Ay, caramba!

“You are too old and accident prone to keep this ‘tradition’ with your idiot friends!”

“Too old?! I’m 35. And what do you mean ‘accident prone’? Who slipped and fell on the ice last week?” I asked.

“Jim, there’s no comparison. What if the kids wanted to do this?”

Laughing, I said, “They can do what they want as soon as they’re legal.”

“Damn it, this isn’t funny! You could be seriously hurt,” Melanie exclaimed.

“Honey, I’ll tell the guys I’m done. Next year we’ll do a cookie swap instead,” the sarcasm dripped from my tongue.

“Smartass! You’d better not end up dead for the holidays...and please try to avoid the hospital, too!”


During our drive to the Poconos, my buddies gave me shit when I told them our annual holiday dare-a-thon was ending this year. We started it in college.


The resort was bustling with activity. “I guess a lot of people go skiing for the holidays,” Stan mused.

“They may reconsider after today,” Ron joked.


In my sombrero, Hawaiian shirt and boxer shorts, I prepared myself for my downhill adventure. I don’t know where it all went wrong, but before I knew it, I was on my ass. Ron and Stan ran to assist.

“Dude, are you all right?” they asked in unison.

“My shoulder. What the hell happened?”

“That tree is now wearing your boxers,” Ron quipped.

Looking down, I saw that I was naked there. “No wonder I’m freezing my baguettes off! Stan, get my boxers, please. Ron, give me a hand, will ya?”

They both applauded.

“Not that kind of hand, assholes! C’mon, I need my boxers, and we need to get my shoulder checked out.”

I didn’t end up dead for the holidays...yet. Melanie just might kill me when she gets to the ER.

Jim, the sombrero-wearing daredevil.

Written for: "The WDC Angel Army" 's "The Angel Lounge" 
Word Count: exactly 300 (does not include my notes)
Prompt: Courtesy of iKïyå§ama , "write me a short story (no more than 300 words!) or a poem (no more than 20 lines!) with a rating no higher than 18+" using one of two pictures she provided. I chose the pic above.
Translation: "¡Ay, caramba!" is Spanish for "Oh, gosh!" With the sombrero in the picture Kiya provided, how could I resist?

This won the challenge, and I was sent the merit badge below for my winning entry!