Vanity Plate Shorts
George Angus
Flashy Fiction - Under a Thousand
George Angus
Copyright 2010 George Angus
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Welcome to this collection of short stories. These are based on a writing prompt over at Tumblemoose Writing Services.
The prompt was to pick a vanity plate and write a short story about the plate, the owner, the origin of the plate or whatever the author saw fit.
Here are the contributing authors. I'd like to take a moment and thank all of them for their outstanding submissions.
Matt from SmallBizBee
Steven Male
Matt Hayward
George Angus
Table of Contents
Go Math by SmallBizBee Matt
El Trucko by Steven Male
Go Math by Matt Hayward
Xnorthnr by George Angus
GO MATH?
With every step closer to the mailbox I could feel my heart race faster in anticipation. Just like the many mornings before it I would try to suppress my hopefulness, but not be too successful at it. I'd been waiting nearly 2 weeks, and everyday was filled with expectancy that THIS day would be the one. Slowly opening the mailbox and peeking inside I tried to temper that expectation of what it would hold...had it finally arrived?
Here it was, the moment I'd been waiting for. As I looked inside the package was unmistakable, and instinctively, without thinking, I threw my fists in the air and exclaimed "YES!" Like a professional athlete winning a world championship, my moment had arrived. I couldn't imagine a feeling any sweeter than what I felt at that moment.
There, glistening in the early morning sunlight was the padded manila mailer from the DMV that would redefine me, solidify my place in society as one of the elite. A force to be reckoned with.
Not a warning about my unpaid parking tickets, or a reminder that my registration was expiring, not on this day. Today's package held my proof to the world that lil' ole Matt, born to humble parents in a small town, had finally arrived. I must have stood there for minutes just looking at the envelope in my slightly shaking hands, letting the reality of what I held sink in.
No doubt about it, this baby was gonna' shine on the bumper of my 1986 Subaru wagon with the 289,000 miles on it, and I'd labored for weeks over just what it should say, how I should ultimately use the six letters my state had alloted me to proclaim to the world my status. I'd wrestled with the decision, making up my mind and changing it countless times, before settling on that perfect expression that would solidify my place among the vanity elite.
Ultimately I'd decided on strong, but subtle. A short exclamation that would signal to others that I was not to be taken lightly. Simply put, my vanity license plate would read "GO MATT".
That's it, just "GO MATT". Not overly self congratulatory, but a reminder that I was going somewhere. Up the ladder of life, and moving past all those state issued plates. Ahhh, life is sweet at the top and "GO MATT" would let everyone know I certainly was at the top!
I couldn't wait a minute longer to rip into that envelope and bolt this puppy to it's rightful home on my bumper. Right there on the side of the street I tore into the package with a reckless abandon. Pulling from it the shiny new plate I could hardly contain myself as I turned it right side up to set my eyes on it for the first time.
Slowly I spun it around in my trembling hands, not wanting the special moment to end, wishing friends and family could be close by to share it with me, but selfishly wanting to savor this moment myself as well.
As I flipped it over, right side up and letters out I could barely believe my eyes. Laying in the palm of my hand, there it was, still glistening in that early morning sun.
To this day I can't be sure, maybe I became slightly delusional at that moment, but I swear...swear I tell you, that I heard the plate mocking me. In my hands, lay my vanity plate, the one I felt like I'd been waiting lifetime for, and it read:
GO MATH
At that moment I didn't care who made the error, was it my typo, or a DMV oversight, all I could think was...You've got to be kidding me.
