This is in response to this week’s Literary Lion word challenge. This week’s word is ‘king’ and to write something 400 words or less…I’m chuckling but I really did try this time:
King Him
“What do you think about when you hear the word king?” I asked.
“I think of Martin Luther King,” Buck replied.
That seemed rather odd to me; odd that someone wouldn’t automatically associate the word king with Elvis Presley. “I think of Elvis Presley,” I said.
“Ah, Sissy.” Buck reached for me. We were on the veranda at his folks’ house, sitting in the old rattan rocking love seat. Summer was heavier than sex in a hay stack.
I’ve loved Buck at least as long as the bougainvillea vine has clung to his mother’s wooden trellises. He’s plain, but not ordinary. Always some heart hanging on his sleeve.
“Ah Sissy what?” I asked, shaking and grinding against the air and humming “I’m All Shook Up”.
Ellespeth
Great pacing. It made me think of one of those late night conversations that slips by in memory, small and possibly quite insignificant in the larger context, but when isolated can take on the mantle of much greater meaning.
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Lovely story. I rather like the literal process of thinking about the prompt that you told, it was a very clever way of answering the challenge. I also like the thought of someone with “always some heart” on their sleeve, as though they’ve got a few different hearts, it’s an intriguing thought. 🙂
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Nice one..and it’s good to always have a heart hanging on your sleeve.
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Yes it is! Even if it hangs a tad crooked at times and almost falls off!
Ellespeth
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Nice story, I particularly liked “He was plain, but not ordinary”.
My first thought when I saw the prompt was “Martin Luther King” 🙂
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Not sure what it means that I thought ‘Chicken ala’ at first. Probably that I need breakfast.
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