After ten gruelling weeks that have depleted our numbers severely, it falls on me to present the prompt for session six of #WriteClub.
I originally wanted the prompt "Faithful Friend" with the short story being the tale of Greyfriars Bobby, the little Skye Terrier who stood vigil over his master's grave for fourteen years, day in, day out, rain, shine, sleet or snow. Until the wee fella died at the ripe old age of sixteen.
But it was not to be. There's not a short story published by any respected media in the public domain reflecting this tale of canine devotion, and I spent a long time looking. So long in fact, that I would have been quicker writing the fucking thing myself and sending it to The Scotsman to be published.
Although, to be fair, they prefer a more literary approach to this kind of pish than I can normally muster and the likelyhood of rejection would have been punishingly high. That said, I think if I'd asked @Jayna or @tinypaleokitchen to tell the tale we would have been soundly in there.
So, moving swiftly along, I have been forced to pick another prompt and I have stuck with the doggy theme for the short story, although not neccessarily the actual prompt.
Story: The Dog (Yes, really)
Prompt: Intimidation
Your MC must intimidate or be intimidated by another character, either human or animal. Hell, alien or ogre works too.
I chose J. M. Coetzee's The Dog not because I love it or I think it particularly well written or memorable but because there are two levels of intimidation within it. At the base level there is the dog that goes fucking nuts every time she passes the gates. A frothing, snapping beast with hate-filled eyes that simply wants to tear her asunder and is well aware that one day, the gate that imprisons it will fail.
And the other level lies with the old couple that own the chien de garde and luxuriate in their right to have the fucking thing terrorise all that pass. An intimidation by proxy, if you will, that they will not willingly mitigate even though they have it in their power to do so.
Let the games begin. If you are following on and writing to the prompts outwith Write Club I strongly urge you to go wild with this one.
Reference Section for Write Club:
Write Club is Announced and Explained
Write Club Prompts Will Follow This Format
Session One Prompt
Provided by @tanglebranch
Inspired by The Gift of the Magi
Session Two Prompt
Provided by @jordan.lesich
Inspired by Chicxulub
Session Three Prompt
Provided by @jayna
Inspired by The Riddle
Session Four Prompt
Provided by @steemitgraven29
Inspired by The Tell-Tale Heart
Session Five Prompt
Provided by @xanderslee
Inspired by The Beast in the Cave