Tuesday 23 April 2013

An A-Z Story - S and T


So sorry that I'm a bit tardy after my holiday. I didn't get a chance to update yesterday, so this post is a twofer.

My theme is as follows: each day I will ask for words beginning with that day's letter, which I will randomly select five from to use in a sentence in an ongoing story. That sentence will be posted the next day when I'll ask for words for the next letter. So my Z sentence will appear on May 1st.

157 stupendous R words have been suggested since Saturday and random.org has selected the following terrific five:

Recalcitrant (suggested by Michelle)
Rapacious (suggested by Michelle)
Rejuvenation (suggested by Michelle)
Repent (suggested by KRITI)
Robin (suggested by Mama J)

The story so far...


Angels had always had a certain ambiguity, being both human and divine, reflected Acatour with an acute sense of malaise as he looked down on the arable fields of medieval England. A bird flew past making a belligerent shriek, unnerved it seemed by a boggart; Acatour descended, thinking it would take a brainiac like him to unravel the poor soul’s beginnings and why it had not reached Heaven.
     York Cathedral hove into view, shrouded in wooden scaffold as part of the local bishop’s campaign of restoration; but before he could challenge a carpenter over whether any of his colleagues had fallen to their doom, his presence was announced by the crawdad he’d eaten back in 20th century New Orleans repeating on him. He wiped dribble from his chin as the remains of the crustacean narrowly missed the workmen to land in the dew of the graveyard, berating himself for his debauched and unangelic behaviour the previous night; why did that dame have to desert him? The effervescent Ella had always been eager for exciting adventures, but when he’d asked her to accompany him on this esoteric time travel mission, she’d called him a crazy drunk and left.
     It did sound rather fabulous, in the true sense of the word, he thought to himself as he descended further before landing on an empty area of scaffold, all the better for making himself visible; next to him was some viscous fluid, making him think that any fall from this precarious structure would surely be a fluke. Stepping away from the gel-like substance, he felt something watching him and turned to see a Gardengoyle on the wall next to a carved bunch of grapes, which caused the gregarious sounds of the workmen to die away as two thoughts rang clearly in his head: what was it doing here, and did he detect guilt in the creature’s eyes?
     That horrendous stare was starting to give Acatour a headache when a workman with a harried expression shimmied up onto the platform via a hemp rope, his arrival causing an apparently hilarious reaction in the Gardengoyle. “Hey, you!” said the workman, stomping towards Acatour, but something seemed to interrupt his progress, drawing him inexorably towards the island of iridescent liquid, which seemed entirely illogical to the angel until he sensed the impish carving’s illicit intentions.
     The workman slipped on the puddle and waved his arms frantically like a jester, trying not to fall over the edge; in that moment Acatour sensed the wickedly joyful mirth of the Gardengoyle and grabbed the man’s arm, saving him from jeopardy and causing the creature’s joy to dissipate as it contemplated a future in Paranormal Jail.
     “Thank you,” said the man, “my darling Kate is too young to become a widow,” but upon saying this he started to keel over as if affected by his own version of Kryptonite; Acatour had been ready to show kindness to the grotesquely kitsch Gardengoyle, but now saw the only solution was to destroy it. While struggling to hold on to the lanky workman - who had become rather loquacious and kept babbling about his wife and lover, who Acatour hoped were the same person - and stop him from being lost over the edge of the scaffold, he cast around for any tools or discarded carvings he could use as a weapon and finally alighted on a rather hefty rock lobster, which, it occurred to him, would be much more effective than a crawdad.
     A look of merriment crossed the creature’s face that was quite deranged considering it was about to be smashed to smithereens, before it melted into the rock leaving nothing but smooth stone - it was magic, of course - and Acatour quickly descended the monumental structure, past more workmen and a rather flustered merchant, and burst through the main door just as matins was beginning. Two hundred heads turned towards him in a space as quiet as a nunnery, and he felt like a numbskull for interrupting, but he had a need as urgent as a junkie looking for his next narcotics to get that Gardengoyle before it did any more mischief; the next thing he knew, a numbing pain and squeezing sensation on his head told him the Gardengoyle had found him.
     “Oh Father, hallowed be thy name-” began an officious bishop, quickly interrupted by a loud “Ouch!” from Acatour and an earsplitting shriek from the monster at an octave which must have been unreachable by humans as the besieged angel finally wrestled it off his head, before pitching it to the black- and white- tiled floor which looked like pieces from an Othello set, where it smashed into a thousand pieces.
     “Your Holiness,” said Acatour before the stunned bishop could speak, “it is paramount that the remains of this wretched creature are scattered as far as possible, otherwise it will reassemble; and I suggest the privileged members of your congregation would like to take a piece home, one to perhaps repair a dry stone wall round a potato field, another to form part of a whimsical garden frequented by a pixie,” but before he could go on, his eye was caught by the twinkle of precious stones among the debris and he realised the scoundrel had been a thief as well as a murderer.
     By this time the congregation had gathered around the scene, and a man seemed to quiver as he stooped to retrieve a diamond ring before saying to Acatour, “Thank you, good sir, this belongs to my wife; I am a quartermaster, please accept this Quark cheese and flagon of mead to quench the mighty thirst you must have garnered in your quest to quell this monster.”
     Acatour regretted that the being wouldn’t be able to repent, but reflected that it would have probably been quite recalcitrant in that regard; turning to the quartermaster, he accepted his offerings with a rapacious stomach and hopes of rejuvenation from a meal that that great do-gooder, Robin Hood, would be glad of.

As this post is a twofer, I need both S and T words to continue the story! Anything you can manage is fine: you can suggest words for either of the letters, or both if you can. I'm massively grateful for all the help so far. I'll post the two new sentences tomorrow and then I'll be back on track. It looks like I won't be able to catch up with you all til tomorrow though, so bear with me!

26 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Struggle, stud, suffocate.
Traverse, trench, teleport!

loverofwords said...

stupefy
sanctimonious
suffragan

triptych
titillate
tithe

Rhonda Albom said...

snot-filled toddlers
stifling temperatures
stupid tourists
stinky tangerines
silly turtles

I am guessing this wasn't actually what you wanted, but it was fun. Hope you holiday was awesome :)

Rhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com

Unknown said...

Staunch, sundries, & sullied.

Tactile, taciturn, & tenacious. :D

Empty Nest Insider said...

I'll take Rhonda's lead by combining both letters:

screaming tantrums
sultry tango
skinny toothpicks

You're doing an amazing job with your theme Nick. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Julie

Mel said...

So good!

Sanctimonious
Scrumptious
Seething
Spellbound
Supercalifragelisticexpialedocious :)

Tarantula
Tantamount
Truancy
Turbulence
Triangular

Rebecca M. Douglass said...

sexy
sensual
sarcastic
selfish
saute
supplement
supplant

turbulent
torrid
taxing
toxic
telegraph
tenacious

J.L. Murphey said...

stupidity
Superstitious
sanctimonious
sad
splendid
Saxophone
Skitter

Tense
Turmoil
Triumph
Trouble
Terse
Triangular
The
Trials
Trails
Trumpets
Trip

Krista McLaughlin said...

This is turning out so good!

Sassy
Toast

Shell Flower said...

I am amazed at your ability to use all those crazy words in sentences.

Sultry
Soon
Season
Shoot
Shimmy
Shimmer


Took
Tree
Tulip
Tinsel
Tin
Tether

Hope you had a great holiday!

Patricia Stoltey said...

I think I'll add:

synchronicity
scintillating
tenacious
toothpick

Tonja Drecker said...

:) Glad to see others are struggling to keep up (hope you enjoyed your holiday!)

super
snotty
tentacle
tent
slumber

Heather R. Holden said...

It's understandable to fall behind sometimes. This is quite a challenging theme for A-to-Z, so I'm impressed how much you've kept up so far!

Some S and T words:

tenacious
slithering
saint
soldier
torrid
talisman
simmer
shimmering
shatter
soldier
torrent
tough
tacky
secretive
scroll
sacrifice
skyline
sundown
sunset
sorrow
trail
thematic
theater
thrifty
trickster

Cathrina Constantine said...

Wow quite a story. For lagging behind you're doing a phenomenal job...
For U I picked United
Unify
Undress
Unity
Undone

Christine Rains said...

So many great words to choose from!

S - service, shiver, sideways.

T - thrive, toboggan, triangle.

Jean Davis said...

Scatter
Smatter
Swirls

Twirl
Twitter
Toss
Titter

Julie Flanders said...

I feel kind of sorry for the monster that he couldn't repent, but I'm sure Acatour was right. Love this last chapter, I'm continually amazed that you are able to keep doing this!

Elsie Amata said...

What a great story, Nick!

Supplement, suspicious, scribblings (sorry, couldn't help it) ha ha

Twang, tabernacle, toad

Nick Wilford said...

Thanks for playing along, everyone! I'm going to try crafting my two new sentences now so watch this space...

Jianne Carlo said...

Here you go Nick:

S: sand, sass, sassy, satiate, satin, satisfy, saturate, saucy, savage, scamp, scanty, scent, scheme, scintillate, scorching, secluded, secret, selective, sensational, sense, sensual, sensuality, sensuous

T: tan, tangy, taper, taste, tawdry, tear, tenacity, tantalize, tender, tense, texture, thrill, throes, thrum, tight, tingle, titillate, tongue, touch, tremble, trickle, true

Jay Noel said...

scaffold, soaring, scream, slap

tipsy, tutu, tangible, tickle

Carol Kilgore said...

silly
strumpet
sashay
slather
sloppy

trivet
triumphant
talkative
tenacious
toenail

Anonymous said...

salacious
stigma
scenery
snobbery
sedentary

- - -

tyrannical
tentative
travel
trump
tactical

:-)

Anonymous said...

salacious
stigma
scenery
snobbery
sedentary

- - -

tyrannical
tentative
travel
trump
tactical

:-)

Unknown said...

I'm too late for words, but I loved reading your use of R.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick .. I hope you had a happy few days break .. I'm going to enjoy reading the whole story at the end ..

.. but am so pleased everyone's coming up with words for you .. cheers Hilary