Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY
IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I
generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family
rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to
write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration
(quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind.
These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat,
irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if
anything comes of them.
Fantasy Trope:
magic
Jakob Josef-Büchel
fingered the crest of his grandfather’s homeland then looked up at the piece of
it that rested in the box in his lap. With his cell phone tucked between his
shoulder and cheek he said, “I just got a box with a golden horn with a gold
strap on it.”
Kiena Onorio
said, “Sounds cheesy. Just throw it away…”
“I don’t think it’s
something I can throw away.”
“Why not?” You
have boat loads of junk at your house from your fancy-pants family. You must
the only one who celebrates being from the smallest country on Earth.”
“I wouldn’t
talk! Kiribati’s awfully small.” Kiena snorted. He knew there was no way she
could argue. Instead he said, “How about we settle the argument once and for
all?”
“I’ll be over in
a minute,” she said. He lived across the street, on Embassy Row on the island
nation of New Zealand. She scaled the wall between their compounds, waving at
the security guard who watched her. She hated the fact that he thought the two
of them were having sex. He wouldn’t have cooperated even if they were the last
couple on Earth. He was deeply in love with…
She reached his
window and said, “What do you have in mindtwo stones of red coral, one fruit of
the non-tree, one old coconut, the first leaf of a seed nut, and the strong
green leaf of an old tree”
“A contest,” he
said, holding up the horn. She blinked in surprise. The way he’d described it
made it sound like it was a cheap movie prop. But the solidity of it, even from
across the room, made her feel vaguely uneasy.
She stepped
back. “What are you talking about?”
He made a face
then said, “What something from Kiribati that you know of that’s supposed to be
magic?”
“Magic?”
He held up the
horn easily, tossed it in the air, caught it and said, “Yeah. This thing’s
supposed to have magical powers. We can figure out who’s got the best country
by having a magic contest.”
“I don’t believe
in magic,” she replied.
“Right. Is that
why you keep make all those little pictures of us together then burning them
with an incense stick – because you don’t believe in magic?”
“How do you…” He
lifted his chin to the telescope on the veranda of his room. She’d always
assumed it was there because his mother was a world renowned amateur astronomer
as well as an ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Cameroun. “You didn’t
think I liked space, did you?”
She could see
where the conversation was going, so she said abruptly, “There’s this old
legend that involves two stones of red coral, one fruit of the non-tree, one
old coconut, the first leaf of a seed nut, and the strong green leaf of an old
tree.”
“Sounds like a
lot of crap to me,” Jakob said, laughing.
“The Kiribati
stuff is supposed to help me establish a kingdom. What’s that stupid horn
supposed to do?”
“When it is
blown, the way I hear the story when I was little, it will revive the Kingdom
of Bohemia with me as King.”
She shrugged. “So?”
He grinned, “Maybe
you’ve heard of the Third Reich, then?”
Names: ♀Kiribati; ♂
Liechtenstein
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