When My Brother Arrived
- nothing that would offend me
- My manservant read to him
- decorated with red leather stitching
- and another with lust
- with a rueful chuckle
- He abuses your trust
- annoyed and proud at once
When my brother arrived for his visit he wore the boots decorated with red leather stitching that were his inheritance from our father. He was annoyed and proud at once, for those boots were Father’s most prized possessions, yet were worth very little monetarily when compared to the family estate which was left to me.
My manservant read to him two stories, as he requested, one with daring deeds and another with lust. “But,” my brother said with a rueful chuckle, “nothing that would offend me.”
Once my brother was asleep, my manservant came to me and said, “He abuses your trust. Those are not, in fact, the boots of your father.”
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from the comments, Jen has another take on the same prompt:
“I want to hear a story,” the old priest demanded. “But nothing that would offend me, if you please.”
His request made me feel both annoyed and proud at once, so I had my manservant read to him from the big black book decorated with red leather stitching that has been in my family for countless generations.
Afterwards the priest took me aside to gossip about my manservant. “He abuses your trust,” he said with a rueful chuckle. “I smelled alcohol on his breath. He read one story with vice in it, and another with lust.”
I nodded, secretly pleased that my manservant had done just as I told him.
Looking through the archives I discovered that I used this same prompt another time. The two versions have a strange similarity. Apparently my mind works in a somewhat predictable manner. Shall I post version 2.0 for comparison?
Yes, I think that would be interesting to see!
“I want to hear a story,” the old priest demanded. “But nothing that would offend me, if you please.”
His request made me feel both annoyed and proud at once, so I had my manservant read to him from the big black book decorated with red leather stitching that has been in my family for countless generations.
Afterwards the priest took me aside to gossip about my manservant. “He abuses your trust,” he said with a rueful chuckle. “I smelled alcohol on his breath. He read one story with vice in it, and another with lust.”
I nodded, secretly pleased that my manservant had done just as I told him.
I like them both. Version 2.0 is a bit more focused, but I like the boots in version 1.0, so it’s ultimately impossible to pick a favorite.
I think it’s weird that “red leather stitching” somehow equates to “family heirloom” in my mind. I’ll be so disappointed if my parents don’t bequeath me something suitable.
And we totally need a manservant.