Story a Day May 9 - CHAOS (Reckless Deck + Sixth Sense Cards)

Welcome to Friday, the day of CHAOS! I'm mixing up the two devices I used this week, pulling two cards from each deck to see what I end up with and what kind of story comes out.

This got weird, and somehow turned into Odysseus? And when I start thinking Greek myths, I start thinking epic poetry, so this story turned into an act of poetry. As a reminder - these are all EXTREMELY rough drafts, so, take that as you will.

Character volume 1 - reptile attributes, shield

Character volume 2 - fantasy hero reinvention, blindfold accessory

World - sunset, an eclipse

Sixth sense - the bus shelter in the rain, the Jenny Craig Center

Fantasy hero = Odysseus (wearing an eye patch, “cold-blooded” (=insensitive, hard-hearted)), carrying a camping backpack like a shield, waiting for the bus at the shelter across from an abandoned Jenny Craig Center

His tail fins glowing, Teller guides his chariot
Down the road ‘twixt the place where people once traded
Dollars for pounds, and the spot where the weary await the whale.
It is the third such place he has traveled this same day,
Trying to meet his past and his destiny, as he had been promised.
The fortune teller was probably a fraud, but his mother insisted,
And so he drives on.

On the horizon, the sun begins its descent into evening.
Defying both logic and science, a shadow covers the light
As clouds over Teller’s car burst into storms.
The rain falls in solid streams, flooding the gutters
And sending a glut of leaves sailing down the sidewalk.
The abandoned Jenny Craig Center, its windows boarded over,
Looks on the verge of collapse from the deluge.

Teller tries to roll up the windows, but the old car’s mechanics
Stubbornly refuse to respond. The once-proud Argos, family pet
And staunch defender, awakes from his slumber in the passenger seat
And sticks his head out the still-open window.
Teller slows down, trying to pull the hound’s head back from the water
While avoiding any stray wanderer, man or beast, that may
Try to cross in such weather.

Suddenly, Argos lets out the kind of bay
Teller hasn’t heard in years. The dog’s tail, still for so long,
Begins dancing across the seat as he tries to leave the car for
A bus shelter across from the abandoned weight loss center.
Teller pulls the car over to the curb, terrified of losing
His oldest friend. Once stopped, Argos continues to bark,
Pawing at the door and window, pleading for freedom.

Squinting, Teller sees a shadowy figure make its way
To the open window. He puts his hand on the hound’s collar,
Ready to drive off in a flash if the stranger tries to attack.
Instead, the shadow resolves into the figure of a man,
Hunched under a huge camping backpack, head bowed against the rain.
When he gets close enough, Teller sees the man’s weather-worn face,
One eye covered with a beaten leather patch, a brown and white beard
Flowing down his chin into his jacket. A memory stirs.

He puts a hand out to the window, lets Argos sniff him
Through the falling rain. The hound’s tail goes wild, he sticks his head
Fully out of the window to lay his chin on the stranger’s chest.
The man takes both hands and scratches behind the dog’s ears,
Hitting that perfect spot to make Argos sigh with delight.
The memory within Teller grows, bursts like the clouds overhead
As the stranger’s lone eye meets his own. “Father?”

The man manages to navigate into the car, keeping Argos
On his lap as he settles in. The backpack rests at his feet, taking up
The entire footwell, rising up to the dashboard, and the man hunches,
Keeping the pack between himself and the windshield. “Son.”
No emotion in his voice with that single word, no tears, not even
An attempt at an embrace. Any warmth is reserved for the dog,
Wriggling happily in his lap, acting the puppy in his old age.

Teller is at a loss. If this is his past and his destiny,
What is he supposed to do next?
What destiny can this old, beaten man,
Disappeared from his life since early childhood,
Possibly provide for him? More heartache? More loss?
Teller decides there’s only one thing to do, begins driving.
Mother will know what to do next.