Monday 29 April 2013

An A-Z Story - Y

Yep, only two days left to go! Don't be sad; shout "Yippee!" for getting this far!

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.

You went above and beyond with the 99 X words suggested yesterday and Saturday, revealing yawning gaps in my vocabulary. Thank you one and all! I was only familiar with one out of the five words that were picked. Something bizarre happened to my post when I tried to copy and paste the definitions, so I have included links to the relevant Dictionary.com pages for those who are curious. Those five words:

Xhosa (suggested by Misha Gericke, also by Michelle)

Xylose (suggested by Suzanne Furness)



Xanthin (suggested by J.L. Murphey)

X-Ray (suggested by Mama J, also by Carol Kilgore)


Xyloid (suggested by Shell Flower)

It's safe to say this was the hardest sentence to write so far and the most tenuous. I also make no apology for its scientific accuracy (or not!)



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.
     The next sight that met his eyes, however, threatened to saturate his mind as the sensational Ella walked in through the open door; as she called out “Hey, stud!” he recalled the synchronicity he’d sensed between them and his first thought was to take her away somewhere more secluded. Although this tabernacle was not the place for such unangelic behaviour, he couldn’t resist pulling her behind the nearest triptych for a torrid kiss that made him thrum, and noticed she was wearing the necklace he’d left that acted as a tether between them through time and space.
     “Do you believe me now, you upstart?” he teased, glad that their unilateral thinking had led to this union; glancing out of a stained glass window, he noticed it was raining and made an umbrella materialise in a nearby urn, although such a thing was yet to be invented.
     “Of course, my valiant angel,” she replied with a smile, but as they walked out into the rain another thought came to vex him as he realised the downpour would make the viscous deposit left by that vile creature even more treacherous, and the workmen would be vying with each other to be the next casualty. Throwing caution to the wind, he lifted the weight of Ella - she was no wallflower and would want to help - and flew back up to the scaffold, wondering if any writer for the cathedral would record this weird tale of a winged man who came to correct wrongdoing; if they had, then they already would have done, but this was no time to think about time travel’s paradox.
     On reaching the platform, Acatour found the threat had gone; what was in its place was revealed under his X-ray vision to be xylose, a type of sugar which must have formed when the acid substance left by the Gardengoyle had mixed with the xyloid scaffold in the rain and had been coloured yellow by the xanthin from a madder that had fallen from the wall and been trampled in, and he clicked his tongue in relief in the style of the Xhosa people from South Africa.

Now that was hard but also great fun. I await your yummy Y words which hopefully won't cause me to yelp so much! You can offer as many as you like, and they can be as obscure and outlandish as you like (feel free to use a dictionary for inspiration). The more words you suggest, the more chance you have of one being picked. It doesn't matter if you suggest the same word as someone else (as I know not everyone always has time to read all the comments); each will count as its own entry.

36 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

One last letter!
Zeppelin, zigzag, zounds, and zoot suit. (No that's not a Dr. Seuss word either.)

Tonja Drecker said...

One more. Okay!

zombie
zero
zany
zippy

Dee @ A Deecoded Life said...

Yardstick
Youthful
Yesterday
Yucky
Yeast
Yoghurt
Yup

Shell Flower said...

Wow, Nick, good job using all those crazy X words. Here are some Y's. I think you are past the hard part now.

Yammer
Ye
Yarn
Yay

Kristin said...

Yikes
Yippee

Anonymous said...

You've done a fantastic job with this A to Z Challenge, I don't know how you've managed it with everything else going on.

My Y words are

yikes
yonder
yellow
youthful
yeast

Carol Kilgore said...

you
yummy
y'all
yellow
yen
yuppie
yearned
yawn
yappy
your
yes

Julie Flanders said...

Who knew that the Xhoza people clicked their tongues that way? I think this was your most brilliant snippet yet. :D

yakking
yolk
yachting
yucky
yeoman

cleemckenzie said...

You've done it! I confess I was doubtful, especially when you got to the X word, but you done good.

Zero
Zany

Rebecca M. Douglass said...

Let's see. . . I think we're still on Y.. .
Yearn
Yarn
Yarrow
Yank

Rebecca Green Gasper said...

Oh my are we really only down to one day??? I have had so much fun! Your story is great. I'm very impressed! :)

Unknown said...

I love the yam pic. No one's done a post about those. I vote for yams! :-)

Gina Gao said...

This is a very nice post! I enjoyed reading this a lot.

www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Yonder
Yappy
Yorkshire
Yeild
Yup

Jay Noel said...

Darn. Haven't had any of my words chosen. Here's my final shot:

yodel
youth
yip
yesterday
yank
yikes

Jean Davis said...

yarn
yodel
yokel
yap
yes

Suzanne Furness said...

Nick you are so clever to get all those words in! The finish is in sight!

yikes
yob
yellow
yak
yard

S.P. Bowers said...

Yarrow

loverofwords said...

Yerkish
younker
yoiks
yawp
yurt
I will miss this part of the challenge. You are amazing.

Melissa Sugar said...

yoke
yearning
yapped
yuppie
yelping
yacht
yachting
yummy
yardstick
yellowbellies
yesteryear
youthful
yucky
yeller
yelped
yoga
yodels
yearbook
yuckiest
youngest
yakking
yeast
yielder
yipped
yelled
yutz
yore
yups
yup
yahoo
yanked

That's all I can think of

This is fun, as always, Great theme.

Samantha May said...

I applaud you, because that was a tough batch of words!

Yodel
Yum
Youngster
Yule
Yelp
Yield
Yellow
Yearn
Yawn

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I don't think there are any Y letters left!

M Pax said...

Yurt. Has anyone said that yet?

Heather R. Holden said...

Wow, 99 X word suggestions? Impressive!

Some Y words:

yore
yuck
yashmak
yawner
youngster
yardstick
youth
youthful
yonder

Carrie Butler said...

Yesterday
Yearling
Yacht

We're so close!

Kimberly Gabriel said...

This story has really taken shape since I last stopped by! You're incredible!

Cynthia said...

Yell
Yes
Youth
Yum
Yard

I'm really impressed that you stuck with this idea for the whole month!

4 Life said...

I love the way you worked your A2Z theme....brilliant!

I have but only one 'Z' to offer, the Z with all the spunk!

Zippity do da!

Texas Playwright Chick

Chuck said...

Nick, sorry I have not been by to contribute words to the list but you have received some awesome suggestions for each letter. I have to say, this story is intriguing and creative. You chose well my friend when you decided to be a writer.

On the plus side, I don't have to go back and read any of the previous posts I missed as everything is current right on this page. Thanks!!

Mina Burrows said...

Goooo Nick! I love it.

Yammer
Yuck
Yipping
yelling
yellow

J.L. Murphey said...

Y'all
yardage
yardarms
yodel
yogurt
yams
yawner
yokel
yammer

Z
zabalone
zest
zealot
zeal
zeolitic
zillion
zeroing
zenith
zygote
zinnia
zinc
zeta
zzz

ilima said...

I'm sure I'm way too late but I wanna play anyway.

yam
yoyo
yellow
yikes
yes!

Anonymous said...

yolk, yeoman, yellow, yuletide

Nick Wilford said...

Thanks "ya'll!" Some great ones here. My penultimate sentence will be up soon!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick .. I think you did X exceptionally well and I loved the Xhosa click at the end - fantastic!

I am really looking forward to reading the whole through .. it'll be fun ..

Cheers and I shall enjoy Z when it arrives .. as too Y when I move to Newer Post! Well done .. Hilary

Michelle Wallace said...

YAY! I was so proud to read about the "Xhosa click" at the end of the piece...

Writer In Transit