Prompt: She wasn’t good, but she had good intentions

Hat tip to Lyle Lovett for his wonderful song, “Good Intentions”, performed here at Merlefest in 2011.

Darren watched her fingers carefully sculpting the clay and inserting the twisted wires. He tapped his own rough fingers against his knee. “Are you ready? Can we blow stuff up yet?”

Her fingers stilled and she glanced up at him with a patient look. Darren loved her for many reasons—he liked to count them on his fingers before he fell asleep at night—but maybe the biggest and best was that she never lost her patience or her temper with him.

“Tell me the plan one more time, Darren, while I finish this,” she said mildly and bent her head over the clay once more. “You know I have to get the wires seated in the right order, or we won’t be blowing up anything.”

Darren tapped his fingers faster, thinking hard. He lifted his right hand and held up his thumb. “You finish the explosives.” He lifted his index finger. “We go to the spaceport.” Middle finger. “We plant the explosives.” Ring finger. “We call in the warning.” The stub of his little finger. “Big boom.” His hand closes and fans out while he smiles, pleased at remembering and thinking of the big boom at the same time.

She nods without looking up. “That’s good, Darren. And what’s the best part?”

Darren furrowed his brow, thinking hard. It was hard to remember past the big boom. His face brightened, and he grinned. “We save the colonists!”

“That’s right. Now, let me finish this part. What part is it?” she asks, fingers working quickly to set the wires.

“You’re testing me. I got it. This is the first part,” he says confidently. Then, “Right?”

“That’s right, Darren. And what’s the second part?”

“The spaceport. I like to see the big ships lift off.”

“I know. There’ll be lots of big ships there. And what’s the last part?”

“Big boom!” Darren waved both his hands outward in a fan in front of him.

She straightened and hauled one loaded duffel over her shoulder, tucking the finished clay into the other as Darren lifted it over his own shoulder.

“And what’s the big boom for, Darren?”

He frowns once more, but quickly smiles. “To save the colonists!”

She pats his shoulder. “That’s right, Darren. Okay, let’s go…”

Dogs in house	Houdini
Time writing:	~30 minutes
November word count:	20,562