Saturday, September 30, 2006

Sunday Scribbling: Skin

My Sunday Scribblings contribution: A snapshot of a fictional subway ride to work in NYC.

"Give me some skin, man." I look up from my knitting and see a tall, bald white guy, talking to his short black friend. Tattoos dance up and down Tall's arms as the two slap hands. They stand above my seat, screaming over the rumble of the subway car snaking through the tunnel, as if they're the only one on the train. Or as if we all cared who got drunk last night and ended up sleeping on his front stoop in Brooklyn.

Knit, knit, purl, purl, I say to myself, but all I can really hear is Short describing the sex he had with his girlfriend the night before. I glance to the passenger next to me and she raises her eyebrows.

"You going to see Carla?" Tall asks. I imagine she must be the screamer from last night.
Short nods, and then smiles a smile that makes it clear he was still thinking about those screams.

"What you making?" my Dan Brown-reading neighbor asks.
"A hat," I say. "My best friend just had a baby."
"Sweet," she says.
As Short goes on to describe the sex he plans to have today, I say to the woman, a little too loudly, "Yeah, the best friend whose sex life I know less about than Carla's." Best Blogger Tips

13 comments:

GoGo said...

funny. I've had those moments too.

TI said...

I love where "skin" took you. You really capture a moment that so many commuters have had and wish they didn't. Great writing.

gma said...

Now I know about Carla too....
:-)

Anonymous said...

Nice! The "give me some skin, man" line is the first thing I thought of when I read the prompt! Great minds think alike...

I love the use of Tall and Short as the imposed character names!

And funny ending!

Tammy Brierly said...

LOL That was priceless!

paris parfait said...

Clever take on the prompt. Well done!

Verity said...

I know exactly what you mean! Great take on the topic.

Idiot Cook said...

Hehehe. GREAT twist with the prompt. Love this!

Michelle said...

So good! I started off skimming, and so, as I was reading it, I didn't know that it was fiction. You did a perfect job of capturing a moment that didn't exist but certainly could have.

Anonymous said...

We are reading eachothers mind again! I loved conversations heard on the subway when I lived in NYC. I wish I could knit.

Writer Bug said...

Thanks for your comments everyone! Wendy, if you want to learn to knit, check out www.knittinghelp.com. It's amazing, and a great way to teach yourself!

Anonymous said...

You are so talented. Great post!

Dorinny said...

Cute! What a fun read :) Although this is fictional, I think we can all relate to the discomfort of being forced to listen in on conversations describling in detail, someone's sex life.. *shudder*