vanillafluffy: (Justified -- Boyd)
[personal profile] vanillafluffy
Title: Nineteen Times Five
Authored by: [livejournal.com profile] vanillafluffy
Pairing/spoilers: Raylan/Boyd or Boyd/Raylan, you be the judge
Rating/Work-safeness: PG for one "damn" and it's just *barely* slash
Approximate word count: 650
Disclaimer: All rights belong to Elmore Leonard and FX Network. I am strictly non-profit. No disrespect meant to any coal miners, either.
Summary: Generated by [livejournal.com profile] amelia_17's inadvertant prompt of ambiguously gay duo, although I think it's more ambiguous than gay. I'll let you decide who the narrative voice is for yourself.


Nineteen Times Five



You're 19, and your daddy says it's time you pulled your own weight, because your high school diploma is a year old now and you haven't been able to get a job in town. The mine is hiring and you figure you have nothing to lose. Your best friend goes in there with you—he had a job, but they fired him from the car wash after four days when he 'accidentally' turned the hose on your former social studies teacher. You look forward to having some money, affording you the means to court pretty girls. For him, it's freedom, a way to get out from under his daddy's harsh scrutiny, and when you point out the fringe benefits, he rolls his eyes. Who would want a coal miner?

You're 19, and sometimes you blink like a mole when you come out of the mine after your shift. The coal dust is caked on every part of you. It's in your clothes and your boots and your hair. It's embedded in the creases of your knuckles and under your fingernails and in the bends of your elbows. And, though you stand in the shower 'til the hot water gives out and scrub yourself raw, you can never quite erase the acrid smell of coal dust and cordite, not even with after-shave, not even when you're wearing new clothes bought with your hard-earned money. You go to bars and dances looking your best and your buddy was right, because who would want a coal miner?

You're 19 and doing a man's job, but the girls you went to school with just give you that look now, the one that says you're nothing but another dirty miner, and she can do better. Any salesman, any plumber, hell, any fry-cook has a better chance of getting laid than you do. It makes you mad. You do crazy things because why not? if this is all there is. You spend eight-ten-twelve hours in a hole in the dark five days a week, drunk Saturday night and hungover on Sunday. And for what? You know some of your coworkers have sweethearts—even wives and children—and you wish you could summon the nerve to ask them how, because who would want a coal miner?

You're 19 and you feel doomed. Yesterday a man died in a rock fall, and it could have been you. Or your best friend, or the guy next to him. Just because it wasn't you, this time, doesn't mean you're off the hook. It could happen tomorrow, next week, five years from now...fate hangs over your head, all those tons of rock. Who would miss you if the mine took your life? You'd be a name and dates chiseled onto a stone in the family plot, leaving nothing behind and forgotten in a few short years. Maybe that's why Saturday nights are you and him drinking and looking for a fight to relieve the tension. Those sweet gals aren't eager to be widows. Who would want a coal miner?

You're 19, all your juices flowing, you've got needs, damn it, your nerves strung taut and restless. A year ago, you were a rail-thin, wiry kid, and now you're all muscle and sinew. You've noticed it, toweling off after those futile showers and one day, you're suddenly aware it's happened to your best friend, too. He's in the same fix when it comes to sexual release, so one weekend instead of going out and getting drunk, you invite him to go fishing. A little booze, some horsing around, one thing leads to another. Rough coal-stained hands stroke skin that never sees sunlight. He smells of coal dust and cordite and testosterone. You can live with that. Who would want a coal miner?

Another coal miner.

***



Comments are shiny.

.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-02 09:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] adventurat.livejournal.com
That reminds me a lot of "Brokeback Mountain", actually. Narrative voice, youth, isolation... nicely done.

*fans self*

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-02 09:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
That reminds me a lot of "Brokeback Mountain",

Which I haven't read. I caught part of the film on TV, but just bits, really, because 'edited for TV' movies have usually had all the life sucked out of them.

I'm glad you thought it was hot; part of the reason for the repetitve structure was to heighten tension. Thanks for commenting!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-03 12:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] adventurat.livejournal.com
I just emailed you the story, which someone was kind enough to email to me a few years ago. It won't take long to read, and then you'll see what I mean. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-03 04:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
Beautifully written---certainly more poetic than my typical prose. It certainly gives me something to aspire to.

Thanks!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-02 11:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amelia-17.livejournal.com
Inadvertant prompts FTW! This was fantastic!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-02 11:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
Thanks so much! I owe ita all to you.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-03 01:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] courtberger.livejournal.com
Wow! This is incredible and beautifully written, thank you so much for sharing! Perfectly done and very hot, I really enjoyed this, so cool!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-03 03:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
Thank you kindly. My usual prose style is more straightforward---no pun indended---but I was trying to go to sleep last night and trying to work out a completely different piece of writing in my head, when this started struggling to be born. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-03 06:39 am (UTC)
fufaraw: mist drift upslope (Default)
From: [personal profile] fufaraw
I love this. The spare, straightforward language still manages to have a Kentucky cadence and a clarity of sunlight after darkness. Well done.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-03 07:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
A good friend of mine in high school was from Kentucky, and at the time, her accent was exotic to me. I've been told I have an ear for speach patterns, so apparently I absorbed that from her. I'm glad you liked it, it's a bit of a departure from my usual style. thanks for commenting!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-06 04:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gwylliondream.livejournal.com
This was beautifully written. You really capture a lot of the unsaid feelings and unspoken hopes of either of the two men. Just gorgeous. And do check out BBM if you have the chance!

Thanks so much for writing.

XO
Donna

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-06 05:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
Thanks so much for commenting, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

What's BBM?

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-06 05:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gwylliondream.livejournal.com
Brokeback Mountain. Your ficlet is very evocative of their canon.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-06 05:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
Well, duh! Obvious when it's pointed out.

I did just read through it over the weekend...even more depressing than I expected, but really well written, so thanks again.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-24 03:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bronctastic.livejournal.com
Very well written. Thank you.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-07-24 03:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
Thank you kindly. Glad you enjoyed it.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-02-23 05:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] taylor-serenil.livejournal.com
I like the repetition--it gives this almost a lyrical feel.

Also, I like the thought of Raylan and Boyd's friendship developing some much-needed "benefits".

(no subject)

Date: 2011-02-23 05:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
I was going for sort of structured free verse, if that makes sense. Glad it came across.

Thanks so much for commenting!
.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-03-20 01:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] halfshellvenus.livejournal.com
I love that this could be either one of them, because it's just as true for both-- the frustrations, the crappy home life, the urge to do something (anything) wild just to know you're still alive.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-03-20 03:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vanillafluffy.livejournal.com
Thanks! I keep wondering if we'll ever find out who jumped ship first, whether it was Raylan going to school or Boyd joining the Army. I'm inclined to think it was Raylan, but IDK for sure.

I have a few AUs going on in my head, like Raylan taking after Arlo and Boyd being the marshal who returns to Harlan. Or Boyd being a preacher instead of an outlaw. Or Boyd being career Army and Tim's commanding officer. All kinds of things....


.

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