fences

Good Fences

Fandango9 Comments

“What do you mean you’ve got a bone to pick with me?” Jack asked his neighbor. “What is it this time?”

Nick stood on his side of the five-foot tall privacy fence. “You know how you’re always talking about good fences and good neighbors? Well, look at this fence you put up. You call this good?”

“What’s wrong with it? What are you trying to imply? Jack asked.

“I’m not trying to imply anything,” Nick said. “I have a question for you, though. Have you ever installed a fence before?”

“This is my first fence,” Jack admitted. “Pretty sweet, huh?”

“Are you serious?” Nick asked as he grabbed the top of the fence and started shaking it. “Look at how this thing jiggles. One big windstorm and this piece of shit fence you put up is going to blow over.”

“You’re pretty brave standing there, secure on the other side of my fence, insulting me like that,” Jack said. “I dare you to step around and say that to my face.”

“I don’t need to step around,” Nick said, pushing the fence toward Jack, which caused the whole fence to collapse.

*****

Meanwhile, Mindy, Jack’s wife, and Diane, Nick’s wife, were sitting on the back porch of Diane’s house. “The boys are at it again, Mindy said. Should we break it up?”

“Nah,” Diane said. “Those two old coots will tucker themselves out before they hurt one another. I’ll go pull a couple beer out of the fridge for when those two old fools are exhausted.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (bone), Your Daily Word Prompt (imply), Word of the Day Challenge (question) My Vivid Blog (sweet), Ragtag Daily Prompt (jiggle), and The Daily Spur (brave).

A Masterpiece

Fandango19 Comments

IMG_2547

I lied. “Yes, I have repaired, resurfaced, and painted probably dozens of wrought iron fences like these.”

The estate’s property manager tilted his head down so he could see me clearly over his reading glasses. Then he glanced down at the written proposal I had given to him.

I needed the work. I’d been doing odd jobs ever since I got discharged from the army sixteen month earlier and some of them included repairing and painting fences. Wood fences. So it was just a little white lie.

“Check my references,” I said. All the names on the list were my army buddies who were willing to vouch for me even though I’d never done any handyman work for any of them.

“Fine,” he said. “If your references check out, you can start the day after tomorrow.”

It took me almost two weeks to complete the work, and the property manager told me that I had far exceeded his expectations. Then he told me the owner called my work “a masterpiece.”

(170 words)

Written for this week’s FFfAW challenge from Priceless Joy.