{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a 100-word challenge to write about a selected photograph. In this one, I immediately fixed upon the beer stein, which now that I look at it, may well be a sifter. Oh well. This story is loosely based on the atmosphere of Stammtisch, a weekly event of the German Club at the University of Florida, where I went to school. The story is fictional, and may have been influenced a little too much, by binge-watching Outlander this week. Thank you for the prompt and for reading!)
Clementine did Bierhalle, every Friday night.
Within the dim pub walls, German and English collapsed, into indecipherable pidgin.
Wistful freshmen prattled at Junior-year-overseas veterans.
Sebastian, the exchange student, knowingly tossed a glint of his golden curls. Clementine bolted.
“You call this German?” he laughed, now beside her, at the bar.
“Hardly.” Clementine’s snicker melted, into shame.
“About last Friday…”
His lips curved triumphantly. Clementine’s own burned in the cold brew.
“Too bad I must leave,” he lamented.
“It was a mistake,” Clementine shrugged.
Sebastian’s tone turned as serious, as a black-and-white war movie.
”Where I come from…mistakes must be corrected.”
A little scary…perfect for a campfire!
Thanks Dawn!
A good story with great dialogue, Andrea. She’s been foolish and he’s probably proudly blabbed about it to all his friends. He sounds like the type who will cut her loose when he goes back to Germany. —- Suzanne
And just like that – switch.
Some people can turn on a dime that way. Thanks Tannile!
Sebastian is a dangerous guy. I hope Clementine has someone there to help her. Scary.
That seems to be the consensus. Thanks granonine!
I agree with Penny. He needs to leave. Now. Back where he is from!
Well done.
I’ll tell him, Dale.
Sebastian sounds too manipulative to be healthy. He tosses his golden curls knowingly; his lips curled triumphantly; both these happened before he said anything, so I don’t think his language skills are wholly to blame for how he comes across! Personally I wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole…
Excellent take on the prompt, Andi, and a very good story.
Thank you Penny! A character only a mother (or author) could love. ?
I guess I’m the only one who thought Sebastian was just doing an awful job of asking her for a second date – our last date was a mistake, so our next one will be glorious! Either interpretation, run, Clementine, run! (Of course, the sequel could be Oh my darling Clementine, you are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorrow – sorrow that every time I hear that name I think of this song)
Lost and Gone Forever was my original working title. ?.
You got it right, Trent, that’s what I had in mind when I wrote the piece, that Sebastian wanted an opportunity to make things better, speaking in a second language causes him to express himself in a way that means more than he intended.
But, clearly, this story has a mind of its own, and insists upon being interpreted another way!
My intention, too, was to convey that their last meetup was more of a drunken hookup, than a date, which would account for Clementine’s embarrassment, upon seeing him again. ???
Ooooo that last line has me worried. What a great mood piece. The switch to ominous at the end works really well
Thanks Laurie!
I don’t like the sound of Sebastian. She should give up the Bierhalle nights.
Perhaps. Or, maybe, he is trying to tell her, in an overly-commanding, brutally blunt way, that he considers their liaison last Friday to not be a mistake beyond redemption.
Dear Andrea,
This doesn’t sound good. Particularly not for Clementine. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle. Glad the tone came through.
That’s a pretty ominous last line! I hope she’s not planning on walking home alone…
Thank you draliman. Couldn’t resist drawing on movie stereotypes!