Mandolin: A Short Story

Improved Essays
Mandolin glanced behind her to see how much time she had. She needed to buy some time, but it seemed as if there was no way. Either she gets caught or Janis did. Janis, in the middle of an undercover heist, getting caught was a bad idea. However, when the man behind her rounded the corner, hope struck Mandolin. She felt her pockets and found a bobby pin, the broken watch she forgot to fix and the cough drop she took out her mouth so she wouldn’t choke. How could she just let herself come unprepared. Wait.

I have an idea. Grabbing the hairpin, I quickly check both ways before sprinting across the street. Why is the dog still following me. I run up to the gate to my neighbor’s house and pick the lock with the bobby pin. Running through
…show more content…
He barks and attempts to jump up and check me. I throw the cough drop before tumbling over the fence. He sniffs around, chasing the vitamin filled hard candy. Not candy really. Candy makes it sound like you should eat them for fun. People do, I guess but that’s not the point. I check the partly dismantled clock. With minutes to spare! Maybe? It made more dramatic, so roll with it, Andy! Mission accomplished Mandolin! “Who’s Mandolin!” Mrs. Latvia screams. “Is your mom adding another reckless bag of snot to your band of broken souls?” “No!” I roll my eyes at her snarky comments. New objective: Move out when 18 to avoid this nosy neighborhood. “There’s-” “The factory’s closed! No more coming from me!” My mom yells over the fence from behind me. “Holy sh-” “Watch your mouth, Andy!” She says moving a hand from under the grocery bag she was carrying to point a finger at me. “Val, your child was running through my yard!” My mom’s eyebrow quirks up. “Was she? When?” “Not that long before you pulled up!” “Thanks for informing me, Mrs. Latvia. Have a nice night.” My mom grabs my arm before dragging me towards the car. “I don’t know why Frances likes to cause trouble. It’s a problem, mom. Let’s get her the help she needs.” I stamp my words with a “concerned” smile. My mom rolls her

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Rough Draft We walked down the aisle passing by cage after cage, listening to the deafening sound of hundreds of dogs barking. Cheryl, the vintner coordinator, tried to tell us about some of the dogs, but with the amount of noise all we could do was nod and pretend like we understood. I kept my eyes open for dogs that would be fun to walk after our orientation. And out of the corner of my eye I saw a ghost of a dog.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Janie’s Growth as an Individual Janie, the main character in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, experienced a lot of growth of her personality and her life as a married woman. Her experiences in her life over the course of the book make her look strong and vulnerable. When she was married to Logan Killicks, she was very young and naive. In her marriage to Joe Starks, twenty years of abuse and yelling made her more strong as a person before his death. With Tea Cake, however, she was very happy.…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It was 1884, when the Law of Religion was passed. The law didn't allow citizens of Poland to practice their own religion. My parents were furious, especially my father who was a preacher at the town Church of God. So, my parents allowed that my sister, Lena, and I would move to America with them. It was going to be a long journey, this I already knew.…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about Janie Crawford, an African American girl with white heritage, recalling her life since she left Eatonville, Florida. The book begins with Janie telling her story to her friend Phoebe. Starting at her childhood, Janie explains how she was raised by her grandmother and fills Phoebe in on the most defining events during that time. She explains how she found out she was not white like the other children she was around and recalls her first kiss with Johnnie under a pear tree, which fueled her grandmother’s desire to marry her off. Less interested in whether or not Janie was in love, she was soon married off to a farmer by the name of Logan Killicks in order to ensure she had a good social status and financial security.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    West Englewood Narrative

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages

    For many parents, the birth of a new child brings joy and glee. However for my father, I was a burden made by his late-night illegal activities. West Englewood is an area many people have not heard of - it’s tucked inside the southwest side of Chicago. During the day, the people of Englewood would wake up to the smell and sound of gunshots and burning tyres. Police officers would parade the streets in their well-ironed uniforms and the alleys would be covered with bright and colourful graffiti of sayings and images, which I didn’t understand at the time.…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My brother, Ben, was a short, chunky, little sixth grader. He had jeans shorts, a bright red short sleeve plaid shirt on, and a pair of black flip flops on. He loved to play outside. He would go on bike rides, ride his skateboard around, and just hang out with his friends outside. He would be outside from sun up to just before the sun set.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    run, but decided to keep looking for a key to the barn. After going thru the house and not finding anything, we headed toward the barn, but the scarecrow caught my eye and I decided to check him out. None of us thought to question the pumpkin head, but around its arm was a key hanging from a string. I took it over to the barn to see if it worked on the lock, and surprisingly it worked. As we opened up the barn door,we heard a noise in back of us, as we turned we saw the pitchfork stuck in the ground behind us and the scarecrow was gone.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a very dramatic monologue that is awash with humor and delivered in a characteristic Southern dialect, Eudora Welty a native of the South successfully brings a story spotted with various themes and moods. This is a story written in 1941 in the local setting of the small town China Grove, Mississippi. Delivered in the first person, the narrator plants some sense of empathy as the story begins but along the narration the reader gets to understand that the narrator is not of clean hands herself. Sister, the narrator, is laden with internal conflict, insecurities, and low self esteem which spill over in form of sibling rivalry against her sister Stella-Rhondo.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lamb to the Slaughter Informal Writing Assignment A short story is a piece of fictional writing usually fewer than ten thousand words and can be finished in one sitting. Through the short stories read in class, I believe that Mary Maloney of “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl had the most difficult problem, but successfully solves the dilemma in the end. As well, if I were in Mary’s position, I would have some tips to guide her in her crazed state.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alternate ending to “Fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell As Cath is reading the ending of her Simon Snow fanfiction to Levi, she receives a phone call. She intended to ignore it, but Levi already answered it. He had a solemn look on his face and tried not to make eye contact with Cath when he hung up the phone. “I, uh, I don't really know how to say this but, you see...”…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about Janie Crawford, an light skinned, attractive, middle-aged African American woman who exudes confidence, but is constant search for love. The novel opens up with her returning to Eatonville, Florida, after being absent for a long period of time. As she walks into the town in dirty overalls with no eye contact, the black townspeople speculate about her absence and how she appears. The gossip about what could have happened to her young husband, Tea Cake is raised. The townsfolk are quickly silenced by Janie’s long time friend, Pheoby, as she defends her friend.…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ramon A Narrative Fiction

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Today was dragging on more than usual. I just wanted to leave school and go pick up Ramona. As of today we’ve been dating for a year and I knew I’d never been happier. I just hated the fact that I can’t tell my mom.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The hot rays of the sun dazzle the windows of the ice cream shop as I peer in nervously, hoping that nobody I knew was inside. “Come on Ava,” my mom says, holding the shop door open. “I can’t stand here forever!” In the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of Heather and a couple of her friends laughing and eating huge ice cream sundaes complete with a mountain of toppings at a table in the back of the shop. Reluctantly, I trudge through the door, trying to keep my head low, in hopes that Heather and her friends wouldn’t see me.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    1.2FA: Narrative I thought they were happy to see me but when I open the door to the shack I saw that everything we owned was neatly packed in cardboard boxes. I went in to the house with a sad face momma asked “ What's wrong.” I said “Why do we have to move again. “Because we need more work because we are braceros.”…

    • 202 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every Friday night I would run to my room when I heard the car door slam. I ran as fast as I could to the comfort of my blankets and my teddy bear and waited for the yelling and screaming to begin. Dad had just gotten home from the bar. He had been spending all day smoking and drinking. My parents would fight for hours on end about how my father was addicted.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays