The Eight Sentences:(Well, nine, I rarely go over the limit. Maybe the moderators will be tolerant.)

“It’s a somnambulistic trance,” blurted Barger.

Dryden spoke up, “Where did that come from? First you reported  the sheriff getting murdered and then all of a sudden you hit us with one of your big-ass words.”

“Well it isn’t that big of a word. I’ve heard of it,” said White.

“And the sheriff didn’t get murdered anyway. It was the police chief and Barger said he bought it in a shootout,” said Scully.

Dryden replied, “It sure as hell sounded like one of his Tourette moments to me.”

Barger was ready to rejoin the fray, “You’re both correct. It was one of my moments but it wasn’t something out of Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary. A somnambulistic trance is like when you’re driving down the freeway in complete control of your vehicle and aware of everything around you, but your thoughts are elsewhere–didn’t you ever drive right past your exit that you’ve taken for years?”

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The Setup:

From Chapter Twenty-two my my current serial novel, A Year Without Killing. In this scene, members of the League of Old Men are talking. Hawk Barger’s “condition” has just shown itself. This was introduced in a previous chapter and snippet. He suffers from acquired savant syndrome and often comes out with unusual words at the most inopportune times. In this case, I wrote this scene to immediately follow a scene at the end of the previous chapter in which Star Braun experiences the trance to which Barger makes reference.

NOTE: Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary will be the subject of a future blog.

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The Eight Sentences:

Walkers(with the green awning)=Mayberry Soda Shoppe. Notice the open space awaits our guys from LOOM.

White had listened to the conversation and at the same time, looked up Mt. Airy on his Smartphone, “Tripadvisor has a bunch of good ratings for the Mayberry Soda Fountain. It’s on Main Street so it should be easy enough to locate–it’s also known as Walkers.”

Barger smiled at Dryden and said, “Maybe we’ll run into Barney Fife and he can tell us all about the Hummer that did a flip into the New River near Austinville.”

Dryden winked and said, “Yeah, and maybe you can use some of that two hundred bucks you won to buy us lunch.”

Scully executed a perfect parallel park and the four men walked into the restaurant. As they walked in, Barger asked, “How did you get lucky enough to find a space right in front of the restaurant?”

Scully smiled, patted his obese friend on the back as he waddled through the door and answered, “They saved it for me.”

The Set Up:

In this clip, readers learn the result of Hawk’s bet with Mr. White along with my choice of how to handle the scene. I chose this route rather than a detailed description of the shot, the bullet crashing through the windshield, and the explosion of the driver’s head. I think my readers can figure out what happened without a review of the blood, the guts, and the gore. Writing a scene like this is, for me, analogous to writing a sex scene. Everyone knows what happens between the sheets. It’s more fun if it happens in the readers’ imagination anyway. Feedback, please.

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participate in the Snippet Sunday group on Facebook.

Hawk Barger’s “testosterone truck.”

The Eight Sentences:

“If it’s the same car load of idiots we saw at the airport, they shouldn’t be surprised at anything we throw at them–I’m a bit surprised they came back for another dose. Want me to slow down and let them pull up beside us,” asked Scully, “they’re in the other lane.”

Barger reached around to his left side and unholstered a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum revolver with a seven-and-half-inch barrel, “I can take out the driver with one shot.”

Dryden said, “That gun barrel’s probably longer’n your dick. You got a big Harley, a big gun, and I bet you got a big four-wheel-drive pickup truck, too, to compensate.”

White held up a C-note, “I got a hundred bucks says you’ll miss that driver with one shot.”

Barger took the bet, “Make it two hundred and you’ve got a bet, Mr. White.

Barger rolled down the window, leaned out and leveled his big gun at the Hummer.

The Back Story:

We introduced the League of Old Men (LOOM), HERE, last year.

In this week’s snippet, we catch the action as four of their members are about to face an adversarial group for the second time in one morning. Their previous encounter was the subject of this snippet.

This excerpt and the next few will be from my third novel, A Year Without Killing which is now in it’s serial run.

NOTE:  Mr. White is of no relation to the “Mr. White” in Reservoir Dogs. He is, however, a distant relative of Bud White. Without the aid of your search engine, who remembers who Bud White was?

HINT: Bud White is a fictitious character from a big movie a few years ago.

Hit us with your best shot! 

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The Eight Sentences:

Image credit: specialize.co.nz

Jackson White spoke up and said with the confidence of a university professor in defense of his thesis, “In addition to social media, email, and driving directions, the internet is a powerful venue for human interaction. By  connecting with others, we discover that we aren’t alone, we aren’t broken or isolated. There is hope.”

“Well fuck you, too,” Barger said.

Scully was a bit more tolerant, but not much, “That sounds like something right outta the Reader’s Digest Journal of Popular Science.”

White replied, “It is, in fact, from an article I read in Reader’s Digest. I of course paraphrased it. Far be it from me to be guilty of plagiarism.”

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The Back Story:

Several members of the League of Old Men are traveling together to their next mission.

They are discussing one aspect of the mission.

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Open call for writers: