YWS Olympics Event Four

Event Four: Trash Talk

You are going through your neighbour's garbage: why? What do you find and what does this tell you about your neighbour? Let your creativity flow and produce a piece of writing where the key theme is your neighbour's garbage. The persona can be anyone and the piece of writing can be poetry, prose, lyrics etc. Whatever takes your fancy. The word limit is three hundred and fifty words.

Example

Trash Talk

I've got him this time. The trash sings to me like too many lost angels closeted in a metal can. It sings like silver. His silver. It glittered, Mercy. It glittered and it reminded me of you. I'll get him. I'll get him like he got you, I'll gut him with his catgut and make me a rope from the crisp packets, rattling cans and shoe laces. Trainers. Did he wear them when he touched you? Mercy.

How to Enter

Once you have completed your entry, post it here. Please run a spell check first - any spelling errors will disqualify you from the event. After posting, you may edit your entry as many times as you wish until the end of the event. This event ends twenty-four hours from now, or when the thread has been locked. After the thread is locked, do not edit your entries, this will also disqualify you.

If you are uncertain about any part of this event, please do not post questions here. This thread is for entries only. Instead, go here but be aware that these events are only open for twenty-four hours so I may not be able to respond to your question in time.

Teams

If you are on a team, be sure to list the name of it at the top of your post. Best of luck to everyone.

Trash Talk (When you don't know what to do, write a haiku)

Why is it that now
any part of me in your home
is in your trashcan?

Spoiler

Team Conjunction! In any case that you're confused, my persona is that of a crazy obsessive who's more obsessed rather than in love with the other in the relationship. Maybe male.

i secretly bathe in the soup made from my girlfriend's trash boiled

She and I have agreed to take up to living separately. Space, she said. Distance, she said. Moved in right next door as I agreed to please her. I love her like the pleasantry that I am taking in going through my girlfriend's (her's) trash. Like usual.

Used makeup. Various food containers. Oh. The Chinese takeaway we had movie night. Some beef. Strange. Thought she was a vegetarian. Certainly not my beef. I had chicken. It sort of smells like her too.. Oh! Her almost empty water bottles. Should've recycled. I'll take it back later to boil with the rest. This will help us become closer.. it always felt much more intimate this way. I'll tell her, about it. What I do, I mean. .. Eventually. When it comes to it. She doesn't have to know. Its not exactly a secret.

An album. Her album. Why would she throw it away? Maybe she didn't know. I'll leave it on her balcony tonight. A pleasant surprise she'll have. Shame. She looked so lovely when she was younger. Blonde curls? Doesn't quite suit her like her brunette locks now. Beautiful.

A necklace. This was the necklace that I gave her on our four month anniversary. We're so happy at eight months right now.. Hm. Lock's broken. Should've told me! I'll fix it later. Leave it with the album. Yes. That's a good idea. I'll keep it in my pocket for now.

I love her. Very much. I do. Oh, she really needs to pick up a recycling habit.. I'll get her a recycling bin, remind her. It'll be a good thing. She ought to learn to care. Then again..

Her bedroom light's on. Probably working on that college thesis she needs to finish. She's so busy these days. Such a workaholic, so committed. I love her.

I'll just take some more of this.. and that.. My bag'll fill up with the stuff. Kettle's on right now, making tea. I'll make sure to get to the album and necklace once I finish up here.

I love her.

Team R.O.R: Residents of Randomosity ^u^

Spoiler

My entry is kinda like, the first page or so of a larger story ^^ I wish I had a larger limit so I could get all my idea down, but alas, it can not be ^^ Anywho, I hope you like it ^^

The Boy Next Door

~I rifled through my neighbors garbage.

Hey, don’t judge me! I can open my story however I want. And like you’ve never wondered about your neighbor. Everyone suspects each other of something. Everyone.

And in my opinion, the best way to know about them is to know their lowest level. Their garbage.

Anyway, so I was rummaging my way through David Cunning’s garbage.

Great, now you probably think I’m going through his trash cause I like him or that I’m obsessed with him. Let me just tell you now; No. I’m not.

You see, I’ve lived next to him for almost 4 years now. There’s something off with this kid. Trust me.

Sometimes, he’s just not ‘there’, like he’s daydreaming. But he’s not. Sometimes he keeps looking over his shoulder, like someone’s stalking him. But no one is. Sometimes, he’ll whisper to himself when he thinks people aren’t watching. But I am.

No! I’m not obsessed with him. I’m just . . . observant. Yah, that’s it. Observant.

Anyway, it’s not that I’m judging the guy. It’s just that he’s a little weird, and I’m a little curious.

There really was some interesting stuff in there; you really can tell a lot about a person by looking through their trash.

Two bottles of nail polish, old iron curler, lots of gum. Becka, David’s sister. Main-stream fashionista who likes jewelry. Hates losers.

In the next one, which I’m sure was David’s, I found; Tissues and Q-tips. What the heck? I thought. This is it? Really? I go rummaging through his garbage for used Q-tips? There’s nothing weird about this kid at all!

Then I found it. The pendant.

I lifted it carefully out of the trash, watching its clear blue surface shine in the sun. Well, this piece is a little odd.

“What the heck do you think you’re doing?!” I looked up to see David ten feet away from me. His eyes traveled from my face to the pendant in my hand “Give me that back! It's mine!”

I did the only thing a sane person would do.

I ran.~

Team r.o.r (residents of randomosity) ^.^

Spoiler

That word limit killed me!!

The Ayuzawa's
“They aren’t what they appear to be.” The boss’s voice rang in my head. I sigh. I work as a journalist in Japan. Boss does have a nose for news, but this time it’s off. The Ayuzawa‘s, are like any other family. That’s what I reported. He was close to re-assigning me but, I went and told them that the Ayuzawa’s were my neighbors. I sigh again.

“Sighing like that will suck away your happiness.” A voice came from behind. It was Ayuzawa Mimi. I smile back at her and then notice that she got yet another bulging plastic bag. I could have sworn that you could see the stink, seeping out.
“Why do you guys bring home garbage?” I ask.
“Why wouldn’t we?” She got me there. Reaching my gate, I see to it she reaches hers then wave goodbye. Stepping into my home, boss’s voice booms in my head.
“I tell you I smell news! If you don’t bring me back some you’re fired!” Smell news? He just smelt the garbage …That’s it! I look at their house. Was I really going to do this? Of course I was. It looked like the Ayuzawa’s were already asleep with the exception of Mimi . I notice that there’s steam coming out from a small window. She was taking a bath.

I climb over the wall run towards the little garbage shed…they built a shed! It was locked. Maybe because of Raccoons? I pick at the lock and get in. The smell hit like a tidal wave. Pinching my nose, I made it to the first bin. All that was inside it was garbage. Nothing strange in all bins. My search wasn’t getting me anywhere. Just then a cardboard box on the ground moved. A raccoon came out. So much for the lock, it ran and knocked over a bin. The garbage fell out. It went in the bin and ate the garbage then turned gold and everything it touched turned gold too.
‘Bingo.’

Team Conjunction

My Mama the Cook

“Laughter is in the place where food is.” My mama would always tell me whenever we experienced one of her more exotic dishes. The happiest time of day was whenever we sat down for one of her meals. We would laugh together and I would taste her dishes meat and potatoes. Everything tasted better with potatoes.

It was just Mama and I. Dad left long ago and we laughed said it was for the best. There were a couple boyfriends but let them go saying “Who needs men?” Needless to say, we were tight. She wouldn’t let me live with her after I turned eighteen, “Girls need to explore the world! Make friends. Find lovers!” I ended up in the house right next to hers too homesick to be gone any longer. Tut-tut-tutting she fixed me my favorite dish and we caught up over Garnished beef.

She died yesterday. I sobbed uncontrollably at the funeral. Mama knew she was going to die soon the day before she told me I wouldn’t see her again. I denied it of course but…

As I walked home I passed by her house. Being you’re mother’s neighbor has all the advantages of living at home without having to clean your room. There was something golden sticking out of her trash can and without thinking pried it out. I held it in my hands. It was our family picture when Dad was still here. I was grinning stupidly at the camera and Dad had his arms wrapped around Mama. I’d always wondered why he left. Mama never told me exactly why.

I dug in the trash for more clues. A meat cleaver that looked very sharp. I hurriedly put that away. I was a female Archie. Her handwritten recipe book with ingredients like liver and pickled heart; oh my mama always experimenting with new things. This was either her experiments with pig or venison. Something long, dark and shiny passed through my fingers. Ewww, I shuddered. I grasped something furry and cold.

Pulling it out I saw the frozen face of my father in mid-scream.