Mr. Hydrick, county supervisor, and Mr. Melody Tillery examining mouth and teeth of his mare, which has mule colt. Pike County, near Tray, Alabama. Public domain photo by Marion Post Walcott.
Image sourced: flashfriday.wordpress.com
The Travelling Show
‘All right, Peggy girl. Sssh, now. Jus’ let the nice man examine ya.’
‘Is she normally this restive, Mr Appletree?’
‘Nah, Mr Kleeman, sir. She jus’ gets nervous around strangers, y’know?’
‘She looks in pretty poor condition, sir.’
‘Bin doin’ my best, Mr Kleeman. It’s hard, these days. Audiences are down. I’m on my knees.’
‘It’s difficult for everyone, Mr Appletree. But if this beast is suffering, I will have her destroyed, asset or no.’
‘Aw, come on –’
‘Look, let’s not drag this out. Wedge her jaws, please.’
‘Her teeth are fine, man.’
‘They’ll pass. She’s not as shiny as she could be.’
‘Who is, these days?’
‘Tail and mane a little lacklustre, too. Now – the wings. A bit tattered, maybe?’
‘She’s bin workin’, Mr Kleeman. It takes a toll.’
‘Right. Well, look. I’ll recommend she stays with the show, for now, but I’ll be back next month. And tell me, for the paperwork, is she ‘Peggy’ or ‘Pegasus’?’
**
This week’s Flash! Friday challenge was tough (hence the late blog post!) I had another story all ready to go, and then at the last moment I decided it sucked (it really did), so I decided I’d go and have breakfast and see if that helped the thinking process. Who knew? It did. The idea for this story came to me as I stirred my pot of porridge, and I had to come right back to my computer and get it down before I forgot it. (Don’t worry – I took the porridge off the heat first). I didn’t intend to write it all in dialogue, but that’s just the way it came out. Maybe I’ll try to rework the other story, too, and pull a twofer this week again – watch this space…
It’s been a long week. I’m tired. There’s a Bank Holiday coming up on Monday, which I fully intend to enjoy, and after that it’ll be time to get ‘Emmeline’ back where she belongs, i.e. in the hands of my agent. I’ve also got three stories in the publication pipeline (technically, four, but one’s on semi-permanent hiatus), and lots of other stuff to keep me busy, so there won’t be much time for gallivanting over the next few weeks. And then there’s Halloween to prepare for! Gadzooks, but it never ends.
Have a happy Friday, and I hope to see you throw your name in the hat over on Flash! Friday this week. Go on – give the judge something to chew on. Tune in tomorrow for a book review, and I’ll see you back here next week. But, for now, it’s goodbye from me, and it’s goodbye from this guy…
Hullo! I mean… Goodbye!
Write on, my lovelies. Write on.
SJ O'Hart 