Summary

The text is a humorous flash fiction story inspired by word prompts, detailing a conversation between the narrator and their mother about running errands for a family dinner, including purchasing a peasant skirt for her women's club meeting.

Abstract

The narrative titled "A Splat, a Schlurpppp, and a Smooch from Mom" is a creative writing piece that uses a series of onomatopoeic and descriptive words as prompts. It humorously recounts a phone call between the narrator and their mother, where the mother requests assistance with errands and a unique clothing item for an upcoming event. The mother's dramatic reactions to her child's inattentiveness and the ensuing comedic mishaps, such as a steak juice stain and the search for a peasant skirt, are central to the story. The prompts are sourced from two separate challenges, and the story is interwoven with the narrator's reflections on family and childhood memories, culminating in a light-hearted resolution.

Opinions

The narrator initially appears indifferent and amused by their mother's urgency and dramatic flair.
The mother is portrayed as someone who enjoys adding a touch of excitement or "zing" to her activities, as evidenced by her desire to dress in costume for her women's club meeting.
The narrator seems to find the mother's requests, such as the peasant skirt, somewhat eccentric but is ultimately willing to fulfill them.
There is a sense of fondness and nostalgia for family dynamics, as the narrator looks forward to reminiscing with siblings despite the initial frustration.
The story suggests that the mother's enthusiasm and creativity are infectious, as the narrator seems to appreciate her efforts to make ordinary events more interesting.
The use of onomatopoeia and the incorporation of prompts from other writers indicate the author's playful approach to storytelling and engagement with the writing community.

A Splat, a Schlurpppp, and a Smooch from Mom

A word prompt flash fiction story

I wrote this piece of fiction using word prompts. See below for more details.

A SPLAT, a Schlurpppp, and a Smooch

“Sooo.” My mom crooned, in a soft persuasive murmur, “Are you going to help me?”

“Mmmmm.” This sound came out of my full mouth garbled and non-committal–I uttered it both as a platitude and a moan of pleasure. The piece of steak I was chewing was so rare I almost heard it moo before I put it in my mouth, just the way I like it. My mother was not placated!

My mother was not placated. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!” Her tone rose to a shriek. “Egad. Were you even listening to me? Did you even hear a word I said?”

Still working on my steak, I took a big schlurppp of my wine and swallowed. I tried hard, but I couldn’t suppress the impulse to giggle at her expletives, and I let out a big guffaw.

“Hmph.” My mom’s state of annoyance came surging through the phone line. You know my car is in the shop this week. I need you to run some errands before we all congregate tomorrow.”

I asked, “Hm… What do you need me to do again?”?”

“Grrrphhhh. Grrr.” No one can growl quite the way my mother can. The sound of it made me jump. I accidentally dropped my fork, and it landed on the steak with a SPLAT and splattered the bloody juice all over my shirt.

“Just a minute, mom!” After listening for the barely audible clink, indicating I had switched the phone to mute, I then set it down. I walked over to where the light was coming in through the window over the kitchen sink and examined the stain on my shirt. I squirted a little dish soap on it and tried to rub it out. The friction of the fabric sounded like the whoosh of a bird’s wings when it takes off in flight.

Before unmuting my phone, I nostalgically said to myself, “onomato-PEE-AHHHHH.” Many years ago my brother and I had created this word, to describe the way our mother often used onomapeia when she spoke. Suddenly, I was looking forward to the dinner, when I would congregate with my siblings and reminisce about our childhood.

Eager to avoid the hazard of my mother’s wrath, I apologized for my lapse in listening to her earlier in the call.

I said, “Yoikes! I’m sorry I wasn’t paying proper attention to you earlier. Please tell me exactly what you need.”

“As I said, I’d like you to go to the market and pick the groceries for our family dinner. I’d also like for you to buy me a peasant skirt.”

A peasant skirt, I squawked! Why on earth do you need a peasant skirt?

Mom explained, “My women’s club meets this weekend, and we will discuss the painting Return from Market by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and a poem written by Eavan Boland about it. I plan to go in costume and imitate the woman in the painting. It seems like a good way to add some zing to a meeting that could otherwise be sort of boring.

“But, Mom,” I said. “Where would I even find a peasant skirt? Are they even in style anymore?”

“Don’t worry, honey. I called around, and the boutique on 5th Street has just the skirt I want. You can just pay for it and pick it up.”

“Ka-ching!” I rolled my eyes at such a frivolous purchase and then immediately felt glad we weren’t on a video chat. Eye rolls always angered Mom!

“Mom, everything in that store costs a fortune. But if you want me to, I will buy the skirt for you.”

I then told her about the bloody steak stain on my shirt, and (of course) she offered to get it out. She said I could drop the shirt off to her upon my return from the market when I delivered her the groceries. Although she was originally very irritated with me, before we hung up Mom told me to be prepared — she planned on giving me a hug and a great big smooch.

Two separate challenges supplied the prompts.

To write this story, I used the prompts from both the 4/28/21 Words for Wednesday Challenge and a challenge from writer, Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg).

The First Challenge

The Words for Wednesday weekly writing challenge prompts were provided this month by Wisewebwoman on her blog. I encourage you to go to the comments there and read the other stories writers have posted.

The prompts she supplied this week: ~ An image of a painting and two lists of words taken from the poem, written by Eavan Boland wrote about the painting:

Congregate, Impulse, Market, Peasant
Wine, Surging, Light, Hazard
“Back from Market” a painting by Chardin.

The second challenge:

Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg) provided a list of prompts in his post, A Fun Onomatopoetic Prompt. He solicited the favorite “sounds” of other writers, then complied those in a list and challenged his readers to write a story using all of them. He posted his challenge back in March, but when I saw the words, I knew I had to give it a try!

Here are the prompts: (Good luck to the editor who spell-checks this story! 😉)

hmph, sooo, clink, Hm…, Grrr (growl), SPLAT, Mmmmm, whoosh, Ka-ching!,onomato-PEE-AHHHHH, murmur, egad, Guffaw, Schlurpppp, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!, Moo, Yoikes!, Giggle, Grrrrphhhh, zing

These are the writers who contributed these expressive word prompts :

Mia Z. Edwards, kurt gasbarra, K.B. Hubbard, Samantha Drobac, Jupiter Grant, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), Ann Marie Steele, Brenda Mahler, Toya Qualls-Barnette, Tina L. Smith, Maude Pagan, Christopher Robin, Jennifer McDougall, Jayrow, Terry Mansfield, Alan Asnen, Kasey Sparks, Kerstin Krause

Just for fun

I added a few onomatopoeic words of my own. Did you see them?

This story was previously published on my blog, The Most–of Every Moment.