Blog #7 Heather Cook--Fletcher's Creek

This is an excerpt from one of my short stories entitled "Fletcher's Creek." In these paragraphs, the main character, Drew, is driving down the winding road that leads to his high school all the while thinking of the girl next door.

It was Tuesday afternoon, and the leaves were beginning to change to a burnt mustard serenading the approach of autumn. Drew stepped off his front porch and headed toward his Wrangler. Tonight was the first football game of his senior year, and he wasn’t going to miss it. He didn’t play football, but he loved to watch. He loved the energy of the game and the intensity of the action. He loved the atmosphere of the stadium. He loved the smell of grilled hamburgers, and he loved the smoky taste of the burgers when they were taken right off the fire. He also loved that she was going to be there.

Drew rolled the top down of his Jeep Wrangler to let the crisp autumn air saturate his skin. The sun had not yet set, but he could see the moon in the sky, a sliver, almost like the fingernail of God. He drove through the winding street that led from his house to the main road. The trees bent over the asphalt and into the skyline like arms reaching for rescue. Yellow, red, and orange leaves littered the road and crunched as his tires sped over them. He gripped the handle bar of the Wrangler and steered with his right hand, all the while thinking of her and what he was to do should he have the opportunity to speak to her. He knew that she didn’t have a boyfriend, but he also knew that his confidence when he was around her decreased dramatically.

He drove in silence, listening only to the sound of the rushing wind and of the occasional bird. He enjoyed the drive to school because there were hardly any buildings or houses along the way. It was just him, his car, and nature. He was coming up to the bridge that crossed over Fletcher’s Creek, a serene spot which had become special to him because of all the time he spent there fishing and writing poetry. He hadn’t been to the creek in a couple of weeks, mainly because school had just started. He made it a purpose to stop by the creek tomorrow.