“Young and Pretty vs. Old and Ugly,” Annie Flash Fiction by Jeff Posey

Coming in 2013

A flash fiction piece in preparation for the novel-in-progress Ellipsis: Annie and the Second Anasazi, by Jeff Posey, set in the year 2054. Sign up for notification by email here.

Coach Jesse sat at an outdoor table at Tequila’s with binoculars. He stared across the river at the bathing pools of the hot springs. A dozen young girls in bikinis stepped into the sunlight and gathered in knots before they selected their first pool.

“Let me look, Granja,” Theo said.

“You’re too young to appreciate the view.”

“Mamma says you’re too old to do anything but look.”

Jesse scowled at the boy. “Your Mamma ain’t much older than you, which means she doesn’t know anything about it.”

“She had to be old enough to make me born,” said Theo. He swung his legs from the chair and ate crumbs from the chip basket.

“She slid in right under the wire,” Jesse said. He took the binoculars down from his eyes and sighed. “Skinny young crowd today. I like to see a woman in her prime, a little meat on her bones, a few good wrinkles and stretch-marks, you know, right when they’ve sagged into perfection.”

Theo watched him and laughed. “I don’t know, Granja. Explain stretchy marks to me.”

“All righty, I will. What’s the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Ah, Machu!”

“Machu?” Jesse shook his head. The worthless Pomeranian belonged to Theo’s mother, Kira’s. He often wondered if that little dog could survive a fall down the cliff onto Sixth Street. He decided it had a fair chance unless he punted it hard so it would land smack-hard on the centerline. Or in the river. But he’d been a defensive back, not a punter. He could keep someone from catching Machu if a strong arm tight-spiraled the pathetic beast to a receiver, but he couldn’t guarantee where a punt would land the dog.

“Yeah, when he’s real close to me. He’s my best friend.”

There went the dreams of ditching the dog. Jesse couldn’t and wouldn’t do it to the boy. But back to the point.

“When did you first see, uh, Machu, your best and most beautiful of all friends?”

“Um, I guess when I was borned.”

“And when did you see him last?”

“Before you came and got me.”

“Just a couple hours ago, that’s right. So when did he look best to you? Way back when you were borned? Or this morning?”

“This morning!” Theo shouted. He raised his arms to emphasize his point.

“This morning!” Jesse shouted, raising his arms too. People turned and stared. “Which proves my point. Machu was older this morning when you saw him than he was back when you came out of your Mamma’s stomach like a bullet, which means older is prettier.”

“Does that mean you’re a whole lot prettier than me?”

“Let’s find out.” Jesse scooped the boy into his left arm and marched stiff-kneed to the men’s room and they looked into the mirror. “That’s you,” he said, touching Theo on the nose, “and this is me.” He touched his own nose. “Now look carefully. Which one of us is prettier?”

Theo started giggling and squirming.

“What are you going all goofy about, boy?”

“I’m way prettier,” he said, laughing.

Jesse winked at himself in the mirror. “By golly, I agree with you. You’re way, way prettier than me.” He tickled the boy and he shrieked.

“You know what that does?” asked Jesse after a man came into the men’s room and they walked out.

“It means you’re old and ugly. Old and Ugly. Old and Ugly.” Theo chanted it.

“Yes, it does mean that, and you shouldn’t pick up the foul language of your mother.”

“My Daddy said that.”

“Well, he’s not prettier than either one of us. But what I mean is, it blows my theory of older is prettier. I guess I’ll just have to start looking at those young little cuties with the binoculars again. All this time, wasted. Thanks for showing me the light, little man.”

“Your are welcome. Can we go get ice cream now? And what light?”

“That ice cream will kill you. Make you blind to the light. You’ll fall over blind right there in the shop. It’s happened to me dozens of times. The thing to get is gellato. I don’t know what in creation it is, but it’s better for your pretty-boy tummy than ice cream.”

“No, yukky-yukky, that’s for Old and Ugly. Young and Pretty wants chocolate ice cream.”

Jesse laughed. “By golly, you convinced me again, little man. I’ll join you. We can both keel over blind and dead before we go home for dinner.”

“Yippee!” shouted Theo, and tugged Jesse toward the ice cream shop.

 

Ellipsis: Annie and the Second Anasazi, set in 2054 A.D., is about a migration of intellectuals into the deserts of New Mexico where people live like the ancient ones because of changing climate coupled with an intolerable mix of politics and religion that rises in the cities of the American South. Theo is the son of Sean O’Brien from the novel Anasazi Runner and a significant character in Ellipsis.

Cover art for Ellipsis: Annie and the Second Anasazi is by Derek Murphy of Creativeindie Covers.