Thespian Curse

Madam Petulengro leaned forward, examining the ancient skeleton with interest. Bones here was found in an isolated cabin rotting away in the Barataria Preserve in Louisiana.

“I ain’t got all day, boy.”

Bones’ skull turned in the gypsy’s direction.

“That’s more like it,” she said. “What’s yer story then?”

“Cursed, of course. Jean Lafitte’s crew, a smuggler. One of your ancestors took a dislike to me, because my bones have been in the bog for more than a hundred years.”

“Well, you probably deserved it.”

“Madam, does any soul deserve to linger forever without rest? I never wanted to be pirate crew anyway, all I ever wanted to be—”

“If you say ‘Lumberjack’, you’re going right back in the bog,” Madam Petulengro scowled.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous. All I ever wanted was to act. On the stage.”

The gypsy rubbed her chin and said, “Done!”

After a few mystic passes and some magic dust, Bones regrew his flesh. He stood before her and bowed, restored. And broke into song:

“For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!”

“Oh, no no.” Madam Petulengro covered her face and sobbed. “Not Penzance.”

Apologies to Rodgers & Hammerstein

Inspired by this week’s Sunday Photo Fiction prompt:

Posed skeleton in a shed

 

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Honey Trap

She heard the mournful sobbing as she walked past the alley. A little girl’s voice that sounded so lost, heartrending.

“Hello?” she called, stepping into the alleyway.

Its tracks left a trail of blood as the killbot rolled back into the dark.

An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse.

9:40
Did you ever see Bedazzled? A Brendan Fraser movie, where Liz Hurley is the devil, exchanging wishes for (of course) the bumbling mortal’s soul. And naturally, as with all deals with the devil, she delivers exactly what he wishes for. But twisted, distorted–receiving the exact deal as specified in the wish doesn’t make him happy.

The original Bedazzled was a better film (and play), but no Liz for eye-candy.

Deals with the devil are always like that. Genie wishes are too, for that matter. Betrayal and disappointment seems to be a big part of every “wish” scenario in the literary genre.

So it’s the first thing that title made me think of, the deal that seems to good to be true, inevitably, always is.

Of course once my brain was on the Bedazzled topic, it noted how smoking hot Liz Hurley was in that movie. The Bad Boy that women can’t seem to resist, but reversed.

The Bad Girl, the Succubus, demonic sex goddess that will take your soul if you accept her offer.

Once again; the beautiful and desirable deal that it would be a great, big mistake to accept.

(But Liz Hurley looked gooooood in that red dress! Sha-wing.)

So is there ever any wish-fulfillment offer that we can safely accept? It doesn’t seem so, literature expects us to get screwed by any “Too Good To Be True” deal, the classic and expected outcome from this particular plot line.

So…

Could I just have a chocolate ice cream cone, please?

9:51 (ran a minute long, stop editing!)

Here’s the title of your post: “An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse.”

Set a timer for ten minutes, and write it. Go!

I’ve read far too much to fall for that Your Wish Is Granted trick.