Shadows Edge

This is a new challenge for myself.  I’m always coming up with a couple of sentences or an idea that might be the kernel of a story.  Unfortunately I rarely write them down or do anything with them.  So I’m going to try to write them here and possibly even do something with them. We’ll see how it goes.

Here’s the first Little Bit :

The stately path the stars traveled had not altered for eons. Or so the scholars had said for as long as they had studied them.  They might even have been right.

But studying the past did not prepare them for the present.  All their studies, all their notes, helped them not at all when the stars stopped their nightly dance.

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This comes from YourCre8tivity’s Say What? Take Four, though I used the? quotation more as an Inspiration Tag. Here’s the quote:

“Fortune can, for her pleasure, fools advance,
and toss them on the wheels of Chance.”
–Juvenal

Fortuna smiled as she watched the fools below maneuver for position. Not one of them had any idea she was watching, much less that they were there for her pleasure. The lure of wealth and the illusion of power were the bait that had drawn these self-important businessmen and power-brokers.

A few would be granted potentially lucrative contracts. It would be entertaining to see what they did when those contracts proved more difficult than expected. What would they do when the future of their fortune rode on their own efforts and Chance?

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This is from YourCre8tivity’s Inspiration Tag #4

Noon, in the middle of summer. Stephen was the only person outside. He knew things were changing as he watched shadows crawl against the sky.

Air conditioners should have been running all across the city. Kids should have been playing in yards and at pools. They weren’t.

The streetlights cast pools of light on the empty streets. Noon, in the middle of summer, but it could have been an overcast midnight in fall. And the storm was going to break soon.

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This little paragraph is based on YourCre8tivity’s Say What? Take 3.

During times like this, when odd occurrences became links in a chain of absurdity, Joseph found himself wondering.? Most of the time he didn’t really think about it, but it seemed that the gods too are fond of a joke.? Either that or they didn’t exist at all.? Joseph certainly couldn’t come up with any other reasonable explanation.

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This is a continuation of More than One Face… Jimmy’s rather insistant that some of his story gets told, or at least hinted at.? Why I decided to do this piece according to Gemini’s Fiction in a Flash guidelines and to throw in the quote from Say What? Take Two from Your Cre8tivity, I’m not exactly sure. But it seems to work. :-)? Enjoy

Jimmy moved through slums seeking prey. Not his favorite hunting ground, just the easiest.

Flickering motion off to one side. ? He turned his head. Damn. Someone else’s territory.

He nodded, heading over to join the other hunter.

“Sorry, didn’t know.” He shrugged with a crooked grin. “You know, (a)fter one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say ‘I want to see the manager.’”

His companion laughed.

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“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”

It was the line that made people trust him, especially when he gave them a rueful smile when he said it. They’d trust him and let him in the doors - to their businesses, their homes, their lives.

Jimmy had been cursed with an uncomfortable face. Ugly would be an understatement. Rough hewn was a compliment. Looking at his face, you found yourself wanting to look away from the horror yet unable to tear your eyes away.

People always laughed self-consciously when he posed his question. It seemed inconceivable that any face could be worse than the one he had been born with. They assumed that they saw the truth and eased their consciences by insisting they were helping someone less fortunate.

It was their misfortunate to have little imagination. True, it would be difficult to find a person with a more unfortunate face than his. But that assumed that you were human.

Jimmy wasn’t.

Demonkind can have more than one face. . .

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Over at Your Cre8tivity, there’s a Quick Step exercise that revolves around everyday items. I have plenty of those sitting around my desk at work, so I thought I’d give it a try. The idea is to describe the item in such a way that other people can guess what it is, and to do it with out using “like” or “it is.” Another suggestion is to try to write the description as if you were the object. I’m not going to go that route, but I thought I’d give the exercise a try.

This should be fairly easy to guess - feel free to comment if you know what I’m describing.

The silvery, smooth metal post, as long as my fingernail is wide, is unseen until it is pulled from the wall. Its point is sharp - sharp enough to draw blood with just a bit of pressure, so I’m careful with where I put it until I need it again. The other end of the metallic post is embedded in a brightly colored plastic cylinder. Other versions, still attached to the wall, have pea-sized plastic spheres or squares, and some are clear plastic instead of colored. The sharp point pierces a thin sheet of woodpulp before being safely sheathed in the fabric covered wall once again - a bright spot against the blandness of my cubicle.

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Your Cre8tivity’s quick starts include an exercise called Description Alley. I’ve never taken a real retreat, but I know what my perfect one would be like - at least physically. So here’s my description of it - now all I have to do is find it.

It’s mid-day as I approach the rustic log cabin. The sun shines gently, casting only short shadows across the landscape and sparkling off the lake’s waters. The sunset will be beautiful viewed from the cabin’s screened in porch.

A gravel path leads toward the lake and I follow it, reluctant to leave the sun just yet. At the half-way point, both the lake and the cabin are visible, making it the perfect place for the rock firepit situated there. Further down, the path splits. One branch leads directly to the lake, the other to a secluded hot spring at the lake’s edge.

By the time I wander back to the cabin, the surrounding mountains are beginning to cast shadows that will eventually shade and cool the entire valley. The refridgerator is stocked with fresh vegetables, fruits and meats. Enough for a week’s worth of simple meals.

Furnishings are simple and comfortable, making me want to pull a book from the library’s shelves and curl up in their overstuffed cushions. I’m pleasantly surprised by the size of the library and the number of reading nooks in the cabin. There’s one near the fireplace in the front room that I think will be a favorite.

The cabin is quiet, almost too much so. As I peruse the rooms I notice there are no alarm clocks. This is something I am extremely happy about. I do notice small speakers mounted on the wall of each room, and it takes some hunting to discover what they are for. The entire cabin has been wired so that the stereo system can be piped into any room.

I’ll have plenty to do - swimming, hiking and even some rock climbing if I care to. If the weather should turn, though there wasn’t any hint of that in the forecast when I left home, there’s an exercise room here in the cabin. Free weights and an elliptical machine take up one of the corners, but most of it open. One wall is mirrored and floor is polished wood - perfect for yoga or dancing. Of course, I may decide to lazy and just soak in the hot springs between reading and working on my stories.

There’s been a smile on my lips ever since I arrived and it blooms into a grin as I flop down on the bed, feeling it give just the right amount.

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I don’t know if you’d consider this cheating or not. *grins* I decided I’d try my hand at Gemini’s Fiction in a Flash exercise using the first Inspiration Tag. I’ve been wanting to write something based off the tag anyway. So here it is - enjoy, and feel free to let me know what you think!

They could have been stars, those tiny pinpricks of light in the darkness. But they weren’t. Sun-On-Water knew better. They were the eyes of the ancestors, bright with disapproval of her.

The fire caught, flaring. She hacked at the think tail of her hair, finally laying it amidst the flames. Turning from the ancestors in disgrace, she prostrated herself in front of the fire. Soft chanting rose, pleading their forgiveness.

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