Winter. London. 1832. Thimble was a guttersnipe on Birdcage Lane. The spectral faces of her and other street urchins could be seen at dusk, seeking shelter, huddling together for warmth. Later, the chorus of drunken patrons of ale houses and brothels would be their good night lullabies. Inertia from the cold, unbroken, allowed frost to accompany many of the children down crow’s mile. Thimble knew you had to brawl with sleep, brawl with death on the bitterest nights. It served her younger sister, Button, no good if the crow’s got Thimble first.
A thumb-nail sketch for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Wordle 123. Always wanted to use the word guttersnipe! Thanks Yves.
My frilly freudian slip is the collaboration of phylor and adh [a darkened house] as two parts of one personae move back in together. Sounds like the plot for a sit com. Please stop by the café, share a story, read a poem, have a refreshment. Choose to stay or no. At my frilly’s, it’s an evolution.
October 4, 2016 at 1:55 pm
Masterfully interwoven. I got a chill reading it.
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October 4, 2016 at 3:16 pm
Thank you for your kind comment.
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October 3, 2016 at 7:02 am
It looks like we had the same thoughts here. Great piece of prose!
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October 4, 2016 at 2:41 pm
Thank you. I think we both caught onto the word gutter snipe, and it presented certain images.
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October 3, 2016 at 5:59 am
You’ve used the given words so succinctly yet descriptively. Vivid.
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October 4, 2016 at 2:43 pm
Thank you, Risa for the lovely comment. I tried to keep the story short, and I’m glad to learn I maintained the descriptive nature of the piece.
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October 3, 2016 at 4:40 am
They were great name choices. This is a gut-wrenching tale and you painted it vividly.
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October 4, 2016 at 2:45 pm
Thank you Yves. I’ve been reading books set in the Victorian era, and the plight of children was horrific.
Thanks for another wonderful set of words.
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October 3, 2016 at 4:17 am
I loved the use of the word Brawl. Lovely piece.
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October 4, 2016 at 2:45 pm
Thank you.
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October 3, 2016 at 2:14 am
I liked your choice of name – Thimble – so fitting for the character…..
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