Jayne Martin, my sister in spirit, issued a fun challenge called He Said/She Said. Read the conversation below and then read it between the lines. What’s not being said? Comment below and then, if you’d like, write one of your own and link it to Jayne’s blog.
He said: Oh you’ll be here, don’t worry
She said: No I won’t, not my style.
He said: All the ladies end up here, believe me, after 34 years, I know.
She said: They come for your company. I don’t find you all that charming.
He said: Takes one to know one.
She said: I lied. You’re very charming.
He said: I know. Just like I know you’ll be here.
She said: I can’t imagine how that would happen.
He said: I’ll bet you’re already down to once every other day, right? You don’t need it every day like you used to.
She said: How did you know? I just started cutting back!
He said: Joe knows, honey. I’ve been around.
She said: Still, I can’t imagine coming once a week. That’s a long ways off.
He said: I have one spot left-Saturdays at 2:15 PM. Ellie died. Remember Ellie? You should grab it.
She said: I’m not grabbing Ellie’s spot. I don’t need it.
He said: Maybe not now, but you will. You will. And then it will be gone. Might be years before another spot opens up.
She said: I’ll take my chances.
He said: Okay, it’s your hair.
She said: And you just love to have your way with it, don’t you?
He said: Pretty soon I’ll be having my way with it once a week.
She said: No you won’t.
He said: Oh yes I will. Joe knows, Honey.
Thanks Jayne!
Chicken out
Borrowed from senioritycomplex.com
Chicken's Consigliere 
This is wonderful! Love the tease and then the reveal at the end. And your characters are beautifully drawn through their dialogue. Bravo!!
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Thanks Jayne-what a fun assignment! What was not being said is that this is a conversation about age. “She” has been going to “Him” to have her hair done for quite a long time, and he is suggesting that pretty soon, now that she’s getting on in years, she’ll be coming in for a weekly set and blow dry. “She” however, asserts that she is nowhere near the age where she doesn’t want to be bothered styling her own hair, and he’s essentially telling her, Look, face the facts, honey, you’re no spring chicken just because your hair isn’t gray. Your roots are and we both know it. It’s based on a similar conversation I had recently with my new hairdresser who’s been doing hair for the same ladies since both he and they were quite a lot younger and now they all come once a week, and when someone dies, there is a pipeline of women coming of age that will take the spot. He assured me that I’d be a once a weeker, too, eventually.
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I enjoyed that – and funny, I just wrote something yesterday, fairly random like, that would work for this … I might post it.
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Hi Christian-was it the one about LIzzy? Yes, you should do it! Thanks for reading.
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Hi Christian- Sometimes I only get the Wix website-try Wix it’s free here’s a template…but no Christian.
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I liked that – and funny, I just wrote something yesterday, rather random like, that might work for this…. I might post it …
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Well done. You’ve created two engaging characters. I want to know more about them.
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Hi Jim-thanks-I felt the same way about yours and Jayne’s sort of collaboration-I wanted the next chapter. Thanks for reading!
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Hee hee!! Love it! Great job.
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Thanks Jenny. Are you a once a weeker yet? I may start soon. It might be nice not to have to do my own hair.
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No, I’m going to follow in my mom’s footsteps – she’s not one yet either, and she is 84.
I actually don’t like anyone doing my hair. The nice young lady who cuts my hair now is the best I’ve had, and I leave her work intact, but many times in years past I would wash/dry my hair prior to the haircut, then get it washed, cut, dried, etc. then go home and wash it AGAIN, dry it etc. I might be a bit anal about how I like my hair done. D’ya think?
But I love your characters here. Sounds like one male stylist I had. Man, he loved to crack that cape into the air and float it down over me with a flourish. He also loved to imply that I should dye my hair. Current stylist told me she loved the colour of my hair, how the gray blends with all the other colours (I have weird hair). I might adopt her. Tell your stylist he has stiff competition for best stylist of the year. Maybe he’ll stop teasing you. Or IS he teasing?
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He’s not teasing. Man, Jenny….are you goofing on us all? do you have a secret blog? When you describe that cracking floating cape, and I think this with many of your comments, why come this lady does not have a blog?
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Ha! What fun. I might give this a whirl. Very clever-
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Yes Shelly-please do!!! It was fun.
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I absolutely love this! The ending was perfect. 🙂
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HI S.A. Thanks-I loved yours, too!
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He said: Murders are us, where’s the victim?
She said: Right there. Hurry before he gets away.
He said: (commits murder) Gotcha!
She said:Eeeek! Is he really dead?
He said: (does gratuitous overkill) He is now. Shall I…
She said: Please.
He said: (disposes of body) Better?
She said: A little. Thank you for dealing with that…
He said: No problem. As an adult male, spider-murder is part of my job description.
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Do you have that guys number? Seriously. Ok what’s not being said is that this girl has recently become a single gal and she just can’t do the spider thing. She researched it online. No luck, just a goth rock band and a rogue pokemon cell operating out of Iowa. But she talked to her cousin Gina in Jersey who had a boyfriend who knew a guy who for a price would make your little spider problem go away. Am I close?
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Well, let’s see… Sara is indeed recently single, and can’t seem to interest her cat, Charlie, in spider hunting at all. He seems to think that they have way too many legs and eyes and aren’t any fun to play with. She has a special can of spider poison, but it takes a while to kill them, and the one from the above story was still moving when I got to it. She found another one later, in the kitchen, and my eyesight is so poor that I missed it the first try. We both ended up on our hands and knees on the kitchen floor with her trying to show me where it was with a flashlight. After I squashed it inside of a paper towel, I pounded the paper towel with my fist a few times, which seemed to make her feel better. Spiders ARE icky, but not worth having a stroke over, so I kill them when I have to. This is a great comment for Halloween, right?
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Doug, this is a great comment for any old time. This is a great comment for brunch. Do you have a business card, by chance?
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Thank you, but nope. I just had that Jim Stafford record when I was a kid, and it apparently left a big impression on me.
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I can’t seem to reply to your reply to my reply above, so let’s pretend this is up there … Your sweet compliment made me smile and smile and then almost cry from your kindness. No, I don’t have a blog. I can’t write in a sustained way. Any thoughts I have are only comment-size. When I sit down to write anything else, nothing comes out. I have to tell you, your blog is so welcoming it is easy to be comfortable here. I feel at home, and if anything I write is of interest to anyone, it’s because you make it easy to be myself and put on the page what’s in my head. Thank you, Chicken. You are a good Chickie.
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Jenny, you are definitely a writer-I have a sense for these things. Maybe you are just over thinking it? I know what you mean-I have a hard time carrying through on anything longer than 500 words or so but still-it’s 500 words that weren’t on the page before and it’s practice. Sometimes I just sit down and start typing with no idea what will come out. Invite in the muse. If you type she will come. And thank you for being a regular reader and for all the nice things you are always saying about me.
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Over-thinking? Maybe so. Or maybe expecting it to come out right the first time I type it. You said “practice”. Maybe that’s the problem right there. Maybe it’s time to try again. I don’t think about other people’s writing as something that needs practice, or changing, or re-working. I know those words, I know they are real things that writers need to do, but in my heart I forget it. Maybe in the confidence part of my brain, I forget it. I think of other people’s writing as flowing directly from their brain to the page, no effort, nice and smooth. You have given me something to sort out.
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Jenny-you should go back and read some of my first posts. I’m not saying that I am great now, I’m just saying my first posts were awkward and I think, as I got a little practice, I improved. I hope I did. But even then, some days are better than others. I also think that it is ok to just write for yourself. Don’t even worry about anyone reading it. But if you will share it, I will always read anything you have to say.
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Writing for myself – now that is good advice, too. So, why did I not think of it? Sheesh. Thank you, again. And if you have any other advice, now or anytime, I’m all ears.
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P. S. I did start reading your archives awhile back. Must pick up where I left off, because I was enjoying them very much.
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you could also write like no one is reading…maybe that’s a better way to put it. it’s why I prefer anonymity. Even then, I am still a little reserved sometimes. When I’m not, wine is usually to blame:-)
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