"Place sure looks deserted to me," said Floyd. "Why's Old Man Gardner paying us to check it out?"
"He wants to see if anyone's still living there," answered Calvin, "so let's get going."
Swatting at flies and mosquitoes, Calvin and Floyd trudged through the high grass and overgrown weeds up to the broken down porch of the 100 year old faded Southern Belle of a home.
"Anybody in there?" shouted Calvin. "Anyone at all?"
The pair heard a rustling noise from within the house that grew louder until the door cracked open and a pair of eyes peeked out.
"Yes?" said the eyes.
"You livin' here?" said Calvin.
"Yes," said the eyes once more.
"Well, Old Man Gardner's got a message for ya. Says he ain't mowing the lawn again until somebody pays up what's owed!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the picture prompt above and my story based upon it below, Old Man Gardner's got a message for me too, which is:
"Perry, you came in at 137 words this week in your Friday Fictioneers entry. Don't look at me to mow it down to a proper 100!"
A lush garden of other Fictioneer entries based on the prompt above blooms by clicking this link.
Happy Spring, Y'all!
Dear Perry,
ReplyDeleteGood thing for you I don't count each word. Clever story. The ending is definitely not what I expected. You made me giggle.
shalom,
Rochelle
For now, Rochelle, just count every other word. I don't want to put you to the trouble of counting every one ...
DeleteI like both of Old Man Gardner's messages ! :)
ReplyDeleteWell, I prefer the first one!
DeleteSo you looked at that picture and said to yourself, 'that lawn could do with a mow' - what does that say about you? :)
ReplyDeleteGreat story - I love Old Man Gardner!
What it says is, before I got my Old Man Gardner, my lawn looked worse than the one in the prompt!
DeleteAnd I love old man Gardner's flunkies: Calvin (the smart one) and Floyd (the guy who will do anything Calvin tells him too).
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you. Only problem is next week I'm going to ruin both of their characters by casting them in Titus Andronicus.
DeleteHehe! My old man Gardner simply shoved notes through my door. I agree, the old man deserves to get paid. You have me very curious about "eyes." Fun story. I love both messages. They made me smile.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about "eyes" as well. All we know so far is that he doesn't pay his bill for lawn care. Next week we probe deeply into whether he pays his water and sewer!
DeleteI feel smug because I mowed just a few days ago. I like the similarity of "Gardner" to "gardener" and your unexpected ending. I hope you're enjoying the weekend.
ReplyDeletejanet
I would be but Old Man Gardner is hounding me too!
DeleteFunny! I was expecting either something spooky and gothic or an explosion of violence - what a change in tone! Also, I love the idea that the suspicious eyes are doing the talking all by themselves.
ReplyDeleteWho says there's no explosion of violence? You should see how high that gardener's bill is!
DeleteAh, old man Gardner really wanted the money.
ReplyDeleteWell, he deserves it for keeping "eye's" property looking spiffy.
DeleteI assume the eyes behind the door belong to someone named Hobbes.
ReplyDeleteNo, Russell, they're you. Pay the damn bill already!
DeleteI get the feeling there's more going on here than just an unpaid bill. How else did the grass get so long?
ReplyDeleteIt's been a really REALLY long time since it's been paid!
DeleteSounds like a standoff to me. I think this place is going to turn into a jungle pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteI hear Tarzan is looking for a nice tree in the area already.
DeleteI guess that's what happens when you don't pay up. As usual, Perry, nice work! Don't let any moss grow under their feet.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's just growing on my feet, as usual.
DeleteWell, that is just darned cute.
ReplyDeleteWho, me? Oh, the story ...
Delete