Another short story...

Here's the third class assignment from the Monica Drake Intensive.

The whole objective of this assignment was to use lists in our writing, which you'll find a lot of in A Constant Suicide. I wrote an entirely different, longer story for this assignment. It sucked.

So, I took the standpoint of some lonely-hearted, occasionally finds some luck with the ladies guy. Here's what my make-believe character had to say.

Here it is. Please, leave some feedback.

Souvenirs
By Brian Krans

With each one I take something.

Emily. A piece of her bubble gum.

Tara. It was her sparkled pencil case.

I keep a souvenir every time. Something to remember each one by.

Jennifer. It was her scrunchie hair tie.

Erica. A charm from her bracelet.

Katie. A Scantron from her book bag.

First I met them at dances at other schools, water parks during the summer, the mall.

Julie. A plastic miniature wallaby from her keychain.

Now it's at the bar when I'm out with friends, airport hotels when I'm on business, the strip club when I'm feeling lonely.

Meredith. A collection of removed hairpins with a few strands of brown hair stuck between them.

We come together and depart.

Simone. A small perfume bottle in her purse.

Jenny. A matchbook from her hotel room.

I keep all this refuse in a cigar box. It's my little secret treasure chest, buried deep in my closet. They remind me each time was real. They make me yearn for the next one.

Amy. A subway token.

Beth. A Strokes CD from her car.

Christie. A business card she never gave me but I took afterward.

Heidi. Her chrome-plated cigarette lighter.

Tara. Her pink thong lace underwear.

These are my dolls. We dance our dance and then leave each other. We never forget each other, yet we'll never see each other again.

Tonight her name is Sophie.

Tonight I'm taking her wedding ring.