The Geese Are Getting Fat won me a flash fiction competition on the old Writelink site in 2009. I think Maureen Vincent-Northam was the judge. When Rhobin suggested we put up a free story or extract for our readers in the December round robin, I remembered this series of competitions, Tinsel Tales, and having found a paper copy of The Geese Are Getting Fat, I’m going to type it out for you all.
Happy Christmas, dear readers. Enjoy this little gift from me.
THE GEESE ARE GETTING FAT by Me – Anne Stenhouse
Brenda watched the geese waddle across the farmyard enjoying their last day of a well fed life. The boss would start filling Christmas orders tomorrow.
She turned to the open wardrobe door and gathered the dress that hung there into her hands. Its satin bodice was sewn with sequins and the net skirts flared from a cinched in waist. She sighed. surely Will would ask her to marry him when he saw her in this sparkling dress? Red was her colour.
There were only seven days till Christmas. Had she done enough? Twice weekly trips to the gym and starvation rations had turned her country figure into a svelte picture of sophistication.
She glanced at the wedding photograph of the boss and his bride, Rachel. City slim and glamorous, she smiled into the camera. Brenda gathered her cleaning things before going down to join her for coffee.
In November, when the dress arrived after a shopping trip, everything in Rachel’s wardrobe fitted her perfectly. Today, she was most often seen in trackie bottoms and a sweat shirt.
‘I’ve brought millionaire’s shortbread this morning,’ Brenda said.
‘Anyone would think you were fattening me up like one of the geese,’ Rachel protested. ‘There’s no point in taking that red dress with me when we go to Mum and Dad’s for Christmas. I must go on a diet when we get back.’
Brenda smiled and toyed with the farmhouse keys in her apron pocket. She’d done enough.
The end
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/ is next up in this round robin, but I’ve posted everyone’s link below in case you feel like dropping into several.
Now, if you enjoy my kind of slow, wry humour and would like to read more together with some sparkling ‘between the sexes’ dialogue, you may. Here are some links for your e-readers:
http://goo.gl/4LWt1H Mariah’s Marriage UK
http://goo.gl/JjY907 Mariah’s Marriage US
http://goo.gl/cW71Lv Mariah’s Marriage B&N
http://goo.gl/P3lmzk Bella’s Betrothal UK
http://goo.gl/7mh8FI Bella’s Betrothal US
http://goo.gl/HQjANo Bella’s Betrothal B&N
Ginger Simpson http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Rachael Kosnski http://the-doodling-booktease.tumblr.com/
Margaret Fieland http://www.margaretfieland.com/blog1/
Helena Fairfax http://helenafairfax.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.webs.com/
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/
Lynn Crain http://www.awriterinvienna.blogspot.com
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/
Connie vines connievines.blogspot.com
