Let your Noir out! Participate in this little writing contest. I will post your entries here on the blog for all to see and to vote on..be creative!! Submissions will be closed on Tuesday, May 1, 2012. Voting will start the same day and go on for a week. Please leave your entry in the comment section below.
One of my blog posts gave me an idea to have a little fun so all can participate. My post "Yankee goes Noir" put me in the mood to write these few lines.
"2am: The drizzle of rain was cold but welcomed, I was walking on a empty dark city street…it was quiet, the rain slicked street glistened with the neon sign of a local bar flashing against the black tar of the night. The only sound that could be heard is the sound of the electricity going through the tubes of the sign and pulsating every few seconds as the sign blinks and strains to turn off and then on again. Seems like a struggle that will continue on for sometime.
The bar has been closed for some time now, the neon lights serve as a reminder that the place exists and I should come back in the daylight. I don’t think so. I have spent my hours this evening on a bar stool at another bar a few miles away. Seems like the flashing neon is a sign to the dark city that it’s time to wash away the troubles of today as a new morn is approaching..this is good news for me..as…........"
As you can see I did not finish it..I explain that in the post here: http://yankeeexposure.blogspot.com/2012/04/yankee-goes-noir.html
Anywho, give it your best shot at continuing the story line above and I will post all comments here on the blog. To put you in the mood, I also posted a little Noir music below to get your artistic juices flowing..play it if you wish...
"2am: The drizzle of rain was cold but welcomed, I was walking on a empty dark city street…it was quiet, the rain slicked street glistened with the neon sign of a local bar flashing against the black tar of the night. The only sound that could be heard is the sound of the electricity going through the tubes of the sign and pulsating every few seconds as the sign blinks and strains to turn off and then on again. Seems like a struggle that will continue on for sometime.
Entries start here..........
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1 ...a barroom girl with a deep, husky voice sat down besides me, hoping to salvage something for herself from this miserable night. She was the kind of dame you want to spend time with even if it was limited in duration. Her voice was husky as she asked me for a light, her fingers brushing my hand as I held the lighter. The polish on the nails was bright red. I was always a sucker for a dame with red hot fingernail polish..... ~ Berkley C
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2...I am already in hot water,well I think I am anyway as I have no knowledge of the evening before. Only the blood spots on my shoes and my missing shirt gives me a clue that it was anything but an ordinary night.. ~ Peter M
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3....Because I already paid too much for my car insurance. ~ Frank B
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4..I come up with nothing searching my slacks pockets for my usual pack of smokes. She leans into me and with a long white cigarette so I take it from her hand, our fingers brushing each other like a barber's comb after a haircut ~ Lance
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5...It reminded me that I was still alive as I set out to hunt down those who haunted my dreams.
My biggest enemy, the darkness had claimed another victim. Unseen and unheard, the killer had been able to blend in with shadows that danced in the moonlight.
It wasn't easy working in "the city of the dead" but I wasn't about to give up. I would catch the killer, even if it took all night. ~ Clare
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3....Because I already paid too much for my car insurance. ~ Frank B
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4..I come up with nothing searching my slacks pockets for my usual pack of smokes. She leans into me and with a long white cigarette so I take it from her hand, our fingers brushing each other like a barber's comb after a haircut ~ Lance
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5...It reminded me that I was still alive as I set out to hunt down those who haunted my dreams.
My biggest enemy, the darkness had claimed another victim. Unseen and unheard, the killer had been able to blend in with shadows that danced in the moonlight.
It wasn't easy working in "the city of the dead" but I wasn't about to give up. I would catch the killer, even if it took all night. ~ Clare
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6..I had survived another night. I had survived while the rest of my family lay dead and rotting in the ground. Why they did not take me with them I don't know. I had been spared for a reason. I just wish I knew why... ~ Elaine C
6..I had survived another night. I had survived while the rest of my family lay dead and rotting in the ground. Why they did not take me with them I don't know. I had been spared for a reason. I just wish I knew why... ~ Elaine C
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7...Why they took them in the first place? Why they had to murder them? Why the letter left behind, revealing nothing except the fact that I am alone now and seemingly have nothing left to lose. When they know that is not true. I still have her.... ~ Deb N
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8....I can still remember a time when I owned a bar instead of a bar owning me ~Boydnewell
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9....she enters the room. My eyes go up from the run in her hose to the grit in her eyes. I knew that look of hunger, lost pride, hope's glimmer. There was a she before her who taught me the pain of approaching a flame that blinds such as love at first sight. The memory makes me shiver on the mid-June Casablanca night. I pretend to look at the broken clock above her head and turn away. Remembering. ~ Veronica H
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10...Then I realized, that neon sign was not the same one I recalled last night. In fact the road ahead did not look the same. I became uneasy, unsure as to where I was, then it clicked, this was the wrong video I was watching. ~ John T
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11....I can’t stomach another hour of darkness. The darkness that was once my friend now holds nothing but the stale cold smell of wasted lives. Those lives, they haunt me Maybe it’s not lives. It’s just one life. It all comes back to the same place as these things always do: a girl. No, not a girl. A woman. Every time I hear heels clicking on the dark, damp pavement after midnight, I can smell her unique blend of rose petals and cherry cough drops. Even though dawn is nearly breaking, tonight is no different. I indulge myself in the fantasy that the slow, purposeful footfalls stalking behind me must be hers. I’m allowed this moment of bliss until the redhead dame’s tinny voice perforates my reverie. ~ Angela
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12....I could use a new day. The one that was fading away faster than butter on a hot skillet wasn’t that great. I spent it and some change of the day before driving straight through from New Jersey. I needed a shower, needed to wash away the grime of 1,300 lonely miles and, of course, the memory of her. The plan? Trade in the coldness of the North for a little Southern comfort, if only for a little while. Somewhere I must have taken a wrong turn because I ended up here -- in this cheap honky-tonk that didn’t look that much different than the bar I left behind. Except for the fact she wasn’t here. There was that. Yes, a fresh start was just what I needed. I took a deep breath, filled my lungs -- cheap gin and stale cigarettes. Well, “fresh” might be a generous term, but it was… a start.~ Kathryn D
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13..Tonight's trouble is something that can only be forgotten with enough booze and the right amount of baking soda. I strike my cigrette, a lonely glow under the low burning street lamps, breathing it into my lungs, hoping it will cover the smell of blood.
What was she doing there anyway? I always knew Slim Pickens would end up on the wrong side of that little twenty two he carried, but to see Carrie-Ann join him in his final gothic still-life hit me like a brick. Every cop knows not to get emotional, but when 110 pounds of blonde innocence coldly stabs you in the heart, there is little to do but react. Before I knew it I had handled the weapon and her blood was on my hands.
My CI and Carrie-Ann; this was more than a hangover stocking me on the way home. I was set up ~ John C
What was she doing there anyway? I always knew Slim Pickens would end up on the wrong side of that little twenty two he carried, but to see Carrie-Ann join him in his final gothic still-life hit me like a brick. Every cop knows not to get emotional, but when 110 pounds of blonde innocence coldly stabs you in the heart, there is little to do but react. Before I knew it I had handled the weapon and her blood was on my hands.
My CI and Carrie-Ann; this was more than a hangover stocking me on the way home. I was set up ~ John C
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14...the boss expects my report in the morning. I've ducked out two days already, but the blood trail will go cold if I suck down one more brew. I need time to think, to cast the shadows in another direction.
It isn't entirely my fault. Why can't these dames stay home when the sun goes down? I can't resist a woman in a dress, drawn lines up her thighs; makes my mind race, my hands shake.
The bartender is lookin' at me again and I don't like the looks of him. I may just tell him to go to hell, but - hey, well, look at you.
"I'm Betty," the lady said.
"Why, yes. You are..."
"It's a cool night out there, sure could use a drink."
"Why, yes. You could. Bartender, a whiskey sour and keep em' coming."
Her laugh was infectious. Paperwork be dammed.
The neon light grew faint in the distance, Betty by my side, while we took a stroll to the next alley; and then I, to the next bar with a neon light. ~ CMcGowan
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15...The gravelly crunch of concrete behind me alerts me to his arrival. I dare not turn around, but inch closer to my briefcase sitting next to me on the wet sidewalk. I can almost feel his breath on my neck. I stare ahead into the fog, not blinking. I hope he takes the briefcase and flees before he looks inside. I don't think he'll be pleased to see that I did not supply what he asked for in his note. If he looks first, I will be dead without ever seeing his face, just another anonymous dead body on the street in a seedy part of town. ~ Roma
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15...The gravelly crunch of concrete behind me alerts me to his arrival. I dare not turn around, but inch closer to my briefcase sitting next to me on the wet sidewalk. I can almost feel his breath on my neck. I stare ahead into the fog, not blinking. I hope he takes the briefcase and flees before he looks inside. I don't think he'll be pleased to see that I did not supply what he asked for in his note. If he looks first, I will be dead without ever seeing his face, just another anonymous dead body on the street in a seedy part of town. ~ Roma
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16....I was in trouble deep. And no simple dawn could wash this trouble away. Just like simple water couldn't wash the blood off my broken, scarred knuckles.
I thought hard about finding a bridge and jumping off. God knows I'd have sunk to the bottom. Dead men are heavier than broken hearts, and they don't come much deader than me right now.
My eyes burned for lack of sleep and the rye I'd been swilling all night burned in my belly. No, I wouldn't do Boss Maroni's job for him. If he wanted me dead and buried, he was going to have to see to it. And he was going to have to send tougher mooks than the one I'd beat to a pulp earlier. ~ Joshua U
I thought hard about finding a bridge and jumping off. God knows I'd have sunk to the bottom. Dead men are heavier than broken hearts, and they don't come much deader than me right now.
My eyes burned for lack of sleep and the rye I'd been swilling all night burned in my belly. No, I wouldn't do Boss Maroni's job for him. If he wanted me dead and buried, he was going to have to see to it. And he was going to have to send tougher mooks than the one I'd beat to a pulp earlier. ~ Joshua U
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17...I've had it with this town, and at first light the Southern Pacific's Coast Daylight will whisk into station, 8:00 AM sharp, filling the air with angry clouds of smoke bellowing from the stacks of it's oil-fired steam engine; with the shouts of conductors guiding the tourists and the sight-seeing sets, and me, the woebegone one with the scruffy guitar case. That's right folks, I'm leaving San Francisco, leaving the skinny, narrow streets with the too many hills and the too few opportunities. Every club where I tried to play shunned my freshly-shaved countenance; every bar owner looked askance at my worn case and said to me a variation of the litany 'I'm sorry, but we already tried that sound here. We're a traditional, bluesy club. You got a horn or not?'.
I'm moving on to Los Angeles to try my luck there. Maybe I'll visit Hollywood, perhaps a movie set. Maybe, just maybe I can play this guitar in a western movie, along with the stars! Maybe with Frankie Laine, Gene Autry! That's my ticket! ~ Serr8d
I'm moving on to Los Angeles to try my luck there. Maybe I'll visit Hollywood, perhaps a movie set. Maybe, just maybe I can play this guitar in a western movie, along with the stars! Maybe with Frankie Laine, Gene Autry! That's my ticket! ~ Serr8d
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18... as I was trying to understand what happened. What went wrong. We were so close, so intertwined, almost had it all. So painfully close. It was the perfect plan - the robbery, the escape, we would be set forever, free and clear, together forever! We were on fire, adrenaline flowing like molting lava. And then ... he found out. Into the dark night we ran, breathless, running for our lives but to no avail. And now, here I sit, in this cold cell... ~ AJ
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19..I stumbled down the darkened street, pointed in the general direction of home... suddenly I shivered at the thought of being alone. Then I touched my coat and felt the half-full flask in one pocket, touched the bulge of the fully-loaded revolver in the other... then I weaved on my way, emboldened by both....~ GWKeena
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20....This was good news for me because I couldn't take any more. It was time to turn over a new leaf, make a new beginning. Today was the day I would leave this dead end town and take the first bus out. To anywhere. There comes a time in your life when what you're doing isn't working. Time to try something new. I'v done a lot of things in my life. Things I'm not proud of. But the day I set my eyes on Johnny deLancey, was the day my life spiralled out of control. Drugs, sex, murder. Time for something that wouldn't keep me out of heaven. Greyhound, here I come. ~ Louise S*********************************************************************************
21...I'd been surprised when the local bull turned me loose that soggy dawn, afraid he'd warn me not to leave town. He didn't say a word, just gave me a look that said plain as the pores on his nose, "Keep moving, loser."
Somebody left a dead drunk in an alleyway, and his pockets held just enough dough for a ticket to Yuma. Hell, I've never been to Yuma, that I can remember. I took the last seat at the tail end of the bus, spread a newspaper over the bubble gum souvenirs and settled in to get some shut-eye. With my fedora pulled down, I couldn't see her face, but with legs like that, a face was nothing but a nice accessory. That smoked-whiskey voice said, "Move over, lover," and I knew I'd never get away. Wherever Betty went, Maroni's goons were sure to follow. ~ Texanne
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22.....I re-check my wristwatch – it’s now ten past two. The deed has been done. Nothing can go wrong now. My past is encased. I'm finally safe. I warned the bitch, but she wouldn’t listen. I walk slower toward my destination, my palms sweat: my heart beats quicker in excitement, as each step gets lighter. Somehow I know rigor-mortise has set in ~ Micki P
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23...... it was proof the antidote worked.
I fished the precious little vial out of the pocket of the bastard who injected me - after I decked him and left him for dead beneath a flickering Coca-Cola sign in a back alley.
He was the first and he won't be the last. I'm a marked man. But I'm not running.
I took another swig of scotch while keeping a wary eye on the mirror above the bar. From where I sat, I could see everyone who sauntered in and staggered out ~ Tima M
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24...I was walking home, into the fog of darkness, with no one accompanying me in this dreadful night, this loneliness has always been a part of me, and the problem is that i do enjoy this peace, and the funny thing is, the city is also silent, alone, sad, and empty, just like me, but unlike me, she has millions of people accompanying her. ~ Dalia M
