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And so we come to the end of another Lady Antimony challenge. Thank you so much for all the great stories I have read. It's been fun.
Humility
Sam studies in secret, late at night. During the day he looks out of the window as he listens to the teacher, and he loiters behind the bike sheds with the others.
Nobody is going to accuse him of thinking himself better than the rest of them. He can do without a target painted on his back until he leaves school. He will walk into his exams as an also-ran, destined to lift and carry until his back fails, the same as everybody else.
His savings hide in a drawer, waiting for his exam results to join them and take him somewhere else.
There's a melancholy to this piece that I can't quite pin down. Just the feeling that things must be really bad for Sam, and it's compounded by the fact that he apparently has to keep his aspirations to do better to himself.
ReplyDeleteAww, this made me feel so sad for the poor kid. You capture so much in 100 words - what he has to endure, his hopes for escape. A really wonderful fill.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but like Sam in this. He seems like a really level headed, wise young man.
ReplyDeleteHey, I think Sam and I went to the same school! This is such a real scenario, it's great. Lots of empathy emanating from your words.
ReplyDeleteI just read back through all your seven virtues posts... yeah, I'm slow, so sue me... Anyway, just wanted to say that you're really honing your words in an awesome way. All of them are terrific!
ReplyDeleteSo do you have to apply what you've learned to your longer works? Cuz paring it down to basics really destroys the word count, huh?
Just sayin'...
Thanks for all the wonderful comments, guys. I have been a really lame responder lately. Must do better.
ReplyDelete@Dee - I have word count nightmares. I know I should be honing the book to a razor's edge, but every deleted word takes me closer to the land of Too Bloody Short. I am putting my faith in the blog posts I have seen that say short is becoming more acceptable in this digital age.