#but we're aiming for november as the latest finish time because of nanowrimo

[captainsparklefingers]

Yes, it's technically Thursday, I'm always a bit behind the wheel. I got tagged by @grayintogreen, and I figured...well, what the hell. Maybe sharing a little bit of Unhappy Families will help with the writing motivation; I'm stuck in 1945 and absolutely dreading writing 1947, which is probably part of the problem. Turns out, trying to figure out how to write a downward spiral bender ending in a drug overdose? Not exactly fun!

But anyway. I don't really know who to tag but if you're working on something and want to share with the class, consider this a poke in the ribs?

And without further adieu, here's a little bit from Unhappy Families (or: one went up, two went down), specifically from 1929:

Pops dropped them off along the banks of the Hudson after what felt like the longest, quietest, most awkward car ride of Jonathan’s life. Tony’d sat uncomfortably close to him the entire time, his hands balled into two white-knuckled fists. Pops was silent the entire time, only speaking when the car stopped and he popped the trunk open to hand them two shovels.

“You two, get diggin’. I’m going to grab a few things and pick up our guest, and I’ll be back in thirty. I expect to see a decent size hole when I get back, understood?”

He and Tony’d quickly mumbled out a ‘yessir’ that seemed to satisfy Pops, who gave them a short nod, got back in the car, and drove off. Without looking at Tony, Jonathan started to dig. It was almost second nature to him at this point; he’d been digging graves for his father since he was fourteen, it was easy at this point to just turn his brain off and work through the task methodically. In, up, out, in, up, out.

He let himself get lost in the task and didn’t notice right away that Tony wasn’t digging until he caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye, gripping the shovel and staring at it like he couldn’t understand what it was.

“Tony…ya gotta dig. You can’t leave me doin’ all the work myself here.”

Tony just kept staring at the shovel.

“Fer Chrissake…Tony, Pops’ll know you didn’t dig when he gets back. You gotta at least try, kid.”

Fuck, was he shaking? He’d been doing so well, too, kept it together in the car the whole time, why did he have to slip up now? Christ. With a groan, Jonathan shoved his shovel into the dirt and walked over to his little brother. “Tony. Look. I know what you’re thinking. And…you can’t think, with this sort of stuff. You think it was easy for me when Pops took me out to do this for my first time?”

He still thought of it sometimes, that night when he was fourteen, when Pops took him along to take out a few rival soldiers mooching in their territory. The way they’d begged and pleaded, their terrified eyes…how quick his father was with his gun, not even blinking as he shot man after man in the head. The way the blood spray looked on the wall behind them. The smell of blood and bodily fluids and gunpowder.

How heavy the shovel had been. How heavy the bodies were.

“You just…you get used to it. You learn to turn your brain off and go somewhere else. Don’t…don’t think of it as diggin’ a grave, Tony. Yer in Mamma’s garden, helping her plant the tulip bulbs in the spring. Just…we do what Pappa wants,” he said quietly, staring into the hole he’d been digging. “I’ve told ya before. Keep acting the way he wants you to, and when it gets tough just…hide in your head for a bit, let instincts take over. Eventually, it gets easier.”

“Is that what you do?”

“...yeah. Yeah it is.”

Tony sniffled and looked at the hole, the shovel, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he had this look of grim, strangely cocky determination on his face, and he shot Jonathan a toothy grin.

“Bet I can dig faster than you.”

“Like hell you can, you little shit!”

For a few minutes, the two of them were able to forget why they were engaged in a digging contest; they were just two brothers trying to get one over on the other. And…it was nice.

And then the car came back.