Snark & Sensibility

PLEASE WELCOME

JENNIFER HALLMARK

TO

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY

AN ORIGINAL SHORT STORY

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An attack pig? Jerilyn couldn’t have heard the guy right. She leaned against the counter of the small convenience store. “Run that by me again.”

“If you’re gonna serve papers to Ella Mae Kinley, you need to scrounge up some body armor. Or better yet, one of those bulletproof Hummers.” He hee-hawed for several minutes, then finished tallying up her order. “Oh, and that’ll be $4.50.”

Jerilyn slid her card through the reader, then picked up her lunch. “Thanks for the advice.” She walked to the corner of the store and plopped down at one of the small tables.  “Wonderful.” Why didn’t she read the papers closer?

The pig-guarded mobile home lay a mile west of this store in the middle of nowhere. She unwrapped her ham and cheese sandwich and took several sips from her sweet tea. She almost cringed from the amount of sugar. Tea true to Alabama. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite. Hmm. Maybe having pork breath wasn’t a good choice.

Darn, her process-serving job had been easy until now. Since her breakup with Don and his insinuations that she’d never amount to anything, she determined to prove him wrong. So, she’d found this job and enrolled in college.

Calm down. You can do this. Don’t give the jerk a sliver of “I told you so.” And she’d only been at work two weeks. While she ate, she googled how to approach a pig but only found how not to scare the animal. Nothing about how to keep out of the emergency room.

She followed a link to feral pigs. Wow. These swine had sharp tusks. Nothing to mess with. She shut down the page. No need to scare herself anymore when she had a job to do.

The old man hobbled back to where she sat. “One more thing. Your instinct will be to yell or shoo Ammo. Don’t. He’s not a pet pig. He’s a wild boar.” The door opened and he turned and headed for the counter.

Feral? Her worst nightmare realized. “Hey. What should I do?”

“Beats me.” He chuckled and kept walking.

Picture courtesy of Pixaby

She finished lunch and hurried to her small SUV. She dug out the summons and scanned the paper. Complaint against not keeping an animal tethered. Betting that would be Ammo. Who names their pig Ammo?

All she could do was try.

Jerilyn glanced at her GPS and worked her way to the home. Of course, it would be at the end of a gravel road, right next to a spooky patch of woods. She slowed and surveyed the situation. An extra-large dog house sat outside the home but no pig in sight.

Who would complain about a pig way out here in the middle of nowhere? Someone without a life obviously.

She pulled a little closer. No vehicle that she could see. Could be behind the house. She licked her dry lips. Well, here goes nothing. She pulled in the driveway, leaving the vehicle running. Still no pig.

Jerilyn looked at the can of mace her boss had given her but didn’t want to hurt any animal. Ever so gently, she opened the door and stood, ready to jump back in. No Ammo.

Probably a hundred feet to the small front porch with a gate. Surely, she could run faster than a porker. She eased the door shut, then sprinted for the porch. She bounded up the steps, opened the gate, and closed herself in. Maybe Ammo was out hunting…

She knocked. “Ella Mae Kinley, I’m here to serve your papers.”

The door slowly opened. An old lady peeked out, holding a shotgun. Her pink house dress and little old lady hairdo contrasted her fierce expression. I jumped back. “Cool it, lady. I’m just the messenger.”

“Won’t shoot. Unless I need to.” She peered through thick glasses. “What’s this all about? I ain’t done nothing.”

“A complaint against an untethered animal. The papers will tell you what you need to do. Just take them and I’ll be outta here.” She didn’t seem like she’d shoot but Jerilyn wasn’t taking any chances. And where was the pig?

“I told that dagburn Moses Sweetum that I fixed the fence and my horse wouldn’t be out in his hayfield again. He’s just spiteful and ornery.”

Horse? “Uh—what about—Uh, Ammo?”

“My sweet piggy wiggy? He ain’t never bothered a person. I just made up those stories to keep solicitors from bothering me.” She reached out for the papers. “And I ain’t worried about court. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.”

A loud squealing drew my attention to my car. A humongous boar bounded from the woods across the road and began gouging the back tire with his tusks.

“Hey!” The shout died as I remembered the old man’s warning. I turned to Ella Mae. “I thought you said he wouldn’t bother anyone.”

“He won’t.” She cackled. “But he hates SUV’s. I’m not really sure why.”

Jerilyn closed her eyes and swallowed down the ugly words that tried to escape. Then she opened the gate and ran around the front of the car, giving a wide berth to the boar.

Why me?

She jumped in and spun out of the driveway. Ammo chased her down the gravel road, only stopping when she turned onto the highway. Her tire seemed undamaged but she’d have to stop and check it.

Far from here.

Then she needed to get home and change her major from Farm Animal Science to something else.

Anything else.

ABOUT JENNIFER HALLMARK

Jennifer Hallmark writes Southern fiction and has published 200+ internet articles and interviews, short stories in several magazines, and has co-authored three book compilations. Her debut novel, Jessie’s Hope, released on June 17th, 2019.

When she isn’t babysitting or gardening, you can find her at her desk writing fiction or working on her two blogs.  She also loves reading detective fiction from the Golden Age and viewing movies like LOTR or Star Wars. Sometimes you can even catch her watching American Ninja Warrior.

www.jenniferhallmark.com

www.inspiredprompt.com 

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ABOUT JESSIE’S HOPE

Years ago, an accident robbed Jessie Smith’s mobility. It also stole her mother and alienated her from her father. When Jessie’s high school sweetheart Matt Jansen proposes, her parents’ absence intensifies her worry that she cannot hold on to those she loves.

With a wedding fast approaching, Jessie’s grandfather Homer has a goal to find the perfect dress for “his Jessie,” one that would allow her to forget, even if for a moment, the boundaries of her wheelchair. But financial setbacks and unexpected sabotage hinder his plans.

Determined to heal from her past, Jessie initiates a search for her father. Can a sliver of hope lead to everlasting love when additional obstacles—including a spurned woman and unpredictable weather—highjack Jessie’s dream wedding?

Jennifer Hallmark

Wed, May 22, 5:46 PM

to me

June Blog Tour Giveaway Extravaganza 

June 10th-June 30th

Prizes include:

$25 Amazon Gift Card
$10 Starbucks Gift Card
Print copy of Jessie’s Hope
2 Kindle copies of Jessie’s Hope

 Giveaway details: Go to my Rafflecopter Page to enter and possibly win one of five prizes to be drawn by Rafflecopter. Winners will be revealed on the author’s blog on July 1st. You can only enter by visiting my June blog tour from June 10th until June 30th. My visits include:

June 13th-Jennifer Slattery Lives Out Loud/Jennifer Slattery

June 14th-Favorite Friday Fiction/Me

June 15th-Inspired Prompt/Betty Thomason Owens

June 17th-Author Trish Perry/Trish Perry

June 17th-Southern Writers Magazine

June 18th-Author Liz Tolsma/Liz Tolsma

June 19th-Inspired Prompt/Betty Thomason Owens

June 21st-Snark & Sensibility/Linda Rondeau

June 24th-Fear Warrior/Jerusha Agen

June 24th-Author June Foster/June Foster

June 25th-Trumpet Tuesdays/Julie Arduini

June 26th-Seriously Write/Sandra Ardoin

June 28th-Heartfelt, Homespun fiction/Cynthia Herron

June 29th-The Write Conversation/Edie Melson