In this series, I will take the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com and craft a short piece of creative writing around it. My goal is to embrace the meaning of the word in some unique way, all the while trying out different styles, rhythms and characterizations. It is as much an exercise in creativity as it is an exploration of grammar. Enjoy!
– – –
By Alex Seise
She picked up the scaramouch by the fraying fibers of his gutter water-soaked tweed collar. He looked scared, with tiny eyes shrunken deep into the sweeping curves of his young skull, but she was too livid to notice, or care. Her reproach was being sharpened like a dagger to a cold whetstone who knew no age or emotions, only pain.
“GET YER SCRAWNY HIDE AWAY FR’M ME WARES!” Her voice cracked and lashed like a stone ladle struck against the bottom of an empty steel pot as the young boy dangled haplessly from her fat-wrapped wrists. “AN’ IF OLD MAGGIE E’ER CATCHES YE PRODDIN’ AT ME LOAVES AGIN, WELL, THERE’LL BE S’ME REAL HELL TO PAY, YE SCAMP!”
The boy scurried off as fast as his worn brown shoes could carry him. The hard roll he’d pilfered in the moment she lifted him in the air was presently tucked safe from the bakerwive’s view, annexed away in the patched pocket of his untidy suit. He’d stuff it in his mouth in two bites the minute he found a suitable alley to ward off the cold autumn wind.
