This piece was written for the weekly Carrot Ranch 99-word challenge, with the prompt of ‘film festival’.
Gazza had always pronounced ‘film’ as fillum, so it came as no surprise when he organised the Oodnagalahbi Fillum Festival and its associated event, the Fillem Food Fantasia. The Fillum Festival featured the world premieres of two blockbusters, ‘Mad Max and his beaut ute’ and ‘Killer Roos’. People and animals came from miles around, including more red kelpies than you could yell ‘get up’ to. After the fillums finished, it was time to hoe into the Food Fantasia, including sweet and sour popcorn, peanut butter choc top ice-creams, and salted yabbie and vinegar chips. Pity the beer ran out.
Glossary:
Ute – A vehicle based on the same platform as a family car but with a unibody construction and a built-in open tray area for carrying goods; similar but not identical to a pick-up truck.
Roo – Abbreviation of kangaroo
Kelpie – a breed of energetic working dogs developed in Australia from British sheepdogs. The Working Sheep Dogs of Australia Kelpies – YouTube
Yabbie – freshwater crayfish of the genus Cherax of Australia, commonly raised for food.
Six Crooked Highways 
I was with you until the beer ran out!
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Ditto 🙂
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The beer ran out??? National emergency!!!!!
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At the very least! 🙂
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First of all, really? What poor planning allowed for a shortage of beer? Come on, even fiction has to be believable. The vinegar “chips”… chips as in crisps or chips as in french fries? And sweet and sour popcorn? Do tell.
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I blame surreality because it would never happen in Oz. 🙂 Chips as in the fat ‘french fries’ we prefer. I could give you the recipe for the sweet and sour popcorn but I have to check with Homeland Security first to see if I’d have to kill you afterwards. 🙂
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We always like to butcher words in my house. It was and is an ongoing joke.
The fridge/ refrigerator was a refrigimator. I suppose if to many left overs aren’t consumed…
the remaining green stuff could be a tad frightful 😉
Thanks for translating those ‘special words’. 🙂
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Thanks, Jules. Indeed, fractured words are part of a family’s culture. My older sister was renowned for referring to bike riders as riderbikes, And a friend’s family always referred to birthdays by their second born’s attempt to say the word and it coming out as ‘happy dirtday.’ 🙂
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Vonderbaralisous!
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If you say so. 🙂
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You know I got lost in the rabbit hole labeled “Kelpie,” right? But I stayed for the Fillum Fest first, grabbed a beer (there was one left), and watched more than one video on kelpies. I had seen one before on a working ranch in California but had forgotten the breed name. Queensland Heelers and Australian Shepherds were more popular in the 1970s. Thanks for the fun! I love the image of a community gathering with lots of red kelpies.
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If you can track down an Australian film called ‘Red Dog’ you’ll be in 7th heaven. Really your kind of story I think. Based on the legendary true story of a red kelpie who united a disparate local community while roaming the Australian outback in search of his long lost master.
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