In 2002, I won the International Imitation Hemingway Contest with my entry, "The Old Man and the Flea."
Reprinted in a 2007 textbook called The Writer's Eye: Composition in the Multimedia Age, it begins:
He had been bad. He knew that. He had been bad and peed on her bed and in the end there was nothing anybody could do about it. She had yelled at him that time, screaming terrible things in that way women do when you have broken their trust and trampled on their hearts and urinated on their pillow. Bad dog, she’d said. He remembered it now. And he was a bad dog. A bad, old dog with a cranky disposition and a weak bladder.
Continued >>
The prize was a trip to Italy, and when I went to Harry's Bar in Venice I toasted Hemingway -- and my cranky old Scottish terrier.
1 comment:
Hi Kathryn,
Just want to say thank you for posting this story, and for writing it in the first place! I remember reading and re-reading it in 2002 and laughing my head off - I used to have a dog just like that! He never went to Harry's bar either, though he would have loved it...
I am writing a short story now for a short story course that's part of my Masters degree, and I've been inspired to use your story as a spring board. The story I am writing will basically read like a comical recounting of an old man's woes, however in the end it will be revealed that he is actually an old dog. I am using a similar style to yours (or Hemingways?). Just thought you'd be interested to hear that at least this piece of your work is still loved. :)
Cheers,
Daria
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