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A Short Response to A Writing Prompt
Jan. 19th, 2021 05:01 pmThe Facebook group "A Way With Words" had the line "It was a dark and stormy night. In the tallest tower of Castle Greygallows, mad scientist Jacques LeFebre paced incessantly waiting for" and asked how it should continue. Here's my response:
It was a dark and stormy night. In the tallest tower of Castle Greygallows, mad scientist Jacques LeFebre paced incessantly waiting for the cliches to end. Of course, it would be a dark and stormy night. And of course, his castle had to have an ominous name. But did everyone then, even the narrator, need to assume he was not just a scientist but a mad scientist?
What he really wanted to do was just peer up in the sky, through his telescopes. After all, he had purchased this castle high in the mountains because the clear dry air would make it easier to observe. But did any person, much less the current weather, care? No. The villagers down below all assumed he had to be some sort of mad scientist, not simply a retired university professor. Although, he thought to himself, given that the previous owner had been Baron von Blud, who had turned out to be a vampire, and the owner before that had been a werewolf, and the one before that had been an actual mad scientist, maybe, their conclusion wasn't unreasonable.
But that they had then sent one of their children to be a servant for him, simply because the child had a hunchback, well that was going too far. But the child, who, thankfully was not named Igor, but rather Dimitri, had proven to be bright, and good with numbers. Now, much of LeFebre's time was spent tutoring the youngster. Hopefully the boy would be bright enough that he could go to the university, and make the world-changing discoveries that LeFebre had always dreamed he himself would make. And of course, Dimitri would not need to be stuck in the benighted village unless he wanted to be.
It was a dark and stormy night. In the tallest tower of Castle Greygallows, mad scientist Jacques LeFebre paced incessantly waiting for the cliches to end. Of course, it would be a dark and stormy night. And of course, his castle had to have an ominous name. But did everyone then, even the narrator, need to assume he was not just a scientist but a mad scientist?
What he really wanted to do was just peer up in the sky, through his telescopes. After all, he had purchased this castle high in the mountains because the clear dry air would make it easier to observe. But did any person, much less the current weather, care? No. The villagers down below all assumed he had to be some sort of mad scientist, not simply a retired university professor. Although, he thought to himself, given that the previous owner had been Baron von Blud, who had turned out to be a vampire, and the owner before that had been a werewolf, and the one before that had been an actual mad scientist, maybe, their conclusion wasn't unreasonable.
But that they had then sent one of their children to be a servant for him, simply because the child had a hunchback, well that was going too far. But the child, who, thankfully was not named Igor, but rather Dimitri, had proven to be bright, and good with numbers. Now, much of LeFebre's time was spent tutoring the youngster. Hopefully the boy would be bright enough that he could go to the university, and make the world-changing discoveries that LeFebre had always dreamed he himself would make. And of course, Dimitri would not need to be stuck in the benighted village unless he wanted to be.
