I might be fighting off the temptation to play sleeping lions here today but my feeble fingers have just about managed to pluck a piece of paper from my little jar.
The word is the very beautifully penned ‘flower’.
There are some exciting things on the horizon for Literary Lion, but in order to make room for the approaching antics the event is now becoming a fortnightly affair. So from this week onwards I am giving you 14 days to craft your post of 400 words or less. Please remember to pingback to this post, include the ‘Literary Lion’ tag and of course give me a tinkle on Instagram and twitter.
As part of the new and improved Literary Lion I will be choosing a favourite tale each week to link to in my next prompt piece, so have your writing hands at the ready…
Here is my floral affair…
Bloom.
This time he bought me roses. Their razor thorns grazed his face when I cracked them across his skull. They swung so smoothly through the air, whistling as they went.
Twelve bunches of flowers in the last sixty-four days. But the roses were lavish. She must have been special. His guilt oozed from every petal.
The first time was a bunch of weak wilting daisies. Puny and pathetic. She probably had mousy brown hair. Plain Jane.
They got better looking each time. One day it was elegant, slender tulips. The next week was bright beaming amber sunflowers. That bunch hurt. I wasn’t the smiling type.
But the roses were the finest of them all. Blossoming pink spheres. Velvet to the touch. Plump, ripe and undeniably beautiful.
Ouch! Was it beaten into a crown of thorns?
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I bet she wishes 😉
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Nice. Can I use this cautionary tale as my reason for not buying my missus any flowers?
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Haha! Hmmm, I’d be careful, there’s a fine line between guilt presents and no presents. Us women are difficult to please.
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In such few words you cram in so much conflict (sorry, on a roll from my discussion with Mandibelle).
The flowers he gives her – she accepts, probably knowing that it means he has been unfaithful, but she sucks it up as the flowers are as boring as the women he is fucking.
Eventually the conflict becomes too much when the beautiful roses are given to her (a metaphor for a beautiful girl his is being unfaithful with) then she reacts.
Questions are open as to why she has put up with this for so long? Why didn’t she react in the first bunch of flowers? Why not until she felt she was surpassed by another woman’s beaLaura is a great example. Her piece this week is full of conflict.
The flowers he gives her – she accepts, knowing that it means he has been unfaithful, but she sucks it up as the flowers are as boring as the women he is fucking.
Eventually the conflict becomes too much when the beautiful roses are given to her – someone more beautiful than her? – then she reacts.
Questions are open as to why she has put up with this for so long? Why didn’t she react after the first bunch of flowers? Why not until she felt she was surpassed by another woman’s beauty (the roses were the trigger, not the continuous steam of offerings)? Is obvious in telling a tale of his infidelity, but hints at her own insecurity. And so quickly a timeframe. Has something happened between them?
Love it.
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Sorry. Cut&Paste got the better of me on my phone. You get the idea. 😉
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Thank you. I like to leave unanswered questions as I write, which I think in itself provides some conflict?
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I love this!
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Thank you 😀
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I don’t understand why the beating? He got her roses. There must be something deeper here…
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I believe he was being unfaithful. the type of flowers represent the type of girl he was with.
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That’s what I read.
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Give the girl a medal! Perfect interpretation 😉
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There was a definite ulterior motive for the flowers… not everyone buys bouquets out of kindness…
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Perfection. You can taste the disgust and disappointment.
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Thank you! Now go find some sugar to take that sour taste away 😉
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You are getting ever so close to the perfection of a shortHemingway story, my dear! This is so wonderful, and so concise. You could have gone on, but the constraint writers show is almost as important as the words they choose. Wonderful story.
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What a lovely comment, thank you! You’re right, it’s often what you don’t say…
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Beautiful post. But I can’t understand 64 days. 12 bunches of flowers is okay. But not 64 days. She missed some days. May be her moods didn’t notice the skipping time. And cracking them over his skull is something unpleasant. It means she isn’t pleased with all those developments. Anyway, let’s see what goes.
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I didn’t mind 64 days. To me it showed the extent of his cheating within such a short time.
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Thank you. I’m not sure it was her moods that were the problem here… It’s a cautionary tale to the unfaithful man, and his skull.
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Beautiful! I wonder why she doesn’t ltb, though – I mean, twelve bunches of flowers in 64 days… She must love flowers?
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I really love the line “That bunch hurt. I wasn’t the smiling type.”
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Hi Laura, sorry I have been absent for a while, I love these challenges of yours so will try to get back into my groove…
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No worries at all, they are here to dip in and out of! Looking forward to seeing your interpretation though!
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I will do my best! 🙂
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She’s really mad I think. She seems happier that the roses might cause him to bleed, but I still think she likes them because she says they are the finest.
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I think she’s definitely happy the roses have caused some damage, I probably would be too if it were me… Haha
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Fitting to the cautionary tale for if flowers are involved, something must be wrong.
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Yes, they often smell of guilt only…
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“The bigger the bouquet, the younger she was.” – Coupling
Love this post. So much story and so much freedom for interpretation and universal application!
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Thank you. And what a great quote, I’ve not seen much of that programme but it’s definitely along the same lines as what I was thinking when I wrote this!
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I absolutely love this, and the fact that you tell it in so few words makes it even more magic for me. LOVE this.
I wonder if the flowers-as-women representations indicate how it began… like he only dared to screw a ‘Plain Jane’ at first and work his way up, as it were. Does she truly love him, if she’s putting up with such cheating? Hmm, I don’t think he loves her so much anymore.
Did I mention that I love this?
*runs off to re-read*
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You have made me a very happy writer, although I will try not to let it show in my work, it doesn’t suit it 😉
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Wow. Great post.
There’s only going to be one prompt in two weeks? These prompts were becoming a routine now.
Well, you must be busy. Again great post.
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Thanks! Sorry about that, but yes, I felt I can give my blog and the challenges more attention by changing the frequency! You can always answer each twice if you want to keep up your routine? I’m sure you could come up with more than one tale for each!
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What a great idea 😊 mind you, for me once a fortnight is probably best 😆 a two-year-old and a nine-month-old take up a lot of time!
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I love the comparison between the flowers and the women, and how she guesses things about the women by the type of “guilt” flowers he gives her.
Nice for her he finally bought some with sharp spiky bits 🙂
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It’s the least he could do 😉
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Give him a massage with each rose. He will get the message 😉
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A massage of thorns?! I like it.
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😉
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I was wondering when today’s prompt would show up and then I remembered these were going to be fortnightly from last week onwards.
Oh darn.
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I love this prompt. And I thought I’d missed the deadline but this fourteen day rule is treating me kindly!
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I posted my response to this literary lion prompt and pingbacked it which is appearing just above this comment. Thanks for extending the time period.
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I was so late with this but I didn’t want to miss out! Enjoy your hols 🙂
https://newshoundnovelist.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/remember-me-literary-lion-challenge-week-3/
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Thank you! No worries, better late than never! 🙂
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