This week for the Carrot Ranch Literary Community flash fiction challenge, we were to write something about the safe cracker’s daughter. I thought for a while about the stereotypical safe cracker, then I wondered what would happen with a little gender bending and maybe a dare instead of a crime. So here’s my contribution.
I was thirteen when Mom went to prison for cracking a safe. I’m actually pretty proud of her because she never took anything. It was just a dare.
She’d been raggin’ on my dad for not giving her jewelry—like her friends got.
“I ain’t got that kind of dough,” Pop said, “so when you rob a bank, I’ll get your diamonds.”
We knew she had the skills and what she didn’t know, she’d learn. But it was just idle conversation.
“Maybe I will.”
“I double dog dare you,” Dad said. “You ain’t got the nerve.”
But she did.
Mom had the nerve! Faith, I appreciate that switched the parental gender. Your story makes me think of the 1920s or ’30s era, though not specific. In my imagination, that’s where I see it set. Well done!
I’ve been working on a trilogy of novels set in the 30s and 40s, so needed to get into the era’s mindset, including the slang. Had some gangsters in the first one. I was going to ask you to review the second one, but that was before you started your MFA program. Hope that all goes well.