At the Side of the Road
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.”
A groan.
“I came to a fork in the road, so I picked it up!”
“Mom, seriously.”
“No poems, no jokes. How about interesting facts? French for Stop is Arret. It’s the root of our word arrest, like cardiac arrest, but we mostly…”
“No, Mom. No jokes, no facts, no silly word games.”
“So we’re just going to sit here and pretend your brother isn’t yakking on the verge outside the car?”
Silence.
“Wales uses Stop signs but it’s not proper Welsh. Should be Stopiwch or Stopio.”
“I’m gonna go join the barfing.”
Extroduction
This one is totally clear to me in my head, but I don’t know whether it needs more exposition to be clear. I had in mind Mom and son waiting in the car while another son hurls his guts at the side of the road. Mom’s trying to distract herself and her son, but he’s not in the mood. Let me know if that’s what you saw – and don’t be afraid to critique if it’s not.
My youngest has all-but written off our car this week by NOT waiting until he got out and liberally decorating the inside. Luckily, it’s a Jeep Wrangler, so worst case scenario, I’ll take the roof off and drive it through a car wash. A highlight while attempting to clean it by hand was discovering that the floor has a drainage plug. Y’know, in case you flood the car. The designer probably didn’t envisage the flood being caused by me with a bottle of bleach and a hose!
In other news, here’s the Welsh Stop sign debate.
elmowrites 
I saw the disraction, for sure
Poor Mom, she’s just trying to relax.
Yep, that’s what I got. Ugh, sorry about your car interior. Some of the people I’ve seen in Jeeps, well, I’d be surprised if they didn’t use that plug for that purpose at least once…
LOL, I’m sure you’re right! Touch wood my attempts have been sufficient, but the car wash isn’t far away if not!
It is good to experiment in writing, however ‘Eugene the Jeep’ advises no bleach,
Had to look up Eugene the Jeep, Michael. I’m very much hoping he didn’t have a plug!
Great story. It would be quite clear to anyone except an Aussie like me. Yakking in Aussie slang is just talking or a lot of talking. So I am thankful for the explanation! Who would have thought a jeep would have a plug? Ingenious. I think my son needs one. He lives in a flood affected area.
Yakking isn’t my native slang either, Forestwood, but it seems more common here. I might change it though, it does seem to have tripped a few people up.
There are so many euphemisms for vomit!
I got the “yakking” a bit late, but the word “barfing” clued me in. A slice of real life 🙂
My kids have a whole range of vomit synonyms; perhaps I should’ve picked a different one!
Nah. I learned a new one, and I’m sure there are plenty of readers who knew what you meant. In my lengthy life, people who are
“yakking” are talking together. A “yakkety-yak” is a person who talks too much–word vomit, if you will 🙂
So when kids are bored, there is no pleasing them.
…Unless you give them a screen!
So true these days. I was happy with a ball and a wall.
Dear Jen,
It was pretty clear what Yakking meant after I read farther. Interesting conversation. Mum’s doing her best under the circumstances.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle. Yes, poor Mum is just trying to keep her smile plastered on. I know how she feels!
I saw the distraction. Don’t know why I assumed the one in the car was a daughter but either or 😉
And, like Linda, I was unfamiliar with yakking… thinking he was chatting, not barfing!
And, ugh for your case!
Thanks Dale, and a personal apology for not being able to work accents in WordPress.
Could just as easily be a daughter in the car, I agree.
No apologies needed for me, that is for sure!
And, if you work on a PC, using google, I just discovered that you can right click, choose emoji, but it also has symbols and every letter with every accent (I was rather chuffed to be told this 🙂 )
ê Well, would you look at that! Thank you
😉 Mon plaisir 😀
I read the story at face value, Jen. Thanks for explanation (I think). And to Dale for the symbols hint (I need that too). Oh and the metric imperial thingy too. 🙂
We’re all back to school this week, Bill!
I thought the conversation was between a mother and her daughter. It’s hard to engage or entertain your kids. Many of them would rather be texting or plugged in to some device than to have meaningful conversations. Mom was simply trying her best in an otherwise very unpleasant situation.
Indeed. Mine definitely lean towards the screens, but if I let one play while the other was ‘busy’ like this, there’d be hell to pay!
Hi Jen,
the meaning of the story was totally clear, don’t worry. I think I’d be the mom, trying to say whatever to distract the other one. Great job!
Thanks David, and glad I’m not the only parent trying in vain!
I thought yakking was talking a lot, so I learned a new one there. The things we do to distract from the sound of vomiting…good on Mum!
When my elder one hears or sees it, he gets decidedly green – the last thing I need to two of them at it!
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