Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by my old friend Al Forbes.
The idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in his picture (below).
My first thought this week when I saw Al’s verdant image was of the bonnie braes and glorious glens of my beloved homeland.
Then my mind drifted, perhaps bizarrely, to Cowboys and Indians.
Sorry, but things inside my head are often Politically Incorrect.
So sue John Wayne.
Click on this link to enter your tale, and see what others have written.
Copyright Al Forbes
Scaffolding
He is a nasty piece of work, my brother.
Okay, he started the business himself, built it from nothing, made it an initial success.
But when it got too big for one man to run, he talked me into joining him.
He needed someone he could trust, he said.
We would share fifty-fifty, he said.
We don’t need a written contract, he said, your hand is good enough for me.
Well, we expanded the company, took it into the big league.
He stayed hands on, I organised, streamlined, automated.
We were quite a team, could take on the world.
But he of course got greedy.
Didn’t want to share.
Kept escalating the aggro until the situation was untenable.
I had to leave.
Of course there was nothing in writing, so I got nothing.
But I know him, know his habits.
Like the fact that on a new job he always arrives early morning, before the men, and climbs the scaffolding to survey the progress.
Still hands on.
So I just loosen a few bolts here and there, at critical points.
You see, he is my brother.
And I am a nasty piece of work too.
Egads. Good, though.
I love ‘Egads’!
No one can hurt a person the way family can. They know the weak points (trusting a handshake contract…or knowing one’s habits) and you never see them coming. Great piece!
Ain’t that the truth, Jesse.
Glad you enjoyed.
This was a good but deadly story, C.E. I wonder if he inherits the company. If the brother’s that nasty, probably not. Well written as always. 🙂 — Suzanne
Thank you, Suzanne, I am always happy and flattered when I provoke thoughts like those in a discerning reader.
Haha yes brothers I love “I am a nasty piece of work too” Great story my friend
Cheers, Al, glad you got a chuckle as usual.
One day I’ll write a massacre and you will die laughing!
Haha I look forward to it
What happened to love thy brother?
DJ
Haven’t read the book, waiting for the movie.
Excellent!
Thanks, but what did Graham think?
Does he have a spanner?
Excellent story!
Thank you!
Doesn’t sound as if the brothers were very brotherly in the end. I do think, even with family, you should always get something in writing, his mistake. But then, you don’t expect your own brother to cut you out. I guess though, him loosening the bolts showed they were cut very much from the same cloth. Nice job CE.
Ah, Mandibelle, thank you for taking the time to analyse in such detail.
Glad you enjoyed.
I did. 🙂
This is a very good story that reminds me, incredibly bizarrely, of the Kray brothers. Brothers in crime!
Thanks, Angie, yes, nasty people.
As Rochelle said, I enjoyed how you brought it all back around to the opening line. Coincidence? Not with you! Cleverly plotted and fascinating as always, CE.
No coincidence, sir, as you spotted.
Thank you for very kind words.
Well done. I spoke to a guy recently who had a similar situation. He was working for his brother’s company and wanted to get disability, so he built the scaffold using a broken board high up. He fell and sued his brother for negligence. There’s the difference in our two cultures.
As Billy Connolly said. “An American sees a beautiful house on a hill with big window, he thinks ‘I’d like to live there someday.’ A Scot sees that and he starts looking for a stone to chuck through the bloody window.”
Yes, Connolly can be funny, but he is also a tube.
Egad!!!
Well built story. Nasty business though.
Egad?
One measly mangling and you egad?
You are easily egadded, Em.
Awesome piece of work 🙂
Awesome comment, thank you!
Must be genetic. Great story.
Yep, two of a kind.
Thanks, Joseph
CE doing one of things he likes to do best (and with panache) i.e. killing people…lol.
Only one, Paul, only one in a whole week!
Dear CE,
So much for brotherly love. Well structured story and I like the way the first and last lines tie it together. A good read indeed.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you, m’lady, life tends to come round and bite your bum, don’t you think?