Tuesday December 9th, 2014

The exercise:

Write two haiku about: the epilogue.

They don't have to be related to Secret Agent theme week... but I'd be impressed if you managed to work with this prompt otherwise. Consider that a challenge, if you wish.

That was a fun week for me, and I hope you enjoyed it as well. We return to our usual prompt style tomorrow.

Mine:

An offer is made:
Wealth beyond his wildest dreams.
Offer accepted.

*     *     *

One mission ends, the
next must now begin; Pine has
become the target.

4 comments:

Greg said...

I have an epilogue for you, but I'm afraid it's not going to fit into any reasonable number of haiku. It was a fun week, and the only thing I'm a little disappointed about is that my agent never actually managed to kill anybody. But it's been fun reading the others as well, and I am amused by the ending for Agent Pine... I wonder if he's as good evading Agents as he was at being one?

Epilogue
The Red Bear, or Santa as he was popularly known in Britain, scratched another name off his list of children. He'd had a feeling ever since the break-in that something had been changed, or made different somehow, but since they'd failed to catch the perpetrator he couldn't know exactly what. Still, he was sure he'd taken every precaution now, and the sleigh was equipped with state of the art heat-seaking missiles, military-grade lasers (small print: not tested in snow, icy conditions, rain, or anywhere else likely to disperse light), and a couple of happy-bombs. Even the reindeer were wearing barding.
He looked at the list for the next child and experienced a sudden wave of nausea. He swallowed, he couldn't remember the last time he got travel-sick, and it passed. He looked at the list once more and noticed that the ink on it had smudged and was on his fingers. That couldn't be right.
The headache was like a krieg-light going on in his head and he sat down heavily. Something crunched, but the nausea was back and he was trying to reach the side of the sleigh before he threw up. The reindeer halted, puzzled, and the reins slipped from his fingers. Automatically they went into their landing dive, and the increase in speed made the headache's pressure worse.
*
"I am impressed, Rupert," said Mumsie, offering a plate of cucumber sandwiches: white bread, crusts cut off. "We retrieved the Red Bear from the Serpentine exactly as you predicted."
"Did anyone die?" Rupert opened the sandwich he'd taken hoping for mustard. He was disappointed.
"A swan, which you'll be billed for. But I'll probably overlook that now, since I'm such a good girl in Santa's eyes." Rupert raised an eyebrow. "He brought me the reinstatement of my bduget and a 5% increase for Christmas," said Mumsie happily. "And I'm sure he'll keep doing the same from now on!"

Anonymous said...

Empty words these are,
That tell of futures untold.
False attempt at joy.

For happy endings
Are a trick of the author.
Placating readers

David said...

The Barber’s gun came out first. He watched the Fiesta move down the path. He crouched in the trees, but he knew he could not sit there. He could not wait it out. He fired at the car. At tires. At windshield. Only four bullets, needed to conserve the rest. Two tires punctured, the car came to a stop.

He ran to the driver’s side, opened the door. The driver looked at him, like a hunter shocked when the bear turns on him. The Barber fired two shots. A kill shot, and its back up. The Barber felt his own body alive while the driver slumped into the passenger seat. He was amazed he still had the reflexes. That instinct to kill. Or be killed.

And he knew what he would do now.

He would end this thing with the Beard.

Once and for all.

Marc said...

Greg - ah well, just leaves more killings for next time :P

Ah, there was more to it than a simple switch of the lists! I am impressed. Though a little sad that we didn't find out how Rupert managed to escape from the north.

Ivybennet - ah, challenge accepted! Nicely done, that's a clever take on the prompt :)

David - ah, that's a satisfying ending to your week-long tale, while also giving us a view into what will come next! Very nicely done, and it's been a pleasure to have you writing with us again.