55 Flash Fiction Friday ~ Fate

Rodin: What's it like to kill a man?

Jett: It's a mess. Fah-get-a-bout-it!

Rodin: I’ve been pacing all night trying to wrap my mind around it. Do ya ever get scared when nothing else makes sense?

Jett: I’m not gonna say it again, FAH-GET-TA-BOUT-IT!

Rodin: I just can’t.

Jett: Let the fates decide.

The inspiration for this 55 was slightly random. Sideways Sam chose a noun at random. I plugged, "fur" into the search engine for Microsoft Office Online Clip Art and we surveyed the clips that it generated. This kitty won our hearts and became our chosen inspiration.

The first two lines of dialog are straight from a from one of our favorite movies, Bullet's Over Broadway, by Woody Allen. The scene is between play write, David Shayne (John Cusack) and bodygard-hitman Cheech (Chaz Palmentari). Earlier, Cheech helps Shayne with his inarticulate dialog and becomes a writting partner of sorts as well as a voice of reason for the overwhelmed and befuddled rookie.

Once Sam & I had the anchor for our story we filled in the remaining 33 words completely from our imaginations.

The character names we chose have inspirations of their own. The Kitten's state of mind reminded Sam of Rodin's Thinker. At the mention of Rodin, I was then reminded of his statue The Age of Bronze. We let the Kitten play the Cusack role because at the start of the film he is so young and naive. What's more innocent than a kitten? The play write has a dilemma that's left him both puzzled and thinking of committing deeds he can't imagine.

We wanted a tough-guy name to fill in for the Palmenteri role, and I've always liked the name Jett. I think it is both masculine and contemporary. In 1992 John Travolta & Kelly Preston named their firstborn son Jett and I've been a fan of the name ever since. Plus, it is a mini- homage to the Jets from Westside Story. New York gangsters from another era, but the reference is plain; when tensions are high and the masculine ego gets twisted with passion, and you toss in a pinch of misguided machismo then the inevitable violence is final.