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A Lifetime of Adventure

My Week #36 Submission

MJ Polk's avatar
MJ Polk
May 01, 2026
Cross-posted by Stories from the Jukebox
"I'm repn my man Hank Cotton on the Jukepox this week. So I thought I'd add this little anthology onto the blog as well. Oh, you talkn bout adventure?"
- MJ Polk

This is my submission to this week’s SFTJ song prompt, Adventure Of A Lifetime, by Cold Play. Subscribe now so you don’t miss out on these weekly writing prompts!

As soon as Annette Sharp told me about her song choice, I knew that my submission would have something to do with Hank Cotton. If you’re talking adventure, Cotton’s your guy!

“Oh yeah, I like adventure, now… I like just, going off on an adventure like’em knights, back in King Arthur’s time!”

How would you like to have a signed copy of The Ugly Duckling?

Hank Cotton, a Hotshot Truck Driver, doesn’t know that he’s picked up an unlikely passenger.

In this, his debut story–our hero Hank Cotton, is tasked with getting not only a travel trailer from Indiana to Florida; but also Jenny Deal, a thirteen year old runaway that’s been kidnapped and forced to perform as a sex worker.

Will Hank be able to out run her pimp, and out smart the crooked Alabama lawmen looking to stop him?

Find out how Jenny got in this mess–whether Brooke, Hank’s wife will understand why he’s got an underage sex worker with him, and whether Hank is able to get his cargo delivered safely in this novelette length story titled, The Ugly Duckling.

Read it on Substack!


The Ugly Duckling certainly isn’t Cotton’s only adventure. He’s got a whole mess of Adventure stories over on the Southern Writers Guild!

These first two are a little sketchy, sure. But you can’t say they aren’t adventurous!

Southern Writers Guild
The Cooler
I reckon I ought to tell y’all how I got mixed up with this here, Southern Writers’ Guild business. So the stories below.Gone ahead — you’ll regret it later if’n ya don’t…
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4 months ago · 7 likes · MJ Polk
Southern Writers Guild
Bang Bang
MJ originally published this over on the Stories from the Jukebox pub under his name — so I made him move it over here, and fix it. And I reckon that’s the end of that, cause I’m here to stay. Buckle up y’all🤠🤙Gone ahead — if ya don’t, you’ll regret it later…
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4 months ago · 7 likes · MJ Polk

This next one has already been a Jukebox submission. Hank had me submit it for him. Said, “dude, Marty D. Snow picked a bitchn’ tune” and he’d been inspired.😎🤘

Southern Writers Guild
Right Place Wrong Time
You’re in the Right Place, and it’s the Wrong Time to skip-out on Subscribing. Gone ahead…
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4 months ago · 12 likes · 2 comments · MJ Polk

This one has been shared here already as well — orchestrated by me. I chose our prompt that week in order for Cotton to share this story. As soon as I read it, I knew it needed to be published immediately. The rest of Try Your Luck In Reno, has since been finished. But it likely won’t be shared for some time yet…

Southern Writers Guild
Wyoming
This is just a taste of a bigger story I’m working on called, Try Your Luck In Reno. I’m warning y’all aheada time too — it’s pretty explicit. So there’s that.Gone ahead — if ya don’t, you’ll regret it later…
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4 months ago · 7 likes · MJ Polk

And these last few are — well — let’s just say, adventure sums them up pretty darn good.

Southern Writers Guild
Spare Tire
Ole Dually Girl rolls into the Sunoco on State Street in Clarksdale, Mississippi, just as the afternoon light turns the cotton fields gold and the air thick with that particular Delta perfume: diesel, distant barbecue, and the faint ghost of yesterday’s juke joint smoke. Cotton is behind the wheel, Grace shotgun in her primrose pink (today it’s a linen …
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2 months ago · 14 likes · primalbeet, Gray, and MJ Polk
Southern Writers Guild
The Little Shops That Were
So I was sitting on the Porch, doing what boomers do, talking about how great the past was. I was talking about that time the gator charged into the convenience store in Cape Coral. Which led to Grace talking about roadside peanuts and peach ice cream. Which led to Hank reminiscing about the bootleggers behind the Quality Inn. So we decided to each writ…
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2 months ago · 15 likes · 5 comments · MJ Polk, primalbeet, and Gray
Southern Writers Guild
Backstory of "The Cooler"
If you’re new here, you may be wondering right about now… What’s the deal with, The Cooler…
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22 days ago · 10 likes · MJ Polk, Gray, and primalbeet

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