Tuesday 30 April 2013

An A-Z Story - Z

So, there are zero days left to go in the Challenge. Well, except for me - I still have my Z sentence to post tomorrow, but I won't mind if no one shows up! It's been an incredible month!

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.

147 zingy Y words were suggested yesterday and they are as follows:

Yank (suggested by Rebecca Douglass)
Yarrow (suggested by S.P. Bowers)
Youngest (suggested by Melissa Sugar)
Yearn (suggested by Samantha May)
Ya'll (suggested by J.L. Murphey)

So here's the story with just one sentence left to go:


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.
     Starting to yearn for the next mission, which would take place at the River Yarrow in Scotland in the 16th century, Acatour lifted Ella off the platform with a yank; as they departed, she winked at the youngest of the mystified workmen and said, “Ya’ll should be glad this man showed up today!”

Zap me with your Z words! 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.

42 comments:

Dani said...

WOW! This is so impressive Nick! I loved/love you idea for the challenge.

Zeppelin
Zero
Zorro
Zombify
Zigzag

S.P. Bowers said...

Zany

Dee @ A Deecoded Life said...

Zip
Zilch
Zit
Zipper
Zoo
Zebra
Zest

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You really pulled it off.
Zoom, zinc, zine, and zither.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick .. I think you're doing so well - and now you've set yourself another mission - you could do these for an ebook, or another anthology ..

Very creative .. if Zdena can help you .. she's over on my blog c/o Lenny!

Zaragoza .. if you want to fly to Spain for a holiday?!

Cheers Hilary

Anonymous said...

Congratulations in completing the A to Z Challenge.

Yvonne
A to Z AMBASSADOR.

Unknown said...

Zig-Zag
Zaggot
ZIpper
I'm really enjoying your story!

Shell Flower said...

Still lovin' your challenge idea and I will be sure to visit tomorrow to see the final conclusion. I do hope those workmen appreciate being saved from the dreaded Gardengoyle.

zephyr
zig zag
zone

Jessica Schley said...

This story has turned out so awesome and fun! I look forward to the end.

zenith
zippy

Carol Kilgore said...

zonk
zipline
zany
zed
zoology
zoological
zilch
zee
zither
ziplock
zealot

Michelle Wallace said...

You've done a great job. I can't wait to read the piece as a whole.

Writer In Transit

Mina Burrows said...

zilch
zillow
zoinks!
zen
zero

Is that enough? Wow, you've got one day left.

Wahooo!

cleemckenzie said...

And Ella is so right about that guy showing up. I, for one, am very glad he did.

zebra
zone
zany

ilima said...

zephyr
zesty
zip
zone

Samantha May said...

This has been a fantastic theme! So cool that a few of my words made the cut :D

zen
zero
zealous
zephyr
zoo
zebra
zeal
zodiac
zigzag
zenith
zone

Jay Noel said...

This has been fun!

zounds
zippy
zone
zany

Julie Flanders said...

I'm sorry to see this story end, it's been such fun! But I'm sure you are ready for the ending LOL.

4 Life said...

This has been fun! I'll def. stop by for your Z day!

Texas Playwright Chick

Empty Nest Insider said...

You've really gone above and beyond in the challenge!

Zweiback (a biscuit)
Zingaro (gypsy)
Zygon (connecting bar)
Zoetic (living, vital)

nutschell said...

Congrats on finishing the AZ! I think you have had the most intensive posts this whole month. Love it!
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

loverofwords said...

zany
zygote
zing
zipper
Zeno

Thanks for your hard work and making the A-Z Challenge so much fun!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I'll be back to see how the story wraps up tomorrow.

Ella said...

I love the ya'll...so funny! I live in the south, but I'm from the north, lol.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Zig zag
zip
zest
Zeus
zip code
zapped
zinc
zoo
zilch
zing

:D so fun Nick!

Gwen Gardner said...

Yay, how fun!

Zinger
Zimmer-frame
Zippity-doo-dah
Zany
Zone

M Pax said...

I'd go with zenith :)

You managed to put together a wonderful story.

Crystal Collier said...

Way to keep at it--and look at this awesome story. I don't have any Z words to contribute, because my brain is basically ooze at this point, but I'm looking forward to the end of the tale!

thelmaz said...

Just wanted to let you know I've listed my 26 favorite blogs from the Challenge, including yours. Stop by www.widowsphere.blogspot.com and see.

Heather R. Holden said...

Wow, only one sentence left? So exciting! :D

Some Z words:

zeal
zen
zest
zealot
zephyrous
zone
zoom

Unknown said...

I like how Ella used the word Ya'll. Very distinct word to give her greater personality. Well, done.

Zoom

Cynthia said...

Zenith
Zoo
Zeus
Zeal

...I look forward to seeing your last sentence!

Christine Rains said...

Love it! Your A to Z has been fantastic.

My Z words: zenith, zigzag, and Zulu.

Trisha said...

Loved your A to Z theme - reminds me of the stories I used to write with friends in high school where we'd do one or two lines then fold the page over. I might've said that in a comment on your blog already but I can't remember. ;) It's been a crazy month!

Unknown said...

hmmmm...

zeal
zest
zippy
zombie
zonk
zanzibar
zone
zany

Bish Denham said...

zydeco
zumba
Zeus
zephyr

Congratulations to making it all the way through!

Kathryn Thornton said...

You will definitely have visitors tomorrow to see how the story ends.

Zoological.

Have a great time finishing your story.

Kate

Anonymous said...

It's been great reading your pieces and being able to contribute words to them.

Rebecca Green Gasper said...

Great story and wonderful theme! Will be back tomorrow to catch the end :)

J.L. Murphey said...

Wow! You used two of my words. My Z words were attached to yesterday's post.

Rhonda Albom said...

I can't wait to read the end. So I will share with you my Z word;

Zeus

It's a short list today, as I think just about every other Z word is already above.

Nick Wilford said...

Thank you, one and all, for your brillant contributions throughout the whole month! Grand finale will be up soon! :D

Tammy Theriault said...

Zat zas a zippitey zoo zaaa post! Congrats!

Anonymous said...

zephyr
zipper
zion
zilch
zero

:-)