Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Denise is the host and holds for only one truth in our endeavors: there must be six and only six sentences making up our stories.
Previously on the Whitechapel Interlude…
Anselm appears to have made a complete recovery from his impromptu journey through time. Mother Superior is cautiously optimistic that he has returned to the present alone and unaccompanied. Brother Abbott, like any other superior officer in an army, sacred or profane, feels relief, tempered with the sadness of the reminder that they were all expendable in the battle to save the Children of Eve from themselves. Sarah, in the way of her kind, visits the memory of her first encounter with them all.
This week the prompt word:
BOWL
“Life is not a river, it is a bowl; would anyone care to tell this group of would-be novices what that really means?”
Sarah’s face remained passively attentive, long having learned not to betray her delight at the wonder of the world around her, looking quietly at the others in the room; mostly young men, predominantly self-assured and confident boys, wearing their education like the drooping rows of medals and campaign ribbons on the uniforms of old, but un-scarred, soldiers.
One was different, he was smiling at the floor, clearly in an argument with himself and she permitted herself a sympathetic grin; her early childhood taught her to accept that most did not see, in the world around them, the things she did, as she watched his shoulder muscles fight with his arm, a hand shot up over the group.
“It’s a bowl because, no matter how crudely or cheaply constructed, the contents it holds will be sought by all, when they become hungry enough,” the young man looked around the group, and added, “Exodus 25:29”; the reference gave him license to smile even more assuredly, offering himself for the others to gather to and join.
Brother Abbott continued to watch the group; Sarah frowned, not certain if the bearded man had actually introduced himself upon his arrival and, ricochetting her own smile at the first young man, raised her hand, “Life is like a bowl because if we are to reach others, we must overcome the inward slope of the edge of our personal world, ever causing us to slide down to the middle which is the furthest from others and, reaching the highest edge, step away, leaving what we’re certain of behind forever.”
The bearded man at the front of the room, who wore the cowl of his Order like the robes of an exiled king leading his followers through the wilderness, smiled at the floor and said nothing.
About clarkscottroger
What a wonderful scene. Thank you for the introduction which added depth to the characters.
How neat it is when you tie in a Bible verse:
29 You shall make its dishes, its pans, its pitchers, and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold.
“The bearded man at the front of the room, who wore the cowl of his Order like the robes of an exiled king leading his followers through the wilderness, smiled at the floor and said nothing.” It’s like being there. So good.
Thanks, Paul
So subtle, so good! I appreciate the preamble too!
yeah that (the preamble) is proving to be a satisfying challenge in the process of writing a serial… what to remind Readers of that will enhance enjoyment of the story?
Always worth coming by to get my gray matter stirred up.
Thanks, M
Very enjoyable. I’m hoping future installments will reveal even more about Sarah, especially about her role as it appears she may be a major player??
Not sure… she surely has the makings of an interesting character, what with being possessed by a ferocious but somehow charming hunter-demon and all
I like that idea of life being like a bowl. It probably isn’t easy to stay on the edge and get the best of both.
yeah, agree, worse is, to reach the others (to experience their worlds/bowls) seems to imply giving up one’s own
Nicely and simply* executed scene, Clark. Two very good and different answers to the question posed about the bowl. This Six has that perfect 10am-in-the-classroom mood, where everyone is alert and sharp to the day’s learning. It was easy to imagine sitting down at one of the desks and taking part in that electricity.
*simple is not always so simple to do.
Thanks, Ford.
This one started with the concept (of reality as a bowl) and then most of the work went into creating a context for the answers.
I like this. The silent interplay between Sarah and the bearded man at the front of the room is intriguing. Where will it lead us to?
…deeper down the rabbit hole, I suspect!
Brother Abbott (the bearded man) has provided a new(ish) character through the process, wise without being wizened powerful but not insistent… I suspose, at some point, I should gather the previous 20 plus chapters and write it out as a proper story-between-two-covers-everytime-you-chose-to-pick-it-up
I really liked the line, “who wore the cowl of his Order like the robes of an exiled king leading his followers through the wilderness”.
Thank you Nicole, while a vow of poverty is, in many religious orders and sects, often distorted into a penance rather than a license… I liked the feel of that description. To borrow (and paraphrase) a line from a Robert Parker book, ‘Brother Abbott has and wears whatever it is he needs to at the time.’
If life is a bowl, does that mean we’re all in the soup?
By george, I think he’s got it!
Dude, we are the soup.