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A Man Out Here

November 27, 2021 14 Comments

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A man out here who whined about the sweat-generating heat, and the bush flies in his eyes and up his nose, wouldn’t be a man, and Harry would never have that said of him.

Out here, a man who couldn’t fix a snapped axle on a mail truck in a dry creek bed wouldn’t be worth feeding.

As for thinking he could hear the roar of an oncoming train, well, a man would have to be a mental case to pay that any attention.

So Harry didn’t, until the flash flood carried him and the truck and the mail miles downstream.

By Doug Jacquier

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Leonard Mills says

    November 27, 2021 at 7:30 am

    Poor Harry. Great narrative. I didn’t quite understand the end of the first para, but the rest of the story compensated. Will put together, and a nice structural template that could lend itself to a myriad stories. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Doug Jacquier says

      November 27, 2021 at 6:36 pm

      Thanks, Leonard. The first sentence was trying to set the scene for what Harry was up against.

      Reply
  2. HelenZ says

    November 27, 2021 at 8:35 am

    It’s a good story. It’s a shame that Harry has such a narrow definition of what it means to be a man.

    Reply
    • Doug Jacquier says

      November 27, 2021 at 6:37 pm

      Thanks, Helen. Harry’s an archetypal bush Australian. 😉

      Reply
  3. HelenC says

    November 27, 2021 at 10:30 am

    Excellent narrative in so few words.

    Reply
    • Doug Jacquier says

      November 27, 2021 at 6:37 pm

      Many thanks, Helen, much appreciated.

      Reply
  4. Valli Henry-Boldini says

    November 27, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    Great read,.. kudos… Loved the ending…

    Reply
    • Doug Jacquier says

      November 27, 2021 at 6:38 pm

      Thanks, Valli. So glad you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  5. Bill Engleson says

    November 27, 2021 at 7:19 pm

    Life can be one harried situation, Doug.

    Loved it!

    Reply
  6. Di says

    November 27, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    Well done Doug – the clever combination of comment on his prejudices, the visual joke at the end and the variety of sentence constructions using so few words.

    Reply
  7. David Berger says

    November 29, 2021 at 12:20 am

    Nasty shit. Should’ve been nastier.

    Reply
  8. Janet Gogerty says

    November 29, 2021 at 6:43 pm

    Loved it, I can just see Harry and the last lines are chilling, I imagine that’s what it would sound like.

    Reply
  9. Brian Matthews says

    November 30, 2021 at 12:49 am

    Good one, Doug. ‘Suffering from certainty’ common in the demographic described, I think ?

    Reply
  10. Mary Rohrer-Dann says

    December 1, 2021 at 9:05 am

    Wow. Talk about character as plot! I don’t want that last line to be the end of Harry.

    Reply

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