"It was a dark and stormy night."
The girl looked up from her book, eyes darting around the room until she located the speaker, hidden in the corner. Once her gaze had settled upon him she asked, "Pardon?"
"It was a dark and stormy night. Such a cliched line."
She reflected upon it, absently marking her place by dog-earing the page and placing the book on her lap. "You're right," she said at last. "You know, I think the writer of A Wrinkle in Time started her book like that on purpose."
"Yeah. Oh, oh, here's one. It's actually a movie line, but it's cliched: "So-and-so is standing right behind me, aren't they?" That one is so common."
"No kidding. Oh, and how about when the protagonists of stories start yelling, "I won't leave without you!" and then the other says "You have to go on without me!"? That stuff is so stupid."
"That reminds me of the one where, you know, the main person says "Don't you die on me!" And then the person pounds the dying guy's chest or something."
The girl paused, thinking, before she came up with something. "How about that one where one person says "It's really quiet"? And then the other person says "Yeah. Too quiet"? Those scenes are always followed up by something not-so-quiet."
"No joke. And then what about when one of the people says "Follow that cab!" or something and then yells, "I've always wanted to say that"? Makes me want to puke."
"I know what you mean. Oh, and how about when the hero says "Get behind me" to his damsel in distress? Or the other way around," she added.
The two lapsed into silence.
"When I make movies, we need to get every single one of those in there," the boy said.
The girl slapped her forehead.
------
Sources: ScreenwriterGuy's online entry on Top 10 Worst Cliched Lines of Dialogue
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Whole Grain Bread and Other Musings
Short StoryA little something about bread and a bunch of other random stories, inspired by random quotes, conversations and thoughts. Each is under a page, and the characters are an unnamed boy and girl. Some of these are good, some of these are great, and som...
