I’ve joined the Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook. From their description: “Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).” Pretty cool, eh? Don’t forget to “Like” my Facebook page and/or my Facebook profile while you’re over there checking out this fantastic group!
This is from my WIP, an as yet unnamed story featuring Mike & Wes. The story is a from-the-ground-up rewrite of A Dream Come True, which was published back in February of 2009 at Torquere Press. The main themes of the story remain the same, and a number of familiar scenes are included, but there are quite a few changes, including a switch from alternating 3rd-person POV to a single 1st-person POV.
Scene background: For various reasons, Mike, who’s been out in his life (that’s now half a country away from where his family lives), has decided to come out of the closet to his family. Not something he wants to do over the phone, he’s flying home to do it and is more than a little stressed out. This scene thread opens with Mike getting on the plane.
Told from Mike’s 1st-person POV.
Click to expand refresher scenes from this thread:
This week’s new snippet:
My guess was he had a traveling companion, but they’d booked their flight too late to get two seats together. I’d be willing to trade, but I hoped it would at least be to another aisle seat. I wasn’t claustrophobic at all, but I preferred the freedom of an aisle seat.
I stopped in front of my row and looked at the man with my eyebrows raised questioningly. He stood and stepped out into the aisle. I opened my mouth, but wasn’t entirely sure what to say.
#RainbowSnippet
Ugh, reminds me of the jerk that sat in my seat on my way home from Bali. He had apparently paid for a front row, aisle seat (so had we) but the staff had put an old man who could barely move in his seat and the seat-stealer could absolutely NOT sit by the window (in the first row still) so he took my seat. He raised a stink and tried to get me to back down. “Do you know how many thousands of miles I travel every year??” But the husband didn’t care and in the end he had to move. He glared at us from his window seat all the way to Kuala Lumpur. His eyes must have been tired after doing that for three hours 😁
Hopefully that doesn’t happen to Mike 😉
I love that you didn’t back down! ♡ We’ll have to wait and see if Mike’s as assertive as you. 😉
I vote for just saying “Thank you,” and sitting down in the seat he vacated (and/or showing him my boarding pass with the seat assignment).
Hahaha! Yes…leave the guy sputtering in the aisle! 😄
Ugh. That’s super annoying. People are the absolute rudest on airplanes. My only horror stories are the woman who was obviously ill who sat next to me and the man who would not shut up the entire flight.
Ug. How awful. Like anyone wants to be exposed to someone’s virus as they head out on vacation (or at all for that matter). Being trapped next to a chatterbox sound horrible, too. 😟
Beautifully detailed description, balanced well with the tension of the scene.
Thank you! 😀
I hope he gets the seat he wants! 🙂
We’ll see. Mike’s not the most assertive fellow. 😕
There are reasons I no longer fly, and this situation is among them. My top, though, trying to get through airport security at Reagan… rude staff actually threatened me with physical search when I couldn’t keep my balance well enough to walk through the detector straight enough to suit them. Duh, um, I use a cane for a reason. Haven’t flown since. Funny how a snippet can bring up such memories.
Aw, sorry you had such a bad experience. 🙁
Geez, passengers can be rude, yes? I sat next to a woman who needed help with everything – how do I watch the movie? How does this work? That work? It was endless. Good thing my husband wasn’t sitting next to her. She might not be living right now… 😀
Yes, they sure can! People can be frustrating sometimes. 🙂
We don’t always need words I suspect 😉
True enough! 😃
I hope the flight won’t be completely annoying even if it’s off to a rough start.
We’ll see. 😉
Mike seems fairly accommodating here. A lot of people on planes are not.
He’s perhaps a little too non-confrontational.
I hate when that happens on planes! I hope he doesn’t back down and gets his seat.
Stay tuned to find out! 😏
This is about to get interesting. 😀
😁
What a lovely snippet 🙂
“from such inconsequential happenings new memories are born.”
Thank you! ♡