He thought himself above the rest, adorned in greenery, born a leader he made the other work. After a while he worked less, and spent his time discussing processes to evaluate performance of all the other trucks.
Overcome with details he started drinking cheap diesel, and was eventually laid off, and waiting for demolition at the overgrown backyard he missed the sweet perfume of exhaust fumes, oil and fresh rubber.
He forgot to treat his skin against the rust eczema as a brutal wind was whistling through his tired hood.
A tragic end for a truck with an ivy-league degree.
This week’s picture at Friday Fictioneers made me go for a bitter-sweet fiction.
Friday Fictioneers is a weekly challenge to write 100 word stories on the same picture. Managed by Rochelle Wissoff-Fields it attracts more than 100 bloggers weekly.
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August 20, 2014

This truck definitely has personality.
Loved it. I was haha, smiling, from the beginning.
I would have suggested DA when he went off the diesel deep end.
DA?
Diesel anonymous, of course.
great little story. Randy
I definitely think he should have joined DA before the rust eczema caught up with him… 🙂
That’s management for you… many a good truck was ruined by rising to its own level of incompetence. Clever. 🙂
Or getting up in paperwork and abstract non-productive things.
ha fun play on the pic…sounds like he moved to managment…they always forget how the work is done in their processes…lol
Bjorn, Funny story. 😀 That was some truck until he gave into his vices. Sad but humorous. Well written. 🙂 —Susan
I have known a few of these “special” trucks. Your story is funny yet thoughtful.
An ivy league truck. Great work.
Loved that you humanized the truck and the last line was perfect.
This is a great story, bittersweet and quite a cautionary tale, possibly against white-collar work but at least against drinking cheap diesel.
Excellent stuff! This is the second story I’ve read in five minutes about a truck with a personality, both of them funny but well-observed/
Hi Björn, great story. As others have said I love how you fitted the truck into a soulless management scenario. I feel the truck needs a name!
He might have been called Tuck — but for an ivy – leaguer that’s far from good enough.
This is my favorite submission to Friday Fictioneers this week. It’s perfect…wish I would have come up with the same idea! Haha. Love your ideas & blog!
Love, love your elitist take on the prompt. Wouldn’t have thought of it myself. That’s what makes you so unique, Bjorn.
I feel a little sad for the truck, but I’m laughing at the same time. Clever words and POV! Well written story!
this is an illustration on how to use metaphors effectively.
Cute story made me chuckle! Should forget should be forgot in the fourth paragraph?
You’re quite right… now it’s corrected
Sad but true. Tragic end indeed, applies to anyone who treat himself with cheap variety. Beautifully use of metaphor.
Great take – hard life from the truck’s pov. I chuckled at the rust eczema and ivy league degree 🙂
Loved it! 😀
Educated but not intelligent! Oh, it’s a trucking life for some.
Dear Bjorn, Once again you’ve proven you’re an excellent writer with an ivy league degree! Really, really loved it! Nan 🙂
Bjorn, The reference to a truck with an ivy league degree was the best part of your tale this week. Sometimes advantage is wasted on the unmotivated.
All my best,
Marie Gail
Such a powerful metaphor, made me quite sad. Sir, you have a particular way with words that quite often push me to do some soul searching. Much appreciated.
Loved the sweet perfume of exhaust fumes, oil and fresh rubber. 🙂
I bet he lost his license somewhere along the way. Sounds like his manifold got too big for his exhaust pipe. Great humor, Bjorn. And the last line was icing on the cake.
Hahahaha! Fun stuff, Bjorn. Great last line.
Bjorn~ Sounds like a deadly case of micro-management…
the ivy league degree and rust eczema parts had me chuckling.
Ellespeth
There are so many ways this is great – good personification, plays on words…! A sad decline for a proud truck.
Very enjoyable read!
That’s what happens when we get too full of ourselves.
Love it. Wish I could think like a truck and wrote the story. 🙂
Lily
Ha! Ha! Brilliant! So many wrong things can happen when you veer off the road. It’s the same truckin story.
I’m on my 4th story this week, and each of you has gone in a very different direction! This is such a fun, cheeky story… and that much more so because it’s yours, Björn! This made me smile, and for a minute, I believed this truck was alive… great writing for sure! 🙂
Ha, ha! Ease up on that diesel old truck and watch out for the rust. The last line is perfect! 🙂
wow. very imaginative Björn 🙂 i definitely smiled at the rust eczema and drinking diesel part, very amusing
life lesson: never drink cheap booze if you can help it. always goes downhill from there. right on, and imaginative story this week…as in your usual great style. )
That’s the problem with trucks that think themselves above the rest. How did he think he’d get buy on cheap diesel?
Ahh..that gave me a satisfied smile at the end.
Excellent personification! What an interesting perspective on this prompt 🙂
Very funny, but also sad, and incredibly clever, in that it is a kind of ‘blueprint’ of how humans fall into ruin – bit by bit, by ignorant or reckless choices. I’m raising my glass in admiration – cheap diesel isn’t SO bad … 🙂
Sigh… “he started drinking cheap diesel” – ah we’ve all been there! And a great punchline to round it off 🙂
I loved this. It’s so easily to relate this to a human experience. “drinking cheap diesel” was my favourite bit.
I laughed when I read “ivy-league degree” referring to the vine certificate proudly worn on his truck’s breast.