It's the final stretch!! Today's 'X' prompt word is depicted by a character in the excerpt below. See if you can guess what emotion/feeling/state of mind I've described that begins with 'X'. (There really aren't many 'x' states of mind!) Can't wait to read your comments! And remember, Jessica Bell is working with the same prompt words as I am this A-Z Blogfest. There's a link to her blog below.
So without further ado, here is my entry for the day:
Las Vegas, Nevada. July 13, 1991. Ten o'clock a.m.
Brenda glared from behind the safety of her register counter at the crowd in the convenience store. Every aisle was clogged with wiry, dirty-looking young people, many dressed in ridiculous assortments of tie-dyed clothing. Long lines of them snaked from the restroom doors and down the length of coolers. Her eyes shifted when the men's room door opened and two barefoot girls in tube tops and peasant skirts emerged.
The bell over the entryway jingled and she turned her head in that direction. A tall man with no shirt and ratty dreadlocks to his waist bounced in, carrying a boom box on his shoulder. Sugar Magnolia blared. Heads began to bob. The girls in the tube tops broke out in a swaying dance that had their skirts swirling and jingle-bell anklets jangling.
"Hey you!" Brenda called out. "Turn that thing off in here!"
Damn you, Mikey, for calling in sick today. And damn you, Jerry Garcia, for spawning this generation of filthy, free-loading, hippie throw-backs. Once a year this circus descended for a weekend of Vegas shows, and every year it was the same. Not one of these losers will buy anything. They're here to take a piss and shove as many moon pies and beef jerky sticks down their pants as possible.
"Excuse me, miss?"
Brenda jumped, her heart clawing its way to her throat as her glare shot down to the man standing at the counter. His gray t-shirt may have started out green, but it was tattered and stained and looked like it hadn't seen a washing machine in months. Emerald eyes gazed at her from a bronzed and heavily bearded face. The faint aroma of marijuana floated around him.
"Yes, what do you want?" Brenda's voice quavered.
"I was just wondering if you could give me directions to the post office? I want to send my mom a post card. Tour's only half over and I miss her like crazy, you know?" He smiled sheepishly.
Brenda narrowed her eyes and wondered what he was up to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
So what do you think? What state of mind/emotion/feeling have I described here? And do pop over to Jessica's blog to see what she's come up with for our 'X' prompt word of the day. See you over there!
14 comments:
This sure is a tough one! Was it hard writing this entry for you?
Sort of, Jess. But I actually went to a Grateful Dead show in Vegas and remember how scared the 'town folk' were of us "hippies." (<-- LOL). So I just wrote from memory :))
I'm going with xenophobia, but largely because I only know so many X words--it does seem to come through here, though!
Cool piece of writing.
yeah, I'm going w/TH--xenophobia~ :o)
xenophobia? It is the only X word I can think of right now!
I think this is easy cos xenophobia is like the only emotion starting with X. Nice writing.
I love this memory. You can't possibly be old enough to actually have this as a memory. Xenophobic- Brenda isn't comfortable with anyone that is different from her, especially out-of-town visitors.
Xtremely unsettled? I don't know...I have to go to the bathroom, and I can't tear myself away from these blogs...help me. someone. help me.
I was thinking xenophobia too but wasn't sure. Xtreme?
Jai
Nice! I'm going with xenophobia too :)
Xenophobic, dislike of strangers or foreigners and lover of things marijuanic?
Wish I'd found your blog yesterday, I'm quite wanton.
Yeah, I agree with the majority. Sounds like xenophobia to me. Good job expressing it.
I'm going to go with Xenophobia, just because I don't really know any X words and it seems to fit looking it up! You painted quite a realistic picture in that piece- and Vegas really hasn't changed much either!
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