Mini NoNoWriMo -- 385 words

More than once, Clara had mentioned a neighbor---Long Neck, or T-Bone, or some sillyass redneck nickname, so the soft knock at the kitchen door didn't come as a shock, and neither did the scrawny kid standing there. Well, "kid" compared to her pushing 40---he was barely old enough to drink, and he was an inch or two shorter than she was, and correspondingly skinny.

"Hey," he greeted her, the standard Southern hail. "You're Miz Clara's friend."

"That's right. I'm Nancy." She extended a clean hand to his grubby one, making contact to get a better sense of who he really was. Safe enough, she concluded; he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but there was no meanness to him. "And you'd be Tallboy."

"Yes, ma'am. I used to do for Miz Clara---mowing and repairs and stuff---you got any questions 'bout the house, you just ask, I know right where everything is at."

"Come on in for some supper," she invited him. "It's nothing much, just leftovers, but I'd like to get an idea of what-all the house needs."

Tallboy Pettibone turned out to be more reliable than Nancy would've given him credit for. He was guilty of a fair amount of dumbass dare-deviltry on two and four wheels, but if it had wheels, he could fix it. When he made home repairs, they were done neatly and didn't fall apart a couple weeks or months down the road. She kept him fed and reasonably clean---he lived alone in an old travel-trailer at the salvage yard he ran a couple miles down the road (less by the shortcuts he knew through the woods)---and in return, the house was maintained in good order for the cost of groceries...and he wasn't a picky eater.

After a year or so, she stopped thinking of him as a neighbor. He came to her with questions about what he should do about one thing or another, was helpful, good company without being a nuisance, and Nancy finally decided to adopt him as a younger brother. Compared to the older brother she hadn't seen in more than a decade, Tallboy was a prize specimen. It was a workable relationship, nothing complicated, and it came in handy for things like getting a ride into Daytona for Bike Week.

Mini NoNoWriMo -- 385 words

More than once, Clara had mentioned a neighbor---Long Neck, or T-Bone, or some sillyass redneck nickname, so the soft knock at the kitchen door didn't come as a shock, and neither did the scrawny kid standing there. Well, "kid" compared to her pushing 40---he was barely old enough to drink, and he was an inch or two shorter than she was, and correspondingly skinny.

"Hey," he greeted her, the standard Southern hail. "You're Miz Clara's friend."

"That's right. I'm Nancy." She extended a clean hand to his grubby one, making contact to get a better sense of who he really was. Safe enough, she concluded; he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but there was no meanness to him. "And you'd be Tallboy."

"Yes, ma'am. I used to do for Miz Clara---mowing and repairs and stuff---you got any questions 'bout the house, you just ask, I know right where everything is at."

"Come on in for some supper," she invited him. "It's nothing much, just leftovers, but I'd like to get an idea of what-all the house needs."

Tallboy Pettibone turned out to be more reliable than Nancy would've given him credit for. He was guilty of a fair amount of dumbass dare-deviltry on two and four wheels, but if it had wheels, he could fix it. When he made home repairs, they were done neatly and didn't fall apart a couple weeks or months down the road. She kept him fed and reasonably clean---he lived alone in an old travel-trailer at the salvage yard he ran a couple miles down the road (less by the shortcuts he knew through the woods)---and in return, the house was maintained in good order for the cost of groceries...and he wasn't a picky eater.

After a year or so, she stopped thinking of him as a neighbor. He came to her with questions about what he should do about one thing or another, was helpful, good company without being a nuisance, and Nancy finally decided to adopt him as a younger brother. Compared to the older brother she hadn't seen in more than a decade, Tallboy was a prize specimen. It was a workable relationship, nothing complicated, and it came in handy for things like getting a ride into Daytona for Bike Week.