Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

A Single Smile

William sat there, staring at this man he had only met a half hour ago, wondering why in all the world a king would ask someone like himself, a lowly citizen, of which there were so many, to deliver a message to another king. There was no reason whatsoever for King Lucran to even have heard of him, much less to use him as a messenger.

Then something else struck him. Why did he want this scroll, which had nothing on it but a very strange letter, written most certainly not to the King, delivered to Leary, and not by his own messenger, but by a man like himself who had never done anything to get such an honor?

While thinking these things over in his mind, he did not even realize his getting up from his seat on the stump and walking in circles around it, until his toe collided suddenly and with much force into an overgrown root, poking itself out of the ground in the most strategic manner so as to get the most pain out of it's unsuspecting victims. This produced a howl of pain from the indeed unsuspecting William, and he sat down again abruptly, holding his toe and clenching his teeth.

Person, instead of being worried about him as he should have been, fell immediately to laughing. This surprised and somewhat angered William, who still did not know what to make of this Messenger Man from Quirve, who at first seemed like the shy and respectful type, but now with this unexpected outburst, shattered both of his initial thoughts of the man to pieces.

For a moment, looking at this grandly dressed man with his pointed chin, noble looking nose, and mirth filled eyes peeping through a tangled mess of blond, reedy hair upon which sat a cheerful red hat with the plume of a grosbeak sticking straight up into the air, a smile appeared on his own face, making him stretch some muscles which he rarely used these days.

But only for a moment, for the remembrance of his message from Green Feather and the thing which he must do in order to have this letter given him, brought him back to reality. When Person finally quieted down a bit, William said hotly, "Excuse me, sir, but I really must be on my way."

Person, suddenly realizing his rudeness, said, "Oh, yes, Sir. I'm very sorry, it's just that, well, you see--" And here he broke off into more laughter. He reached into his cloak and again took out the scroll, which he gave to William. William took it and left, still wondering how that man could be so rude. What was he laughing at, anyway? Maybe he would find out next time he met this man, to get his own letter.

Well, now it was over, and William left Person as abruptly as Person had come upon William. And he already missed him.

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