Monday 6 April 2015

E is for Enfilade


For this year's A-Z Challenge I have selected a word from the dictionary for each day and written a story around it with a 100 word limit. For extra interest I have chosen words that are unknown or unfamiliar to me. All definitions are from the Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus 2007 Edition. Today's word is Enfilade.

Enfilade: A volley of gunfire directed along a line of soldiers from end to end.

Pierre escaped the enfilade by ducking and playing dead. English fools never noticed. He swore vengeance on Napoleon for dragging them into this cursed war. Or maybe on those damned Englishmen instead.

There was another band of those vagabonds. Not the ones who killed his amis, but never mind.

“’Scuse me, chaps! A blasted frog killed my mate and nearly killed me. He let me go if we swapped uniforms so ‘e could pretend to be on the winning side. Gotta find the swine.”

“Good Lord!” said the corporal, turning. “Don’t worry, soldier. We’ll find him.”

Pierre grinned. Too easy.

44 comments:

betty said...

Oh, an interesting twist.......

betty

Dixie@dcrelief said...

Lucky Pierre! I had no idea that 'definition' had a word! Wow!

I will not guess what Pierre's "F" might be... waiting until tomorrow! Ha!

T.F. Walsh said...

Oh nice... I like this piece.

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

LOL - Pierre is a crafty one! A new word on me, haven't heard that one before.
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

Mina Burrows said...

Too easy and so not right! Love it! Great word too!

Ella said...

Great twist, poor chap-one should never swap places with a frog~

I love your challenge~

Unknown said...

Love this snippit NicK--brilliant.

Yvonne Ventresca said...

Good twist!

Yvonne

Sophie Duncan said...

Pierre is a canny lad! :)
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
FB3X
Wittegen Press

Debbie D. said...

Good thing Pierre was a linguist. Clever! ☺ Another unfamiliar word. Thanks for the education.

A Tarkabarka Hölgy said...

Haha :) Smart.

@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sneaky!!

Jolie du Pre said...

Thanks for the education! Nice flash fiction.

Precious Monsters

Vanessa Morgan said...

I love the idea for your A to Z. Very creative.

Mary Aalgaard said...

Good one. You built suspense, mystery, and cunning into 100 words!

Christine Rains said...

How clever! Great E word for the day. :)

Dani said...

I love a good twist!!

Shell Flower said...

That Pierre is one smart Frenchman. I'd much rather have an enchilada than and enfilade :)

Jennifer Hawes said...

In reply to the above comment, I was thinking along the lines of an enchilada too! Much better than an enfilade. Have a great Monday!

djinnia said...

Awesome word. The Napoleon twist was sweet. I like that time period. Great little piece.

Chrys Fey said...

I've written a lot of battles, so how did I not know this word? I'm making a note of it for the future.

Nice suspenseful story with a good twist. :)

Keith's Ramblings said...

Oh those blasted frogs! Nice one again Nick.

Hart Johnson said...

Oh nice! Always like a twist that uses smarts instead of just brute force.

Pearson Report said...

Gotta love a good twist.
Great word selection too.

I hope you're having fun on your A to Z journey. This was an awesome E post.

Jenny, Pearson Report
2015 A to Z Challenge Ambassador
@PearsonReport

iluvfiction said...

This was smart! Love your theme Nick.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I never heard that word. Story shows the poor line soldiers who just want to protect their friends and may not agree with the war conflict at all.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick - I did know this word .. but interesting twist to the story you've written around Enfilade .. Pierre is some bright spark ..

Cheers Hilary

Anonymous said...

Excellent job.

~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

Jean Davis said...

Ha! Quick thinking Pierre!

Jeremy [Retro] said...

Quick on the feet is a minute not wasted...

Welcome in the letter "E"... thank you!
Jeremy [Retro]
AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2015]

There's no earthly way of knowing.
Which direction we are going!

HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
Come Visit: You know you want to know if me or Hollywood... is Nuts?

Shelley Sly said...

This was great! It takes a lot of talent to write such a short piece that reads so well.

Sharon Himsl said...

Good word and excellent use in scene. Definitely know the meaning now!

Annalisa Crawford said...

Cunning plan!

Annalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep

Nick Wilford said...

Betty - Indeed!

Dixie - Thanks! They're one offs, so it's something else tomorrow, but I might well lengthen some.

TF - Thanks!

Natasha - He's resourceful. Glad to share another word.

Mina - Thanks!

Ella - I guess that's the moral.

Melanie, Yvonne - Thank you!

Sophie - He's a quick thinker but you'd need to be to survive.

Debbie - He's good at accents!

Tarkabarka, Alex - Thanks! He is.

Nick Wilford said...

Jolie, Vanessa - Thanks!

Mary - Thanks, and it was the hardest one to edit - down from 150.

Christine - Thanks!

Dani - I like a twist too.

Shell - Um, me too!

Jennifer - Now I'm hungry.

Djinnia - Thanks. I don't do much historical but I enjoyed this.

Chrys - Glad to be of help! It's a good word.

Keith - This one isn't giving up.

Hart - Thanks. He's quite cunning.

Nick Wilford said...

Jenny - Thanks, I'm having a blast.

Ruchi - Thanks!

Susan - Good point. Comes down to a will to survive.

Hilary - With it being French, my mind went to Napoleon, it sounded like it should be from that period.

Patricia - Thanks!

Jean, Jeremy - He had to act fast. He's got nothing to lose!

Shelley - Thanks so much!

Sharon - Thanks. It's a good word.

Sarah - In a good way?

Annalisa - But how long can he keep up the deception?

Liz A. said...

Uh oh. Guess you shouldn't trust anyone in a war...

Liz A. from Laws of Gravity

J E Oneil said...

I am having so much fun with all these words. Enfilade is such a cool word.

cleemckenzie said...

That a new one for me! You did a great job integrating it into your flash fiction.

Melissa Sugar said...

Interesting twist and an interesting word. This is one that I have actually heard of. I Like that you have Napoleon in your story. After all I live in Louisiana, and our crazy laws follow the Napoleonic Code, (until some recent changes).

Guilie Castillo said...

Love it! You conjured a whole world, a whole personality, a whole conflict--and in just 100 words. Hat's off, my friend :)

Thanks for stopping over at Quiet Laughter for my E post, and for taking a shot at the bonus word :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Interesting twist. He's clever. :)

Anonymous said...

Fun twist today! :)

Holly Jahangiri said...

Very clever indeed!