mandax

“Well whatever you decide to do, all you need is a little determination!” her dad proclaimed. Ruth hated how her father quoted parenting books. She stared at the sausage links on her plate. She imagined the butcher slaughtering the pigs, the blood spilling and the squeals ceasing. Then she took a bite and smiled. She loved sausage.

“I want to be a journalist,” Ruth’s sister, Maddie, said.

“That’s great, honey!” her mom chimed from the kitchen. She was making pancakes. They were Maddie’s favorite.

“Why do you want to be a journalist?” asked her father earnestly.

“Well, put it this way. What do you think of when you hear the word ‘newspaper’?” she asked.

Her mother thought about how she always forgot to change the newspaper in the bird cage. Her father thought about his old job as a paper boy when he was a kid. Ruth dreamed about an imaginary headline that stated, “Ruthless Ruth Strikes Again.”

“When I hear ‘newspaper,’” Maddie said, “I see my name in print. I see my article on the front page, being read by people all over the world. That’s why I want to be a journalist.”

Her parents nodded, satisfied.

“Determination, my dear!” her father said. Maddie grinned and her sister growled.

It was only a few years later when Ruth’s ideal headline hit the papers, and Maddie wasn’t alive to write the article. They frowned upon writing autobiographical pieces, anyway.

Ruth wondered if murder was determination. If so, her father would be proud.

spider8

Very clever. Somehow though, I got confused with Ruth and Maddie and had to look back. I think they both became ONE while I was reading. At the end I just knew there was a girl that wanted to become a journalist and had to look back. Not sure if that's your fault or mine (I've just got up, sorry). Now that I've read it again I can see the point of the butcher and the pigs, and I can see 'Maddie grinned and her sister growled'. Perhaps 'Ruth growled' would be better (I need all the help I can get here to remember Ruth). But well done, quite a brilliant little idea.

mandax

Yes, I was worried about the confusion between the two sisters. If it's a problem, I'll try and throw in a couple of more statements making it clear. I'm glad you enjoyed it, though. Thank you for the feedback.

ValianceInEnd

Very interesting and dark quick story. I would agree though, the sisters were just a little bit hard to tell apart. Other than that, it's fascinating.

Amber Leaf

thats really good for the amount of words you use. it reminds me of an extreme version of my mates kids for some reason so therefore its quite convincing to me.

thanks for the read.

__________________
'Jonny's laying in his sperm coffin and the angel looks down at him and says:
"Oh, pretty boy, can't you show me nothing but surrender?' - Patti Smith

Punk is dead - get over it.

mandax

I'll work on making the character references more clear. I'm glad you both enjoyed it! Thank you for responding.