Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Three Word Wednesday








The rules, if you wanna call 'em that, are here.

Stroke
Summer
Leave

Arriving
Continuation of "Leaving"

By the time Michelle got to her sister’s house, a number of scenarios about the rest of her life had coursed through her strained and anxious mind. She was relieved to be with her sister, yet torn about her departure. She hated him, yet longed for the days when he would stroke her hair as she sat between his legs on the floor in front of the couch, watching television or listening to an old jazz album. Then she would abruptly force any good memories of him out of her head. He didn’t deserve to be the subject of such kind, fond thoughts.

It was summer on the Jersey Shore. The quiet, and ordinarily sparsely populated beach town, had swelled to a temporary population of over 35,000 people. The shoobies, or shoobs for short, swarmed the shore every Memorial Day, every year. They came from Philadelphia, Manhattan, Hackensack, Newark, East Orange, and everywhere else that wasn’t wet, pleasant and sandy. They ate, drank, made babies, trashed rental properties, and enjoyed themselves immensely, while landlords and business owners made so much money they and their families could spend winters in Miami.


On Labor Day the exodus to browner, darker, more malodorous locales began. They left in droves on the Garden State Parkway, the Atlantic City Expressway, and the New Jersey Turnpike. Michelle had been a shoob once upon a time. Now she wasn’t. She was going to live in Stone Harbor for a while; at least until she felt safe enough to leave.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would love to be a shoob--not really Jersey, someplace more sultry :)

gautami tripathy said...

How our thoughts flit from one to the other! Made an interesting read.

We sing we dance we steal things said...

SHOOB???
Tell that harlot to get to court!

Arlene said...

A shoob? I love this word for some reason!
Great story :-)

Bone said...

Shoob? Never heard that term before :) But there is also a mass exodus every Labor Day from our beaches along the Gulf. Now I know what to call them.

Good story. Very tight. I want to know why she left.

Anonymous said...

I want to know why she left..was he really that much of an ass? Did he not giver her what she wanted? Was she overlooked or overwrought? What did he do to her or not do for her? What is she seeking? Happiness? Relief? Love?

Carlos said...

Pia: Thanks for stopping by again. Unfortunately, as far as I know, shoobies are strictly Joisy. But that doesn’t mean you can’t migrate the reference somewhere a little more exotic ;-)

Gautami: Flitting thoughts are fun. I like typing this kind of stuff off the cuff. Thanks for the compliment, and for visiting.

Bunny~n~Early: Yes, Shoob. Shoobies are Jersey Shore tourists. The way I remember it told to me, it all started with people taking the train from Philadelphia to the Shore…The less financially independent would carry their food in shoe boxes…hence the name: Shoe Box….Shoo-B, Shoobie, Shoob ;-) I’ll do a little research and maybe post on it. I apologize for not hitting that hot, large-hootered harlot with a subpoena…I shall do it soon!

Arlene: It is a good word…it was fun to use in Jersey. It could be used as casual reference, i.e. “Be nice when the shoobs leave,” or as an epithet “Fucking shoobs need to learn how the hell to drive,” or as a friendly insult, “Don’t be a fuckin’ shoob.”

Bone: Yes…start using it! Thanks for the compliment on the story…I’m going to continue it every week. Hopefully it’ll flow and go somewhere nice.

Ano Nymous: Well you and Bone shall know, hopefully next week.

Gay said...

I like the unanswered questions. Why does she hate him? Why does she want to stay? There's a deep mystery here that fascinates. Looking forward to more.

Carlos said...

Gay: Thank you! I hope my master plan (stringing 3WW together into some semblance of a story) works :-)

Shelley said...

Ah, the mystery of an unended story. Very good.

Carlos said...

Thank you Yellehs :-)

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah, the unanswered questions have totally piqued my curiosity. Also, I like how the 3rd para with its descriptions of various highways shows how the shoobies return to the locales listed in the 2nd para. Good way to wrap that portion up!

As always, an excellent read!

Carlos said...

Thanks for the nice compliments and the visit. Good to "see" you again!`