Ficlets

Sweet Carolina, Part I

First off, know that I hate coffee.

What’s more, I hate what coffee shops have done to coffee. Say what you will about the stuff, at least coffee has character. A bitter, nasty character, yes. But character nonetheless—character that gets emasculated when it’s turned into some frothy mocha half-caf monstrosity designed to be sucked down by wanna-be writers and real estate agents. I don’t like coffee, but I pity it for what coffee shops have made of it.

So, you ask, if I hate coffee so much, and hate what it’s become even more, why am I waiting in line in a coffee shop, $3.15 in hand for a piccolo-sized Mochatatic Blast? The answer is separated from me by two customers and a register and, I suspect, entire genres of popular music. Her name is Carolina, she’s the coffee barrista, and she hasn’t the slightest idea that she’s the reason I suck down overpriced, humiliated bean water three times a day.

Let me tell you about the first time I saw her, and how this madness all began…

Comments

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Sweet Carolina, Part I
Scalzi
Posted about 1 year ago

For everyone who reads this piece—the idea here is to have you folks write a sequel Ficlet; that is, to pick up the story from where it’s been left off. And then when you’ve written yours, perhaps someone else will pick up where you left off, and so on.

Have fun!
Sweet Carolina, Part I
StrugglingWriter
Posted about 1 year ago

Very nice. Many possibilities to where it could go.
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Nick Stump
Posted about 1 year ago

Lost my first draft. Damn.
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Stacey Franchise
Posted about 1 year ago

I probably should have looked a little harder to see if someone had already picked up the thread here before I started adding to the story… my bad.

Is there some way you/I could erase that?
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Scalzi
Posted about 1 year ago

Stacey, you’re perfectly free to write your own sequel—you don’t have to follow anyone else’s direction.
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Dossy
Posted about 1 year ago

Scalzi, you didn’t leave much room for prequels, did you. :-)
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Justin Thenikov Tyme, Jr.
Posted about 1 year ago

I wrote a prequel to see if I could.

What happens if a string of prequels and sequels wraps around and connects? ficlets.com explodes? That would rock.

Thanks for this interesting hook!
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Coz
Posted about 1 year ago

Ok… I wrote my sequel… next writer up, please?
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Nick
Posted about 1 year ago

I’ll leave the prequels and sequels to finer wordsmiths than me, but I did wish to state that this is an excellent ficlet for launching other ficlets from. Open-ended and semi-directed, one could conceivably go anywhere with this piece. Brilliant.
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Tygertrot
Posted about 1 year ago

You’ve got a talent for description – “humiliated beanwater”? That line has me about as close as I’ll ever get to rolling on the floor laughing.
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Alexa ♥
Posted 10 months ago

I love the character’s complexity and the openness of the Ficlet.
Sweet Carolina, Part I
Metaphoric Spurs
Posted 7 months ago

You could have described me. I despise the bitter brew.