#ThursThreads is an odd flash fiction compo, because a line chosen from the previous winner is chosen as the prompt for the next competition. This week, the phrase “In and out with a swipe of alcohol.” is it.

Here is my entry, if you don’t want to see the original piece:

“Down Town in the Valleys”
by Dr. Mike Reddy (@doctormikereddy)
[250 words]

It was a typical Saturday night in a post-Industrial Welsh town. Some twoccing. Drive to some more trusting neighbourhood. Choose an Offy that didn’t look too secure. Park this week’s joyfully donated vehicle in a quiet side street. Then in and out with a quick swipe of alcohol – whatever was nearest the shop door – and run like Hell back to the car. Then a safe spot to get plastered. Random!

Cigarettes were usually harder to steal, because they were often behind the counter. So. we’d send Billy the Kid – so called because he had a ‘butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth’ face – in to buy some fags first, and to suss out the place. There was a risk he’d get IDed, but he was too lard brained to really get that. Twp ‘ead.

So, Billy had come back with a few packs of Marlboros, and Rizzlas and Golden Virginia for Tony, who liked to roll his own ‘special blend’. We’d had the all clear. Mostly cider, which was shit but it was accessible and a few large bottles would be sufficient for our needs. We’d rolled the place speedily – something of a record in fact – and legged it. Even when the car stalled we hadn’t panicked. Tony’s special blend kept us too mellow for that. Then we were off, screaming through the streets and into the secluded hills.

We laughed our skulls hollow. What a storming night! Only I started thinking did we really have to do it again?

—
fin

Author’s notes for those not familiar with UK colloquialisms:

twoccing is derived from Taking Without Concent (TWOC)
Offy = Off Licence or Liquor Store, usually selling tobacco products as well
Random is the word for cool/wicked/bad/etc
Twp = Welsh for stupid
‘joyfully donated’ is a play on joyriding, a euphemism for the stealing of cars by young people.