OK, another round number goal.

Today, the word count for nanowrimo was to be 30,000. I’m at 30,163.



Hanna and Frida were identical twins, so they both had stunning blonde hair and they were both beautiful. Having grown up in Hoquiam, they became tomboys and started to compete in logging competitions. They would wow the crowd at Logger’s Playday when they were young. A bucking team of two beautiful, blonde girls that could beat the pants off any of the boys their age. As they got older, they kept at it. First people who had never seen them compete would think it was a novelty act, but then they just kept winning. Pole climbing, log rolling, chainsaw juggling, they did it all.

It was the chainsaw juggling that proved too much. Two years after their mother died, they returned to Logger’s Playday, a little rusty with the bucking saw and the pole climbing, but in perfect form to juggle. So the team of sisters that used to wow the crowd with real lumberjack skills did become a novelty act. They couldn’t find a decent paying job in town, but they were offered some good money to perform at Logger’s Playday.

So being young, trim and shiny, they decided that they would perform in blue bikinis and yellow gloves and boots. Swedish lumberjacks from some alternate universe where the old men were really in charge and beer was always free. Hanna and Frida would steal the show.

They picked up an endorsement from the lumber supply store in town and they inked a deal with Husqvarna. They had been practicing with five chainsaws all summer, but not with the new Husqvarna model, the 346 XP, a new beauty weighing in at only eleven pounds. They both thought that the new lighter chainsaw would be much easier to juggle, so they picked them up the week before Logger’s Playday and practiced with them as much as they could.

The stadium was full that night, the finale of the competition when the all around logger would be crowned and everyone knew that Hanna and Frida would return to the spotlight after being gone so long. The lights went down and the sound system exploded with The Ride of The Valkyries. Two spotlights beamed to the upper corners of the grandstand at Olympic Stadium and then Hanna and Frida rode zip lines down to the stage. The crowd went wild.

Mr. Svenberg had never been so proud. His girls getting the applause that they deserved. Applause he never got in his job, a thankless job really. He knew exactly how a dentist must feel. But not tonight!

With the flair of a Las Vegas show, the girls had started their performance. Now they pulled the cords on the chainsaws, one by one, revving the engines, making the men in the stadium yell for more. The women in the audience feigned indifference, you’ve seen one bikini clad chainsaw juggling bimbo, you’ve seen them all.

All five chainsaws were idling on stage, then the girls started to lock the throttles so that the chains kept moving. The brand new, polished chains sparked in the spotlight, it looked amazing. Hanna picked up a chainsaw in each hand and started to toss them over her head. Two chainsaws, they could both do in their sleep, and Frida joined in, synchronizing her tosses to match Hanna’s rhythm. Then they started passing the saws to each other, up and over the blades spinning in mid air. The music kept building and the crowd was cheering for that one, last, chainsaw.

Then Joey DiTorino ran onto the stage. Joey was only three feet tall and everyone in town knew him as that crazy midget bag boy at Safeway. He was short and squat, but he could tumble like Chinese acrobat. Everyone cheered as he somersaulted under the flying chainsaws in a royal blue tuxedo. The crowd started chanting, “Jo-Ey! Jo-Ey!”

Joey stopped tumbling and grabbed the fifth chainsaw, squeezing the throttle to make it scream. Then he turned to Hanna, looking for the signal, but he got confused, they both looked alike, which one was Hanna? “Hanna?”, he yelled at Frida.

Frida said, “That’s Hanna! That’s Ha..”

And Joey tossed the chainsaw where he thought it should go, the way they had practiced it so many times, but he threw it to the wrong beautiful girl. It collided with another chainsaw right above Frida’s head, bringing the blade down with its cruel, shining teeth. Hanna stared as the blood was thrown from her twin’s body by the spinning blade and she didn’t see the third chainsaw, or maybe the second, the whole thing was too confusing. Hanna started to run to her sister’s side when it hit her leg, severing an artery, spraying more blood on the stage.

Joey just stared at the crowd, as they were silent in horror. His royal blue tuxedo was splattered with blood. The girls were a strange collage of primary colors, their blue bikinis still bright and their yellow gloves and boots spread wide. The lights were shut off and the crowd just sat in disbelief, and the only sound was Mr. Svenberg, pulling his hair and shouting, “NOOOOOOO!”