Stand by for action!

I write plenty of pieces that I can describe as "verbal still life's." Something about a deer sitting underneath our porch. Something about a stream in mid-April thaw. These little pieces have very little action in them and that is because action is hard to do. I remember hearing some interview with Quentin Tarantino about Kill Bill and how action is one of the hardest genres to do. It is very easy to slip into the excessive and gratuitous. How does one toe this line? Well, I don't know. Here are some brief little action snippets I whipped up during my lunch break at work.

• As "Double F" Steff asked me to go get her some iced tea, I flicked out the scrape from beneath my nails. I shuffled into the kitchen and poured a highball glass for the patient. The ice cubes snapped out of their tray and nestled into the soft bend of the glass. The glass hissed as liquid poured into the cracks between the cubes. I brought her the glass, still crackling, feeding the patient liquid spark storm.

• The cop's billy club flew by my head all whirly-twirly. I ducked, then throwing myself into a puddle on the alley floor. Stale coffee from a crushed cup swirled into my nostrils. Bhutes runs at me, jerking the cop's gun out of the belt holster. He struggled with the leather snap, gritting his teeth and pumping his hand up and down. He said something between his teeth before I heard the loud pop. I slammed back into the coffee-water, seeing Bhutes fall to a knee with his hand still around the trapped pistol.

• Vinnie had a dream last night where he imagined his pet guinea pig, Santiago, driving his sister's Power Wheels Jeep around the cul-de-sac. He imitated Santiago's voice, while I whipped up eggs for breakfast."And, he went....BEEP! BEEP! Who has got the key's to the jeep!"I imagined the guinea pig perking up its nose, holding his white streaks to the sky. I inserted, "VROOM!"

Eh? Peace!