Short Story

Shapeshifter

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

You’re in the autumn of your life – sepia tones and the scars of broken bones. Be proud of them; you’ve earned them all.

Oh, but in your glory days, you were a sight to behold! Beyond stunning with masts a mile long, a wind-swept mane the shade of amber honey and a glow that could warm the coldest heart. And who could ever forget your penchant for dropping your sails and going commando! You were always so free, requiring minimal maintenance – just one of your more attractive characteristics.

Classy in a smooth and sensual way that was second nature; you were never one who had to try too hard. Your delightful imperfections went unnoticed; you had IT and you were irresistible.

Friends and lovers – never a lack of either. Women were envious of the power you had over their men but you were too much fun for them to dislike. Men were drawn to you, a siren luring sailors with your bewitching sway. You were the red sky at night. Yet you could be submissive when it pleased you – always knowing how the game was played, never doing anything that didn’t delight you, and stopping only when the winds became erratic.

Sailing through storms and turbulent seas, at times coming dangerously close to capsizing, defying the odds and hanging on every time. Yours was a life filled with passion and lived with gusto; never any regrets, no apologies, no explanations.

And now, selkie, you will live to see another day.

NAR©2024
250 Words

This is “Red Sky At Night” by David Gilmour

The Unicorn Challenge–6/12/24

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.

27 thoughts on “Shapeshifter”

        1. Me too! I’m a huge fan of the sax. My husband played sax while a teenager but didn’t stick with it. Our 15 yr old granddaughter plays the baritone sax in her school band, marching band and jazz band. The bari sax is the largest sax; she’s the only one who plays the bari in her school bands.

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  5. evocative story, as we’ve come to expect

    …cannot think of another form of conveyance living or fashioned by man that can connect us so directly to the world

    (a few years in an offshore fishing boat will convince the most literal-minded that the world consists of threads tying everything together)

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