Just a reminder that DSP Publications released Cut Hand on October 31. I’d appreciate your taking a look at the book. I believe Amazon permits you to read a short passage. This is really the seminal book in the Cut Hand series (or as I call it now, the Strobaw Family Saga).
I decided to do something different for this week’s blog. At least, it’s different for me. Stories are told either from the first, second, or third person point of view. Meaning, of course, using the pronouns I, you, or he, respectively. They are also told from the present tense, past tense, or future tense (I am, I was, or I will be).
Second person stories are probably the least common. Present tense, although increasing in popularity, is still less prevalent than a past tense tale. Since I seldom use either the second person or the present tense for my storytelling, I decided to take a stab at both… in the same tale. The result is the flash fiction piece that follows:
*****
 |
| Courtesy of Valley Sleep Center |
AND YET AGAIN
You open your eyes to the soft light of early morning, fearing last night was a magnificent dream and hoping it was not. You turn your head… and there he is, lying on his belly, naked torso half turned to you, eyes closed in slumber.
Good Lord! Have you bedded a minor? The smooth curve of his jaw is unblurred by the shadow of a beard. The closed lids with long sable lashes might be a girl’s. The sideburns curl a little at the end, lending belief this is but a beautiful child.
But you recall your meeting last evening in a bar. You discerned the figure of a man beneath the cable knit sweater and Dockers. And although the brown penny loafers gave him an adolescent air, his performance was that of a man… a confident, competent man.
You want to touch him but resist, reluctant to disturb his tranquil sleep. It pulls you back to your own youth full of innocence, yet fumbling your way toward the worldly, the carnal. You do not recall his name, so you dub him Bud in your mind. An equally innocent, unformed name. It seems fitting.
You shiver in the grip of a sudden fear this is but a brief, passing thing. How can you bind him to you? Make yourself important to him. To his future. Tension flows out of you as you realize you cannot. This is whatever it turns out to be. In the meantime, drink your fill of his boyish charm, his relaxed pouty lips, his delicate nose, his strong chin.
He startles you with a stretch as he turns on his back, taking the sheet down with churning legs. You fear he’s awake, but he releases a long slow breath, and then his amazingly deep chest rises and falls in a circadian rhythm. Brown nipples centered in dark aureoles stir you, but you manage to keep your hands and lips off them as you complete your inventory. Ribs lightly edged with muscle. Must be a swimmer. Torso hairless until just below a fetching navel where a thin trail of pubes—much lighter than the dark, curly mane on his head—disappear beneath the thin sheet covering the rest of him. You are rocked by this picture of innocence somehow loaded with potential danger.
You cannot help yourself. You reach out, and his eyes snap open. He looks blank for a moment before he turns to you. In an instant, he morphs from a beautiful angel into a devilishly handsome satyr as he gives a slow, sardonic smile before coming for you… yet again.
*****
Thanks for letting me get that out of my system. Now maybe I can get back to normal.
Did you notice something interesting? The you in the story is never identified. Is it a man or a woman? Could be either, couldn’t it? The reader can decide for himself or herself. Or maybe the “you” can be you.
I am interested in expanding my list of readers’ email addresses. If you have no reservations about this, please provide yours to markwildyr@aol.com. I will only use it to occasionally pass on things of interest and update you about my writing. All my contact information is given below:
Website and blog: markwildyr.com
Email: markwildyr@aol.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.wildyr
Twitter: @markwildyr
The following are some buy links for CUT HAND:
Thanks for being a reader.
Mark
The next blog at 6:00 a.m. on the first day of the succeeding month.
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