(short story) Bearing the Brunt

***Tessar*** · 08-25-2003, 07:42 PM

Hello! This is a little story I had to write for school, so I thought I would share it as I THINK it's one of my 'oker' works

.

I had to look at a picture from a book, and write a short story about it. The picture I chose was of a truck, mostly stuck in the mud, with two men, and one bear pushing it out!

Bearing the Brunt
by Anthony ~*~*~*~

Inspired by a picture from ‘Our Peaceful Kingdom’ named ‘Bearing the Brunt’ on page 26.

"Well, Dan." Gaddoc said, tipping back his floppy, cloth hat and surveying his most pressing problem with the air of one who has seen much worse, but is still affected by the least.

"Well what, Gaddoc?" Dan grunted, his rubber boots squelching in the mud as he ran a hand through his tousled brown hair and resisted the urge to kick some thing.

"It seems to me, that we are in a pickle." Gaddoc finished at his friends prompting.

Leaning against the back of his camouflage truck, Dan couldn't help but nod in agreement as he ran over the events of that day.

To begin with, their load of frozen fish had gotten to them an hour after it should have, and without so much as an apology. Secondly they had gotten lost on the road to Fishy Fish and Other Frozen Delights, seemingly having taken a wrong turn right from the start. Thirdly, Gaddoc had gotten another one of his not-so-brilliant ideas and suggested that they cut across country until they were on the road they wanted. And now... now they were stuck in the mud a mile from the road they had left, and twenty or so miles from where they needed to be.

Gaddoc was, for all his hemming and hawing, almost as slow as the lazy drawl he spoke in, although since he was not intelligent enough to think of anything to add to most conversations, many thought him a man of plain sense and few words. His being a man of few words was certainly truth, but his wit and intelligence sparkled about as brightly as the frozen gray fish carcasses loaded in the bed of Dan's truck.

"What we need, is something to pull us out of this." Gaddoc finally said, after several moments.

"Thank you, captain obvious." Dan growled, "I'm sure I never would have thought of that. But seeing how it's such a wonderful idea, why don't you go find us something to do just that?"

Dan was really a decent fellow, most of the time, but Mondays in tandem with Gaddoc were often a strain on his will power and sanity, with one or the other generally giving out before 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Today appeared to be an eception though, it wasn’t even noon yet, and his world was already turning unusually hostile.

"Or perhaps something to push?" Gaddoc felt compelled to add after another short, and painfully silent, moment.

Dan could only stare at Gaddoc. Or, to be more specific, slightly down and to Gaddoc's right, where no more than twenty feet away, a shaggy brown bear ambled along towards them, savage visage filled with a lusting hunger. Or, to be more specific, it's normal perpetual frown.

Ever the nature lover, Dan scrambled on top of the mired truck with the enthusiasm of a gazelle being chased by a lion, and uttered a squawk more suited to a gazelle that has just been caught by said lion.

Gaddoc's own reaction was slightly different. Giving his friend a perplexed look, he shrugged and kicked a clod of dirt off the toe of his own boots.

And then he saw the bear too.

The bear, I am proud to say, did not have a similar reaction to the sight of humans. It did not go and hop on top of a truck while uttering strangled cries of 'get you ugly fur ball!', as the ever resourceful Gaddoc was now doing.

Instead, it ambled along, pausing here and there to sniffle at the ground, feigning interest in the various dead leaves and animals that tend to litter wild areas. Namely wild areas with trees, mud pits, and helpless trucks that have shipments of frozen fish in them.

Finally, the bear looked up at the terrified men and said in business like tones, traced through with an admirably American British accent, "Oh do shut up, you're being rather an annoyance, and I do trust that you don't want me to call the Woods and Mires Home Safety Association?"

"Did that thing just speak?” Gaddoc gapped.

"Yes you insufferably insignificant deranged do-dad, I did" the bear said pompously, hoping that the humans wouldn't realize he had no idea what he had just called them.

***Tessar*** · 08-25-2003, 07:45 PM

Strangely calm for a man who's shipment of fish is laying twenty miles off course, stuck in a huge mud puddle, Dan slid off the truck's roof and addressed the bear with the kind of poise only one who has spent years of their life dealing with frozen fish can.

"You." Dan announced to the bear.

"Me." the bear agreed.

"You." Dan said again.

"Me." the bear amiably agreed.

"You push truck?" Dan asked, making small shoving motions with his hands.

"Me push... wait a second. I just met you and you're trying to make me do menial labor? How insufferable! What makes you think you can make such a bold request?" the bear demanded, placing its paws akimbo on its furry hips and glairing at Dan.

"Me give you fish." Dan said enticingly, making swimming motions and wiggling his eyebrows.

"Dan... That bear can talk." Gaddoc announced, finally catching on to the obvious.

"Fish?"

Bears have thick skulls. In fact it is widely known that if you shoot a bear in the forehead, the bullet may well bounce off. Therefore, one might ascertain that bear's facial features are mostly stiff and immobile.

But when this bear heard the words 'fish', and repeated them himself, it appeared that he had developed something of a facial twitch.

"Dan. It's drooling." Gaddoc felt compelled to inform his friend.

"Yesssss... Fishessss..." Dan said, playing on what was clearly the bear's one weakness.

"Alright... alright... I do believe we can maybe... Uh... Work something out?" the bear said humbly and edged towards the truck.

"You push?" Dan asked simply.

"Me push!" the bear agreed enthusiastically.

"Gaddoc. You help me and bear push." Dan commanded, mustering all the force that he could into his borderline illiterate statement.

"Right." Gaddoc agreed nervously, sliding down and moving to the left taillight, still ready to run at the slightest provocation of the bear.

"Now remember." the bear lectured as it took a center pushing position and Dan took the right, "keep your elbows slightly bent at all... Oh that's right, I haven't got elbows. Never mind."

It wasn't long before, with the bear's extraordinary strength, the truck was freed from its muddy prison and extricated from the clinging grasp of... well... more mud.

"Now then, I hate to bother you," the bear said, trying not to drool all over himself, "but I do believe that there was some mention of... of..." trying not to get emotional, the bear forced himself to say the last words, his voice filled with a touch of awe, "fish."

"Right. Gaddoc, fish. Me drive." Dan said calmly.

"Errr... Dan you're not talking normal." Gaddoc said with a slight frown, suddenly finding his friend's new and much more limited vocabulary somewhat strange.

"Yes, well, no telling what you humans are going to do next I suppose!" the bear said, with a forced show of cheerfulness, trying not to launch himself towards his prize-to-be.

"Errr.... Hummm... alright... fish." Gaddoc said, grabbing a small ice pick and chipping away two or three frozen fish from the large block.

Faint sounds of "WHEEEEEEE!" reechoed through the forest as the bear quickly disappeared into the distance, clutching its fish possessively.

Now at the steering wheel, Dan calmly turned the truck around and headed back to the road they had come from, knowing that the longest way was probably the fastest.

"So... did that bear talk?" Gaddoc asked in a perplexed tone, his gaze fixed on the dashboard of the truck and the little bobble-head standing on it.

"No Gaddoc, of course not." Dan said simply.

***Tessar*** · 08-25-2003, 07:48 PM

Well, I hope you enjoyed it!

Let me know what you think!

(even if it's something nasty and spiteful!

)

Bridgette · 08-27-2003, 12:55 PM

That's a funny story Tessar.

I'm not a very good critic or anything (I don't really know what to look for to tell if a story is good or not), but I liked that narritive. (Heehee 'Bearing' the brunt.....).

***Earniel*** · 08-28-2003, 01:55 PM

Oh, that was funny!

I could just picture the scene. I especially liked the part when bear and man meet, the bear talks very eloquently and the man resorts to 'caveman English'. "Me give you fish." I loved it. And the idea of a bear going "WHEEEEEE!" is quite hillarious!

Arat-Falathion · 08-30-2003, 04:02 PM

Haha

You are starting to show skillz Tessar

I actually read this some time ago, but haven't had the time to reply. Your way of using language and speech, like Eärniel pointed out, and just your way of building up the story, works very well and drew atleast me into the story very well.

I can't wait to see (hopefully) your next chapter of Ice Village

Oh, and did you get any feedback from school on this story?

Lief Erikson · 09-13-2003, 01:58 PM

That was good

. I especially liked this part:

Quote:

Originally posted by Tessar
"You." Dan announced to the bear.

"Me." the bear agreed.

"You." Dan said again.

"Me." the bear amiably agreed.

"You push truck?" Dan asked, making small shoving motions with his hands.

"Me push... wait a second. I just met you and you're trying to make me do menial labor?

Thanks for a fun read, Tessar

.

08-25-2003, 07:42 PM	#1
*Tessar* Master and Wielder of the Cardboard Harp of Gondor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IM IN UR POSTZ, EDITIN' UR WURDZ Posts: 6,433	(short story) Bearing the Brunt Hello! This is a little story I had to write for school, so I thought I would share it as I THINK it's one of my 'oker' works . I had to look at a picture from a book, and write a short story about it. The picture I chose was of a truck, mostly stuck in the mud, with two men, and one bear pushing it out! Bearing the Brunt by Anthony ~~~~* Inspired by a picture from ‘Our Peaceful Kingdom’ named ‘Bearing the Brunt’ on page 26. "Well, Dan." Gaddoc said, tipping back his floppy, cloth hat and surveying his most pressing problem with the air of one who has seen much worse, but is still affected by the least. "Well what, Gaddoc?" Dan grunted, his rubber boots squelching in the mud as he ran a hand through his tousled brown hair and resisted the urge to kick some thing. "It seems to me, that we are in a pickle." Gaddoc finished at his friends prompting. Leaning against the back of his camouflage truck, Dan couldn't help but nod in agreement as he ran over the events of that day. To begin with, their load of frozen fish had gotten to them an hour after it should have, and without so much as an apology. Secondly they had gotten lost on the road to Fishy Fish and Other Frozen Delights, seemingly having taken a wrong turn right from the start. Thirdly, Gaddoc had gotten another one of his not-so-brilliant ideas and suggested that they cut across country until they were on the road they wanted. And now... now they were stuck in the mud a mile from the road they had left, and twenty or so miles from where they needed to be. Gaddoc was, for all his hemming and hawing, almost as slow as the lazy drawl he spoke in, although since he was not intelligent enough to think of anything to add to most conversations, many thought him a man of plain sense and few words. His being a man of few words was certainly truth, but his wit and intelligence sparkled about as brightly as the frozen gray fish carcasses loaded in the bed of Dan's truck. "What we need, is something to pull us out of this." Gaddoc finally said, after several moments. "Thank you, captain obvious." Dan growled, "I'm sure I never would have thought of that. But seeing how it's such a wonderful idea, why don't you go find us something to do just that?" Dan was really a decent fellow, most of the time, but Mondays in tandem with Gaddoc were often a strain on his will power and sanity, with one or the other generally giving out before 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Today appeared to be an eception though, it wasn’t even noon yet, and his world was already turning unusually hostile. "Or perhaps something to push?" Gaddoc felt compelled to add after another short, and painfully silent, moment. Dan could only stare at Gaddoc. Or, to be more specific, slightly down and to Gaddoc's right, where no more than twenty feet away, a shaggy brown bear ambled along towards them, savage visage filled with a lusting hunger. Or, to be more specific, it's normal perpetual frown. Ever the nature lover, Dan scrambled on top of the mired truck with the enthusiasm of a gazelle being chased by a lion, and uttered a squawk more suited to a gazelle that has just been caught by said lion. Gaddoc's own reaction was slightly different. Giving his friend a perplexed look, he shrugged and kicked a clod of dirt off the toe of his own boots. And then he saw the bear too. The bear, I am proud to say, did not have a similar reaction to the sight of humans. It did not go and hop on top of a truck while uttering strangled cries of 'get you ugly fur ball!', as the ever resourceful Gaddoc was now doing. Instead, it ambled along, pausing here and there to sniffle at the ground, feigning interest in the various dead leaves and animals that tend to litter wild areas. Namely wild areas with trees, mud pits, and helpless trucks that have shipments of frozen fish in them. Finally, the bear looked up at the terrified men and said in business like tones, traced through with an admirably American British accent, "Oh do shut up, you're being rather an annoyance, and I do trust that you don't want me to call the Woods and Mires Home Safety Association?" "Did that thing just speak?” Gaddoc gapped. "Yes you insufferably insignificant deranged do-dad, I did" the bear said pompously, hoping that the humans wouldn't realize he had no idea what he had just called them.

08-27-2003, 12:55 PM	#4
Bridgette Enting Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Canada! Posts: 70	That's a funny story Tessar. I'm not a very good critic or anything (I don't really know what to look for to tell if a story is good or not), but I liked that narritive. (Heehee 'Bearing' the brunt.....). __________________ Used to be known as Lady of Rohan

08-28-2003, 01:55 PM	#5
*Earniel* The Chocoholic Sea Elf Administrator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: N?n in Eilph (Belgium) Posts: 14,363	Oh, that was funny! I could just picture the scene. I especially liked the part when bear and man meet, the bear talks very eloquently and the man resorts to 'caveman English'. "Me give you fish." I loved it. And the idea of a bear going "WHEEEEEE!" is quite hillarious! __________________ We are not things.

08-30-2003, 04:02 PM	#6
Arat-Falathion A'mael Dalharen Eldarele Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Norway Posts: 707	Haha You are starting to show skillz Tessar I actually read this some time ago, but haven't had the time to reply. Your way of using language and speech, like Eärniel pointed out, and just your way of building up the story, works very well and drew atleast me into the story very well. I can't wait to see (hopefully) your next chapter of Ice Village Oh, and did you get any feedback from school on this story? __________________ Atharon, where heroes are born. A constantly evolving forum rpg created by Lief Erikson, Falathion and its players.

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08-25-2003, 07:45 PM	#2
*Tessar* Master and Wielder of the Cardboard Harp of Gondor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IM IN UR POSTZ, EDITIN' UR WURDZ Posts: 6,433	Strangely calm for a man who's shipment of fish is laying twenty miles off course, stuck in a huge mud puddle, Dan slid off the truck's roof and addressed the bear with the kind of poise only one who has spent years of their life dealing with frozen fish can. "You." Dan announced to the bear. "Me." the bear agreed. "You." Dan said again. "Me." the bear amiably agreed. "You push truck?" Dan asked, making small shoving motions with his hands. "Me push... wait a second. I just met you and you're trying to make me do menial labor? How insufferable! What makes you think you can make such a bold request?" the bear demanded, placing its paws akimbo on its furry hips and glairing at Dan. "Me give you fish." Dan said enticingly, making swimming motions and wiggling his eyebrows. "Dan... That bear can talk." Gaddoc announced, finally catching on to the obvious. "Fish?" Bears have thick skulls. In fact it is widely known that if you shoot a bear in the forehead, the bullet may well bounce off. Therefore, one might ascertain that bear's facial features are mostly stiff and immobile. But when this bear heard the words 'fish', and repeated them himself, it appeared that he had developed something of a facial twitch. "Dan. It's drooling." Gaddoc felt compelled to inform his friend. "Yesssss... Fishessss..." Dan said, playing on what was clearly the bear's one weakness. "Alright... alright... I do believe we can maybe... Uh... Work something out?" the bear said humbly and edged towards the truck. "You push?" Dan asked simply. "Me push!" the bear agreed enthusiastically. "Gaddoc. You help me and bear push." Dan commanded, mustering all the force that he could into his borderline illiterate statement. "Right." Gaddoc agreed nervously, sliding down and moving to the left taillight, still ready to run at the slightest provocation of the bear. "Now remember." the bear lectured as it took a center pushing position and Dan took the right, "keep your elbows slightly bent at all... Oh that's right, I haven't got elbows. Never mind." It wasn't long before, with the bear's extraordinary strength, the truck was freed from its muddy prison and extricated from the clinging grasp of... well... more mud. "Now then, I hate to bother you," the bear said, trying not to drool all over himself, "but I do believe that there was some mention of... of..." trying not to get emotional, the bear forced himself to say the last words, his voice filled with a touch of awe, "fish." "Right. Gaddoc, fish. Me drive." Dan said calmly. "Errr... Dan you're not talking normal." Gaddoc said with a slight frown, suddenly finding his friend's new and much more limited vocabulary somewhat strange. "Yes, well, no telling what you humans are going to do next I suppose!" the bear said, with a forced show of cheerfulness, trying not to launch himself towards his prize-to-be. "Errr.... Hummm... alright... fish." Gaddoc said, grabbing a small ice pick and chipping away two or three frozen fish from the large block. Faint sounds of "WHEEEEEEE!" reechoed through the forest as the bear quickly disappeared into the distance, clutching its fish possessively. Now at the steering wheel, Dan calmly turned the truck around and headed back to the road they had come from, knowing that the longest way was probably the fastest. "So... did that bear talk?" Gaddoc asked in a perplexed tone, his gaze fixed on the dashboard of the truck and the little bobble-head standing on it. "No Gaddoc, of course not." Dan said simply.

08-25-2003, 07:48 PM	#3
*Tessar* Master and Wielder of the Cardboard Harp of Gondor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: IM IN UR POSTZ, EDITIN' UR WURDZ Posts: 6,433	Well, I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! (even if it's something nasty and spiteful! )