Saturday Wordzzle 95

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

Hardest words this week: snowmobile and DVD

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

The Mini (grounds for divorce, pink panther, salutations, wavering, lasagne)

This is part of of an ongoing story. A blind seer has had a vision about a young man coming to some as yet unspecified harm from an old man living in a tower. To try to avert this fate, she has anonymously paid for him to take a holiday somewhere far away. The young man has arrived at the holiday town and has noticed an interesting tower, which he plans to investigate the next day. The seer has a nightmare which she believes is connected to the young man's fate and resolves to go after him...

The young man speaks:

The hotel managed to rustle up a fairly decent vegetable lasagne last night, which is a pleasant surprise – most places think vegetarians are crazy, so offer them the most mediocre dishes they can be bothered to chuck together. The air this morning is lovely and clean and, for some reason, I’ve got the theme tune to the Pink Panther stuck in my head today. I can barely manage to stop myself from boogieing down the street in time to it. In a small town like this they probably think outsiders are mad enough without me confirming it. The tower’s not far now, I can see it up ahead, poking up above the high hedges lining the lane. Oh, hello, I wonder what that woman’s doing, wavering at the side of the road like she wants to cross over to my side or something. Oh, wait, I get it. She’s blind. No wonder she’s a bit hesitant. Surely there should be somebody with her,though? She hasn’t even got a guide dog. I think I should try and help – it won’t exactly be grounds for divorce, will it, if I just greet her with a cheerful salutation and offer to help her across the road.

The 10-worder (alternate reality, shadows, frantic, tomatoes, field, lilies, DVD, snow mobile, aggravation, music)

New to Harold's story? The summary is here.

    “You can tell your pet it’s safe to come out of the shadows now.” said Baruthiel.
     Teatime had obviously been listening the whole time because the words had barely left the angel’s mouth before he was once more upon Harold’s shoulder.
    “Why in Hades’s name did you agree to that?” his voice was a furious frantic whisper.
    “It’s not like I had a lot of choice, is it?” Harold replied, “And I don’t need a load of aggravation from you about it – the Basement and the Penthouse have a common interest for once and it might be useful to pool our resources.”
    “Have I somehow fallen through a wormhole into an alternate reality?” Teatime was incredulous, “Those goody-two-shoes types will never trust us enough to share anything they find out and they’ll never believe anything we tell them. By Pluto, If you told them tomatoes were red, they’d still go to the nearest greengrocer and check for themselves. No, we can’t do this, old sock, we simply can’t.”
    “We have to, “ insisted Harold, “I’ve already agreed to it.”
    “But your Father will be furious!”
    “He’s always furious!”
    “Music to my ears,” commented Baruthiel, “A house divided….”
    If looks could kill, Teatime’s glare would have had the local florists rubbing their hands and ordering extra lillies.
    “Look Teatime,” said Harold patiently, “I’m not changing my mind on this now. I say we at least give it a try. If it doesn’t work out well…”
    Teatime considered this. “Very well,” he sighed after some time, “but don’t come crying to me when these OGS lickspittles slap you with another Binding or worse – as they surely will.”
    “They’re here,” announced Baruthiel, as four figures appeared at the end of the alleyway.  He sheathed his sword and altered his appearance. Gone were the radiant armour and long flowing locks, to be replaced by a modern-looking army field uniform and a crew cut. Harold could only envy the angel’s mastery of his physical appearance – a skill he was really going to have to start working at one of these days – if he ever got the chance. If only you could get an instructional DVD or something – “Shapeshifting for Beginners” or “A New Face in 10 Easy Steps”. Maybe if he ever got the hang of it he would make that DVD himself. Yeah, right! His Father would be riding a snowmobile to work before these OGS types would leave him alone long enough to a) practice the art and b) stay here on the Brightside. Which rather begged the question: what was going to happen once all this was over. He was about to ask Baruthiel, but at that moment Joshua squad arrived.

    This was India’s first encounter with an angel and, although she knew better, she was ever so slightly disappointed that he wasn’t more, well, angelic-looking. Oh, he was beautiful alright and contained within himself an inner light which was unmistakably not of this earth, but she had secretly hoped for wings. Big fluffy white wings – and maybe a halo. This isn’t It’s a Wonderful Life, she chided herself, and he’s not Clarence, so get a grip!
    “Good evening, Agents,” said the angel, “Forgive the bizarre location of this meeting, it would have taken place in more salubrious surroundings at OGS HQ had someone not taken it into his head to go running off in the company of Black Sheep.” This last was, of course, directed at Harold but the latter just shrugged.
    “Now,” he continued, “I have a very unusual request.”