Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 184

Still going with the story of Fred Johnson,  Paragon of Virtue. Here are links to the previous episodes.  If you need/want to catch up, click here for the 1st installment, 2nd installment, 3rd installment, 4th installment, 5th installment, 6th installment, 7th installment., 8th installment, 9th installment, 10th installment, 11th installment, 12th installment, 13th installment, 14th installment, 15th installment, 16th installment, 17th installment, 18th installment, 19th installment. 20th installment, 21st installment, 22nd installment, 23rd installment

9:45 PM Sat. Finished before the old year passed away. Just realized that I repeated a word from last week on this week's list. Hate it when I do that. Sorry to be so late posting once again. I would resolve to do better in the New Year but then I'd just feel bad when I didn't live up to my promise.

Words for this week's 10-word challenge were: satin, tub, tin box, charity, folk songs, laughter, lizard, pale, barnacle, heated   And for the mini: simple, tangerine, absolute, broken, frogs

My mega:   


For two days, feeling more relaxed than he had in many years, Purpose Perfidy, watched from behind the tangerine (others might call it orange, but he was a painter...tangerine was definitely more a more accurate description) glow of the protective spell in which the dragon and the wizard had wrapped him and watched while they mashed and diced and heated a weird assortment of ingredients - everything from barnacles to shards of broken glass to frog legs to herbs and spices from what he could see - in a large tub-like cauldron. He had been amazed that the dragon was more the size of large lizard than the giant monsters he had grown up fearing. Despite the fact that she small, there was a kind simple, pure charity (in the richest sense of that word) that wrapped him in a sense of absolute security, so that fear and shame and anxiety became pale shadows that could no longer touch him. She and the wizard worked and argued and filled the cave with the sound of folk songs and magical spells that sounded like satin would feel and with laughter.Despite the danger, despite being held in a stasis spell created to keep him from killing himself, the painter thought that perhaps - if he survived it all - these would be the most precious and happy days of his life. He was almost disappointed when, at the end of two days, the pair approached him carrying a small tin box and announced. "We think we are ready, that the spells and amulets we have created will protect you, but the next 24 hours will be a dangerous time for you. Before we leave the cave, you must tell us all that you remember about the painting and the spells that were cast on it - and most especially, try if you can, to remember what Psycho's father did with his son's purple teddy bear."  The painter swallowed and tried to smile. "I will do my best to atone for the wrong I have done. I didn't know what they were asking me to do, but I should have. Instead I let vanity and ambition blind me. And look at the price we have all paid." 




The mini: 


Even as he spoke, the tangerine glow of the protecting spell wavered as though his intention alone to tell what he knew might cause it to be broken. The painter felt a flash of absolute terror and a frog in his throat the size of the dragons of his imagination, but with simple dignity, he shook them off and looking at the wizard and the dragon, said. "I know you will protect me and I give you permission to do whatever you need to do to extract the truth from me."  "I don't believe extraction will be necessary. We have discussed it at length and believe that we can activate your visual memory and your painter's skill to tell us the story. Meanwhile, though, you would be wise to memorize the incantation Amanda Purist's father had the foresight to teach his grandson. "Remember son, the Number One,Sun to sun, the Number One, Day is Done, the Number One, that is how the spell's begun, First we dance, then we run, then we watch the web be spun. Hate expires, Love has won, Love is ONE. Dawn of day to setting sun. Remember always Number One. In fact, the first thing you must do to protect yourself is to paint that according to your artist's vision onto this stone, which you will then wear against your heart. Do not over think. Paint from your heart." So saying, they handed him a stone about the size of his fist and a box of paints. "Work quickly. Our time is short and there is still much to do."




And the 10-word:  

Holding a paint brush again was healing in itself and as instructed, Purpose Perfidy let his heart create the painting that was to embody Grandfather Purists incantation and protect him in the days to come. And so he painted LOVE... he painted the satin sound of spells and folk songs and laughter, he painted the lizard-like beauty of the dragon and the glow of the wizard's huge heart as they heated ingredients in their strange tub-like caldron. He painted a pale barnacle-like thing whose meaning he didn't quite understand. He painted a tin box with the words Love and charity written across it and a tiny portrait of Amanda Purist wrapped in a rainbow of colors and holding a small purple teddy bear. And last of all - all in the tiny surface of this rock - he painted his own broken heart wrapped in the healing glow of all these other things. It was a masterpiece and because it carried such pure emotions, it was made of the deepest magic there is: Hope and Love. When the wizard and the dragon looked at is work, they laughed with delight. "You have done well, painter. You have healed yourself." Now we must head off to be ready for the full moon. You will tell us the rest of your story as we travel. Your painting has already revealed much."

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  platitude, cow, chilly, sport, match, star, wind chimes, hood, bandage, wedding gown

And for the mini: treatment, paper, independent, brick wall, revolution

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

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