Micro Fiction

Slow Transit

"It ain't nothing but a game." Puck said to his little sister Tammy.  "You play a game. You win some you loose some.The trick is to get back out there and play twice as hard the next time regardless of winning or loosing."

Tammy was only half listening. She heard this speech from her coach. Come to think of it, he was Puck's coach a couple years ago. "When are you leaving for collage?" She thought to herself and turned to glare through the window.

Their mom was driving the minivan and remained silent. Her friend Kathy sat in the passenger seat chatting up a storm, but no one was listening. No one was listening to any one. Puck turned and looked out the window after noticing Tammy's wandering eyes.

Tammy wasn't really upset at loosing a hockey match. She was tired of dealing with the game and the people and the hours of practice. She had recently discovered hanging out with some of the weired kids at school. They never did anything except rag on other people at the school, but Tammy was working on a way to make a career out of it and was expecting a breakthrough any day now.

Puck suggested pizza and mom shot him down. Kathy started in on her vegetarian message. She had the same tired speech about health and animals. Tammy consciously resisted sticking her fingers in her ears. "What does mom see in this woman?" she thought while rolling her eyes back out the window.

They passed the street to Tammy's school. They passed the street to the neighborhood where most of her friend's lived. The friends who had mobile phones and could text each other endlessly. "You don't need a phone." "We live miles from all my friends." "Call them on the phone." "A mobile phone would be cheaper than a line in my room." "You don't need a phone." "What if I get a job and pay for it myself." "You need to concentrate on school." "Can I quit hockey?" "No. hockey is good for you." Blah Blah.

Puck elbowed Tammy in the arm. "What!" she turned to smack him in the arm but pulled the punch when she realized he was just trying to bring her back to Earth. Puck pointed to the driver's seat. "Yes mom?" Tammy said with the most grace she could muster having just aborted fratricide.

"When we get home I need you to ..." Tammy's mother rattled off a list of tasks. Nothing out of the ordinary. Quite the opposite.

It only takes ten minutes to get from the game to the house. It is the only house Tammy has ever lived in. This is her small town. She has never lived anywhere else for longer than a couple days. "Will I ever get out of this jerk-water berg?" She mutters under her breath.