Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Entry #6

"Tiger Tale"
by Rebecca Hendricks


Ran cloth final time over smooth wood, hollow body, long neck. Admired delicate inlay. Master claims teeth of tigers slivered and tucked into geometric designs, matching tiger-stripe grain, white on battle between honey, shadow. Extinction of tiger makes story unlikely, but suffering Master’s whimsy first order of business.

Considered strings, fingers hovering. Whether energy own or instrument’s, palpable. Tiger striped vessel will translate important news to music, song: Local baker’s wedding; birth of new Teacher; summer's kudzu crops damaged by rains; alliance.

Capitulation, more like. Outsiders in heart of town. Outsiders setting up shop, adding vocals to worship, government.

Why carry latest song? Why share, why spread misfortune?

Brushed fingers softly on strings, causing slightest breath of sound. Rich, full of promise. Brows knitted in frown. Temptation strong to deny transaction! Town's recent decisions poor, dangerous. Put to song, events legitimized. Perfect vessel of tiger’s hide, white teeth too strong, too fine to be carrier of illegitimate choice. Master would agree.

Master would beat senseless, if were here.

Plucked single note. Tone rang out. Ear disagreed. Fingers of left hand stretched angrily to tuning key, slowed, touched lightly. Tone dropped subtly, matched frequency, came to agreement with ear. Tone sang freely. Tension in own shoulders likewise eased. So fine, this hollow form. Just… needed tuning.

Storyteller --newsmaker-- called from outside shutters. Allo, est-ce qu’a guitarra prĂȘt? Fingers lingered, though hesitation passed. Then lifted away.

Tiger’s teeth may bite. Story at least will carry on clean tones. Future will decide importance.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

You tell it ever so nicely
wish you well
tony
http://zingtrial.wordpress.com/

Flood said...

Beautiful.

anne frasier said...

wow. very nice. loved the angle and perspective you took.

bekbek said...

Picture a stunned expression. The deadline is the 28th, not... the 22nd?

I didn't have to write this all in one night, then, huh?

*silly grin* Thank you. I feel quite foolish, but I'm glad I had an imagined deadline pushing me to write something.

emeraldcite said...

very vivid. has an interesting cadence.

Jeff said...

Nice imagery.

Scott said...

Highly original, unique voice. Poetic.

Anonymous said...

250 pages in 250 words. No easy feat, regardless of deadline.

John McAuley

Jaye Wells said...

I like the abbreviated style. It's attention-grabbing and speaks of your unique voice. Nice job.

Melly said...

BebBek!
What an interesting use of language.
This was quite an amazing read. I feel like I know and I don't know what's going on, and it's okay. It's all cool - future will decide :)
Good job!

Cavan said...

Huge thumbs up. I love this one!

Jade L Blackwater said...

That was really lovely. It made me think about the ways in which artists consider the implications of their craft. Well written!

bekbek said...

Thank you all for the comments. It was definitely fun to write this. I had just learned the word "luthier," surprising myself, and then Anne got me onto this contest. The telephone wires in the photo, with the sense of tension and of communication, combined with this new word floating around in my brain. I enjoyed seeing the story come together.

Anonymous said...

Rebecca, very avente garde! I can see how the wires led you. The condensed language is strong. Good use of verbs and focused description.