Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Sentence Six Sentence story bloghop.
Denise is sensei, the week’s prompt word gives form our virtual dojo.
She say “If the story cannot be contained in six sentences, it is in less than proper shape.”
This week we will return to Victorian London and the Order of Lilith in the next installment of ‘the Whitechapel Interlude‘.
This week’s prompt word:
KALEIDOSCOPE
“The historical record of mankind is a kaleidoscope, colored shards deliberately attractive the better to snag the hearts of people desperate to establish their bearings,” the Reverend Mother stood beyond the thicket of shoulders and necks of the other acolytes as I sat in the back of the lecture room.
My eyebrows picked a fight with my mind, insisting I not ignore a sudden vision of a woman lying on hard-tufted cobblestones, caught in the final moment of futile escape from a nightmare; her scarlet robe only partially covering her body, a still-life of suffering, in every sense of the word.
“Only by opening our minds to the vulnerable nature of our hopes and fears can we escape a world designed to enslave both soul and body; the most fearsome cost of such wisdom, sufficient to keep most at bay, is to surrender certainty that the only reality is the common reality,” I felt a chilling breeze on my neck and slight motion under my feet.
“Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than the story of Cain and Abel, the automatic response of most being, “Murderer most foul, he killed his brother;” I turned to see Sarah staring at me and, as the sight of dry land inspires a drowning man to let go of the dreadful security of floating debris in a stormy sea, smiled my soul to her.
Passion soothing her voice to a serene quietness, the Reverend Mother concluded, “Despite being the centerpiece story of the New Testament, surely the equivalent in moral significance with the story of Cain and Abel, I’d wager no one in this room can provide the names of the men who wielded the whips and thrust the spear, killing Christ; that such are nameless, while Cain and Abel surely are not, constitute irrefutable evidence of the hidden manipulators.
We, in the Order of Lilith, are charged with helping the Sons of Adam learn to set aside the brightly colored prism of an enslaving history, and, by doing so, learn to seek the power that results from appreciating the true nature of the world.”
About clarkscottroger
Was wondering how you mght incorporate this week’s prompt into one of your serials…
… and, cool, it’s the Reverend Mother who takes the floor!
She makes a good lecture, but my eyes also enjoyed the lines in between – such as: “stood beyond the thicket of shoulders and necks” and “a still-life of suffering, in every sense of the word.” and “smiled my soul to her.”
Thanks, V
I’ve been lucky with the characters that were, apparently, hiding somewhere in my head. lol
Rich and full. I especially liked “still-life of suffering”.
Thanks you, Avia
Splendid use of language, moving the story ever forward. ‘My eyebrows picked a fight with my mind…’ stunning!
ty, CH
once again…you brought it excellente!!
gracias, señor Paul
As long as they quit blaming Jewish people. Great six!
Thank you, Joyce
What an opening line. Ya got me. (I’ll interject and say I decided to run music while reading. damn)
Writing is exceptional. I’d say this is perhaps my most favorite of chapters in the serial.
The fourth sentence got me thinking of Cain and Abel. It seems that after God’s acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice but not Cain’s, Cain tried to get even by sacrificing Abel to himself. But as that thought arrives it drifts back where it came from perhaps some other “common reality”. More pieces to the puzzle.
How long did Cain hate his brother? As long as he was Abel.
The Reverend Mother is on a roll, is onto something.
Not for anything, but when reading this I too “felt a chilling breeze on my neck and slight motion under my feet”.
baa rump bump!
yeah, if whoever wrote these tales/history tried to get a publisher today, the auto-email would be all, “OK family drama, sibling rivalry, marketable. But you unplayed the instigator of the conflict… show us more context and then resubmit.”
Always a feast for the mind here.
thank you, Mimi I enjoyed it as well.
,I don’t know the name of the centurion, but loved the connection.
I love how you convey so much in your stories with an eyebrow! 😉
thank you!
Eyebrows picked a fight with my mind…now that’s one that’ll stick in my brain!
my pleasure!
lol