Calibrating the schmoop-meter...
Sep. 15th, 2003 02:54 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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ds_flashfiction... I think this one falls somewhere between 'unmistakably' and 'unbearably.' 227 words.
Ray sighed, and fished his keys out of the inner pocket of his parka, where they rode most of the time, next to his heart. A whole handful of metal, kept safe and warm. House keys, apartment keys, car keys, locker keys. All obsolete now; he had the key to the house and the key to the jeep on a key ring with a little plastic tab in the shape of the state of Illinois, and that stayed in his outside pocket where he could reach it easily when he needed it. The jeep and the front door didn’t mind if the keys were cold, after all.
He passed his keys to Fraser, who smiled his thanks and handed them to the toddler on his knee. The kid immediately jammed half of them in his mouth and Ray had to lean over. “You take after your dad, buddy, you know that? Everything goes right in your mouth.”
The kid just grinned at him and waved the spit-covered keys in his face, a loud jangle that drew the attention of half the other people in the auditorium. Fraser leaned over and whispered in his ear, like everybody wasn’t watching them. “And here I’d just been thinking he took after his father’s unhealthy fondness for overstuffed keychains.”
Ray grinned. “Well, Frase, six of one, half dozen of the other.”
Ray sighed, and fished his keys out of the inner pocket of his parka, where they rode most of the time, next to his heart. A whole handful of metal, kept safe and warm. House keys, apartment keys, car keys, locker keys. All obsolete now; he had the key to the house and the key to the jeep on a key ring with a little plastic tab in the shape of the state of Illinois, and that stayed in his outside pocket where he could reach it easily when he needed it. The jeep and the front door didn’t mind if the keys were cold, after all.
He passed his keys to Fraser, who smiled his thanks and handed them to the toddler on his knee. The kid immediately jammed half of them in his mouth and Ray had to lean over. “You take after your dad, buddy, you know that? Everything goes right in your mouth.”
The kid just grinned at him and waved the spit-covered keys in his face, a loud jangle that drew the attention of half the other people in the auditorium. Fraser leaned over and whispered in his ear, like everybody wasn’t watching them. “And here I’d just been thinking he took after his father’s unhealthy fondness for overstuffed keychains.”
Ray grinned. “Well, Frase, six of one, half dozen of the other.”
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 11:15 pm (UTC)