "No right to wear this. I'm gonna sand that mother off."
*****

Cold rivulets trickled under him, legions of scurrying things rushed over him, by turns he shook and writhed, soundlessly forming words stolen by the air. Often there was a blessed nothing; sometimes there was comforting warmth by him, and gradually his wits reformed themselves into some semblance of order. Broken macadam, prickly grass, thunder from cars on the overpass above, a body lying beside him. The dog twitched and rose unsteadily to its feet. There was blood and one ear partially torn off.

"You look like I feel Bro," he managed from parched lips. The dog whimpered, and licked his cheek.
*****

"You work too hard. All these extra shifts. Go home to your girlfriend, or go find one. Drink a couple of cool ones. Hey, you wanna go bowling? Bunch of us go every Friday night you know. Hell, you don't even have to be any good. Ralph ended up on his keester last week. You been here on the force for what, four years now? Time to really join the brotherhood, man."

"No thanks. I got stuff to do. You know, paperwork, laundry. The neighbors are gonna call the cops about the smell soon."

The other man guffawed. "I hear you man. OK, the option's always open. But lone wolf types don't last long around here."

"I got a partner already. But I'll let you know if there's an opening." He grinned crookedly.
*****

He tossed his uniform on the chair and exchanged his service revolver and holster for a Glock in his waistband. Just in case, of course. A brindled pit bull danced at his heels, desperate to go outside. He checked through a sheaf of papers one more time, memorizing details, then set them alight and dropped them in the sink.

"Let's go."
*****

Sergeant Ralph Meltzer happened to run into a fellow officer and his dog on Elm Avenue. "They've got a body over on 33rd. Another nickel and dime thug, looks like one of their fighting dogs turned on him. Second one in a month. But we busted that dog ring four years ago, and there's no sign of kennels. The neighbors are all rollin' their eyes and blathering about voodoo and chupa somethin' or other."

The officer reached inside his shirt and scratched his chest thoughtfully. "Maybe his old lady did it. You know how those gang chicks can be."

Meltzer grinned. "That's all women, once they get riled. Maybe you've got the right idea. Just a man and his dog."

"All the family I need." The officer reached down and scratched the dog's long-healed ear.

The dog whimpered and licked his cheek.




17 comments:

  1. Lisa, your versatility as a writer never ceases to amaze me, this was so gritty and hard! great stuff

    marc nash

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    1. Thank you Marc! I've been trying my hand at different genres - I need to expand my horizons a little!

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  2. I was wondering if there was any connection beyond the "family" theme, but the last part pulled the whole thing together. A wonderful little story of redemption.

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    1. Thanks Larry. It's a third draft - the first was too long and convoluted, the second was so pared down that my faithful beta reader became a little confused - hopefully this version is juuust right! :-)

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  3. A dog-eat-dog world. That got pretty grim, Lisa! But I still smiled for parts, and definitely enjoyed it.

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  4. Wow, the evolution of that character is amazing! Changed and yet not changed. Very powerful, Lisa.

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  5. I like the voice in this, Lisa. Good work on a tough subject.

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  6. Good shift between sections and neatly tied together at the end.
    Adam B @revhappiness

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  7. Gritty is right. This was well done.

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  8. Li, your male voice is so strong and true. Love the moves in time/scenes. Tough and gritty all right.

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  9. I read this earlier today and it actually stayed with me--i found myself thinking about this one at work.

    You hit a homer with this one.

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  10. Very gritty, quite intense - really good writing!

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  11. Great job! I love the way you left them as snippets until they began to tie together at the end.

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  12. nice, i like this blog, but my have better text sorry man, check rappelz blog

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  13. Excellent work Li. Gritty yet uplifting.

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  14. The end really pulled it all together for me. Gritty, but nice too.

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  15. Yeah, very harsh and visceral, but loved the ending. Few wounds that the loyalty of a dog can't heal.

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