Short Story

Till Death

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for The Unicorn Challenge where we are
asked to get creative in 250 words or less using
the photo below as inspiration. This is my story.

© Ayr/Gray

Dearest  Neve ~

Apologies, darling. I’ve been horribly remiss in keeping up with our emails. I guess it’s par for the course, considering the innumerable shortcomings in my far-from-stellar existence.

I was totally immersed in writing my latest book, which was written up in The Village Voice .… Norman Mailer’s leftist-leaning rag …. as one of the biggest bombs of my career.

As you undoubtedly remember, today is the annual fête of “Meet the Authors” (a questionable moniker) at Les Deux Magots. Everyone in the monde littéraire who thinks they’re important is inside, drinking warm champagne and eating over-priced caviar while mentally fornicating the new crop of honorees. I’ve positioned myself at a table outside the café …. ignored, as usual.

Honestly, Neve …. this latest batch of wordsmiths is impossibly young; were we ever that nubile, darling? You were, as I vividly recall, one of our generation’s freshest – idealistic and creative. I, however, was born jaded. It’s not that I blame these fledglings; I simply can’t help but wonder …. with AI omnipresent …. if any of these Kerouac wannabes ever had an original thought in their paltry lives!

The usual suspects are here. Jeffrey Galloway with his entourage and laughable comb-over everyone pretends not to see. And Roger …. your current beaux and possibly the only decent person in the place. I apologize in advance, dear Neve; I like Roger. Collateral damage, you know.

Adieu! It seems I’ve lived to bomb this one last time.

Till death,
Stephen

NAR©2024
250 Words

This is “Paperback Writer” by the Beatles

The Unicorn Challenge-22/11/24

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy (The Sicilian Storyteller), The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.



19 thoughts on “Till Death”

  2. I do love flash fiction where the reader is given a picture of a character’s whole lifetime. You’ve done it so well in this one, and you’ve portrayed a disillusioned and vengeful character whose world-weariness just drips off the page, so to speak. And the wordplay with ‘bomb’ – very good.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, Margaret!

      I had resigned myself to the possibility that I unintentionally downplayed the deadly aspect of the story by making my character a bit too petulant as opposed to murderous. I’m pleased to know you saw through his bitter vibe and picked up on the vengeful bomb angle! I enjoyed writing the voice for this misanthropic failure; being despicable is a lot of fun!

      Thanks so much, Margaret! It’s good to have you back!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. Nope, he’s not happy…not one little bit.
    You have the resentment drip from his ‘lips’ with every cutting remark, Nancy.
    Petty, self-centred and cruel – that casual ‘I like Roger. Collateral damage…’!
    The language in my head for him is not at all ladylike!
    That comb-over had me laughing – I was interviewed by a chap with one of those and the advice I was given before I went in was, ‘Don’t look at his hair.’
    Where did my eyes go??
    And PS, I love Paperback Writer.
    Great story, Nancy, and the voice comes over perfectly.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you very much, Jenne. In my attempt to sound nonchalant and ambiguous, I may have shot myself in the foot. I wonder how many people actually realize my horribly jaded MC is planning to set off a bomb in the cafe?

      Well, even if the point got lost, I had great fun creating the voice and personality of this misanthrope. I, too, loved the combover line!

      Thanks, Jenne.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Tell me what you're thinking. 🖊️