Saturday 19 December 2009

Saturday Wordzzle 93

Each week, Raven gives us a set of 15 words - 5 for the mini, 10 for the 10-worder or all 15 for the mega challenge. The idea is to create a passage which includes the words

These were tough words this week - I had to resort to having somebody do a crossword to get rid of some of them.  Worst one was All My Children.

You can go to Raven's Nest for the original rules of the game and some excellent advice.

The Mini (deals of the week, Nobel Peace Prize, sleep deprived, cauliflower, practice)

I'm feeling a little sleep-deprived. I had to get up really early to catch the train up here, and being out of work for so long means I'm out of practice at getting my sorry ass out of bed of a morning. This little town is amazing, though, so pretty. There's a single high street with a few shops and none of them are chain-stores. The Grocer's shop even has a hand-lettered sign advertising cauliflower among the deals of the week – and no barcodes anywhere! It's like stepping back in time thirty years. The local paper is a breath of fresh air as well: no stories about robberies, murders, economic doom and gloom – in fact, the only international piece in it was a bit about President Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize. I think I'll have a quiet night in the hotel tonight and then tomorrow I'll take a wander out to Gerrard's Folly – it's some old stone tower that some rich Victorian with more money than sense built back in the day. I don't know why my anonymous benefactor gave me this holiday, but now I'm here, I'm glad he or she did.

The 10-worder (woe is me, mythology, avarice, windy, pathetic, paper towels, water, all my children, books)

New to Harold's story? The summary is here

India took a sip of water to wash down the last of her doughnut. Othello had grumpily fetched a box for them from a nearby store – anything to quiet Prada's rumbling stomach. For someone so image-conscious, she can certainly eat, thought India, watching Prada fussily wiping her hands with one of the frustratingly inadequate paper towels from the doughnut shop. In the front seat, even Mercury had resorted to doing a crossword by torchlight to pass the time. They had been here for hours - or so it felt.

"Woe is me, 4 letters." Mercury sighed.

"Alas," replied Othello, staring through the window at a deserted and windy street.

"Did Opal say when this guy was going to show up?" asked Prada.

"Nope." replied Mercury firmly, "What's another word for greed, beginning with 'a'?"

"Avarice," Othello could not keep the boredom from his voice. Like all of them, he just wanted to get in there and deal with the demon they had followed here, once and for all. Having to wait was maddening.

"Doesn't fit,"

Othello glanced over at Mercury's paper, "Spaghetti ends in an 'i' not an 'e'." he grunted.

"Oh yeah, thanks." Mercury's pen scratched the paper.

Outside in the street, nothing was still doing its best to happen.

-O-O-O-

The armoured figure facing Harold was like something come to life from one of those old mythology books. It topped Harold's six feet by a good head, and was broad of shoulder and narrow of hip. Its flowing golden hair framed a bronzed face of such surpassing beauty that, if it had smiled, it would have lit up the whole alleyway.

It was not smiling, however.

"You!" cried Harold in disbelief and not a little trepidation.

"They told me that one of the First Order was roaming around on Earth," said the armoured figure, "Imagine my surprise when they said it was you." He took a step closer and in so doing, brought the flaming tip of his sword close enough to make the front of Harold's jacket begin to smoke a little. "Do you not remember me warning you what would happen if our paths ever crossed again?" The perfect grey eyes were ablaze with anger.

"Of course I do," answered Harold, his voice calmer than he felt.

"And yet you still come up here to the world of men to make mischief."

"That's not what I'm doing here, Baruthiel," Harold protested.

"Oh?" the angel (for such it was) raised a perfect eyebrow, "So you got Lolita LaChaise to sign away her soul for her own good then, did you?" Even dripping sarcasm, the voice was lovely. "You are truly pathetic!"

Harold had no answer: he had indeed ensnared that young actress with a promise of a major part in All My Children, but that was before – and she had been drunk at the time, so even the best of the Basement's lawyers (and there were plenty to choose from) would probably not be able to get the Contract to stick. The Contract had to be signed knowingly and willingly. Harold doubted that would cut any ice with Baruthiel the Reckoner, though, and prepared himself for a swift and painful trip back home. It was a pity really, things were just getting interesting.

"I would love to deal with you as you deserve, Fallen," continued the angel, "but fortunately for you, there are more important matters at hand. I assume all this amateurish skulking in alleys is your way of investigating the disappearances?"

Harold was stung by the angel's scathing tone and, with the threat of imminent Dismissal having receded, somewhat irritated by his holier-than-thou (though technically quite true) manner.

"What's it to the Penthouse if there are a few less Fallen?" he retorted, "I would have thought you'd be pleased."

"Oh, we would be," Baruthiel assured him, "Except that some of the Loyal have also disappeared."

Even Teatime, who had been uncharacteristically still and silent up to this point, gasped.

So angels were disappearing too!

9 comments:

  1. Ooh - the plot thickens!

    I'd like a holiday in that little town...

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  2. Well done. I love the way you used the crossword puzzles and your solution to all my children was extremely clever.

    As for the stories... I look forward to finding out what's behind the braille vacation and Harold's story gets more and more intriguing with each passing week. Angels and Demons vanishing. Wow.

    Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that the New Year brings only good and happy times.

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  3. I just love Harold. Now it looks like he and an angel might work together. You are so very creative. You find such novel ways to work the words in.
    Well done.

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  4. A bit long as usual but we dragons hhave grown fond of Harold. Now there is an angel as well. We just love that kind of creative thought.
    Where is the monkey? We are hungry.

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  5. Now there is even more of a mystery with the angels missing too.

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  6. Angels missing? Wow, cannot wait to hear the rest of that bit. Poor old Harold, but then again it seems that he has had the luck of the Devil himself so far (lol).

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  7. "outside in the street nothing was still doing its best to happen" - excellent writing. So the angels are vanishing too eh?

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  8. Thanks again to all who commented.

    @Bug - Yes, the plot does thicken - at last!

    @Raven - The Braille story will be finishing soon, so hopefully not too long till you find out what's going on. I must say I thought using a crossword puzzle was a bit of cheat, really, but I was running late and was getting desperate to finish. Happy holidays to you!

    @DrJohn - Thank you and I'm glad you're still enjoying Harold's adventures. Will he work with an angel? Hmmm, we'll see.

    @Fandango - I'm keeping to a self-omposed word-limit these day so you should never have to put up with a post much longer than this one. I wish every dragon a full belly and a warm fire this Christmas!

    @Bettygram - Yep, more plot for me to try and wrangle with :-)

    @Human - Luck of the devil, eh? I think Harold would disagree - he'd just as soon be somewhere quiet with his music than be running around the streets :-).

    @DFTP - I have to admit I rather liked the phrase about nothing doing its best to happen, myself. Thanks for noticing it.

    Happy Holidays everyone and see ya in the New Year!

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  9. Oh my... It is not only my own story I've felt I've lost track with lately. Deciding to catch up with Harold now I find I have to go back as far as to this post over a month ago. It does seem slightly familiar so I probably did eye through it back then but I evidently never got as far as commenting. Ah, but the advantage is that I can now go straight on to the next episode...!

    I love the phrase "nothing was still doing its best to happen"... And also love the introduction of the Angel into the story.

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