Sunday December 9th, 2012

The exercise:

The writing word for today: between.

Too much snow out there to do any deck work, so that remains unfinished. Potentially until the spring, unless we get a little bit of heat during a weekend between now and then. We probably only need a day to get it done, but I expect that to be too much to ask.

We shall see.

Starting to get excited for Christmas. Should probably figure out if I want to do another countdown here on the blog and, if so, what exactly I plan on doing.

See shall we.

I'm definitely open to suggestions on that, by the way.

Mine:

They came for him during the ringing of the church bells.

In the brief silences between the echoing tolls their footsteps could be heard as they marched up the bell tower stairs. As they neared the top the jingling of their metal equipment grew steadily louder. They could have approached in stealth, holding their weapons and armor close to their bodies.

But they wanted him to hear them coming.

They wanted to find him, upon their emergence from the stairwell, cowering against the far wall. Preferably with tears streaming down his face, his robes soaked with urine.

And likely that would have been precisely the scene which greeted the first soldier to enter the belfry, had the man they had come to arrest actually been present.

As it was, his young assistant performed the role of the terrified holy man quite admirably while he quietly made his escape into the countryside.

5 comments:

Greg said...

That must be so annoying that you're so close to finishing the deck and the weather's refusing to let you have the little bit of time to get it done!
I'm all in favour of theme weeks, countdowns, and anything else you might have in mind for Christmas :) If I think of any good suggestions I'll let you know.
Heh, a very nicely presented piece today, with just the kind of ending that tells you this is the start of something much bigger! Very nicely written. However... :) Oddly enough, I've done a little bit of bell-ringing back at University, and the people ringing the bells stand at the bottom of the tower; the staircase leads up to the bells in the belfry itself. Anyone sitting up there while the bells are ringing had better be deaf!

Between
"Casimir forces," said Belinda. George looked up from his drink, a Bellini that the barwoman had forced him to take.
"What?" he said, his voice lacklustre.
"Casimir forces," said Belinda. "Kind of the opposite of forces between things. If you put two plates close enough together, but not touching, the Casimir forces will either push them apart or drag them together."
"What?" said George.
"I figure it's like you and your mother," said Belinda. "The emotions forces that exist between you mean that you're always either pushing apart or pulling together, usually violently."
"What?" said George.
Belinda sighed. "I'm not sleeping with you, George," she said. "This date has been a total washout."

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the Bob and Doug McKenzie 12 Days (not a Canadian dig).

“Yeah.” I laughed.

Her warm brown eyes were inviting when we first met, but now they had a difficult time keeping contact with mine. But who was I to judge, mine were focused on her shoulder, out of pure laziness.

“No, I’ve never done that,” I snickered.

More words flowed from her soft lips. Some cooed, some beckoned, others even cajoled. She knew she had me from “Buy me a drink.”

“Sure,” I agreed as we drove away.

The car held the intoxicating scent of intrigue and desperation. The scented candle she lit on her night stand tried to mask it.

“Ocean Breeze,” she whispered.

Things happened, other things happened, and finally, one more thing happened. Then it ended.

“Yes,” she winked.

She nestled close, her once tight arms wrapped around my torso. She slept softly. I lay there, craving a cigarette. I did not smoke, but it was the only thing to do in this moment in between.

morganna said...

Between one chore and the next
Between one busyness and another
In the quiet spaces between,
That is when my real work is done.

Anonymous said...

The couple squeezed in closely for their weekly ritual of watching their shows on the television, its antenna raised in supplication. They laugh at the same parts and groan in unison at the ridiculous parts. Yet with only inches between them, they are miles apart. For this has been the only ritual they shared. Years of his late nights at the “office” and hers in her “book club” seemed to have driven them so far apart they can’t even see the distance that separates them.

Marc said...

Greg - yes, quite annoying. But at least we got the decking done.

Good point about the ringer, I've got no way out of that one. Yet. I'm still thinking about it :P

Poor George, he doesn't seem to be having a very good night.

Anonymous - hah! Definitely an option :)

Great snippets of description, and I love that ending paragraph.

Morganna - exactly. Just... exactly.

Anonymous - great details in this one. Could picture it perfectly.