The Honda

jacqueline | Aug. 11, 2022, 6:58 a.m. Practicing Writing

Hey, 

Thank you for reading. 

This piece is me practicing dialog.

I've been studying story structure and incorporating dialog.

Without identifying each character specifically and allowing the narrative to individualize each character speaking. 

I hope I did alright. 

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SHORT STORY - THE HONDA 

There's this old Honda in the back of the junk yard. 

We see it every day on our way to school. It looks like a rusted-up tin can. 

"I bet that car has a story, it's been places" 

My brother says one morning as we walk past it. 

Something about that car always had us wondering about it. 

Everyday we'd make up a little story.

"Alright, alright, so they got the car, second hand" 

"Second owners? Or just a random auction?"

"The first person to buy it had it for 8 years, perfect condition. Second driver, got it from them on Craigslist." 

"He was a young guy; this was his first car." 

"Took him all summer to save up." 

"He keeps it for a while, takes it for a spin down the coast and back. Meets a hot little bitty in Florida."

"The girl ends up buying the car off him."

"So they break up?"

"Nah, they weren't dating. They were just hooking up."

"Ok, so now this bitty has it in Florida?"

"Yeah. Something like that."

"How'd it get back here?"

"Well, the girl ends up being pregnant. Coming back to find the guy."

"He's already seeing someone else." 

"Damn, you did it like that?" 

"She ends up having the baby in the car, with the guy and his new girl." 

"So, you're saying she was cool with the new girl?"

"Yeah man, they weren't dating, she let it happen, she understood, so did the new girl, bro, I'm telling you, this Honda came from a happy home." 

"Yeah, so they probably lived happily ever after in that Honda." 

"Yeah, two bittys, our homie, and a baby." 

The next day, the Honda was gone. 

After the mini story we'd talked up about it, we kind of needed to know where it went. 

So we walked up to the junk yard office and knocked on the door. 

An older man opens the office door. 

"Sorry to bother you sir, we were just curious what happened to the Honda parked out in the back of your yard?" 

"Well if I knew people were interested, I probably wouldn't have given it to my son. He was born in that thing you know?"

Our jaws dropped both simultaneously to the ground.  

"Sir, we need to know, is his mother from Florida?"

"How in the heck did you know that?!"

The man was also surprised. 

"We didn't, we made it all up."

"Well gosh darn it, the ladies are going to get a good laugh at this one."

"The ladies?"

We looked at each other in disbelief. 

"Yeah, my two wives. Gosh if I told you the story, you wouldn't believe me." 

We were all ears. 

Turns out, he did meet his wife in Florida. 

And his second wife here. 

They became close friends. 

They were on their way to the hospital, where they ended up pulling over and having the baby right in the car. 

Sure, not everything matched up. 

But let me tell you about this Honda. 

It's got stories. 

My brother and I know them all. 

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