Week Three: Just one day late!
Pride - Lydi
“Save the day”. The look on her face said it all. “Yydi,” she flashed that beautiful coy expression and dipped her head.
What’s the juice at the beach called? “Sea.”
The name of the dog we brought with us? “Harl ...” The second syllable faded away.
“Yead!” She tugged hoping she could pull it from the very strong hook on the wall that kept the lead from the floor.
The time she looked the proudest was when she was walking, lead in hand, with Harli walking beside her feeling the sand beneath her pads and the sun on her coat.
Greed - Harli
Harli had watched as enough scoops for two dogs had been put into the bag and the bag put into the car. Who was going? The other two, or her? If the other two were going to join whatever the excitement was, what was she going to do? And if it was her, did they really think her that greedy?
Had they not noticed she didn’t eat as much these days? And had they not worked out that it was the ends of the bacon, the sneaked mouths of burger, or the extra slice of beef that she really enjoyed?
Gluttony - Madge
She really wasn’t a glutton. Really. It was just that she couldn’t stop eating. Pasta with sauce and garlic bread, yoghurt with fruit, curry with spinach, mushrooms and sweet potato, lunch at the village pub. It was all too good to ignore, to come back for second helpings. Chocolate was nice to finish a meal, wasn’t it? And that bread ... the lady in the shop had been right when she suggested that just one slice was never enough. You just had to try it to work that one out.
Gluttony was greed, enjoying her food was quite something else indeed.
Wrath - Hazel
The rhubarb crumble had been a joint effort. Perhaps the rhubarb was a bit tart, perhaps there was just a bit too much crumble topping. How many other families around the park were enjoying a home-made dessert, put together without the usual tools of the trade. No scales, no measures of any type!
There was a lot of it, it was true. No-one would argue about that. They came back for more, ate a portion as a snack. What had really annoyed Hazel, made her cross, was the constant insistence of the wasps that they too must enjoy their share.
Sloth -
“Let’s play cards!” “Who wants to watch a film?” “I’m thinking of going to the pub to watch the football ...”
Did those sound like the words of the lazy, the idle, the slothful? No, of course not. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to do anything, she wanted to do things but she wanted to do them with someone. Playing cards was fun and involved communication. Watching a film usually caused the need for conversation. Being at the pub meant people enjoying the game together. When the others wanted to retreat into themselves and enjoy solitude, it was no fun.
Lust - Gill
“You go, I’ll stay.” “I don't mind staying behind if you’d like to go.” “Are you sure? We’ll stay with you if you like?”
No! That’s not what she wanted. She hankered after some hours to herself, with no-one to worry about, no need to cause herself to prioritise the needs of others. Some selfish hours to waste in the way she wanted to waste them. A lazy day indulging in doing something badly, but getting better, to go for a walk or to chose not to. To eat a proper lunch, or just indulge in something snacky.
Pure bliss.
Envy - Stella
She’d heard the same lines over and over. “Which dog is going to come on holiday with us?” “Green dog!” When the time came it had been “this dog”, “pink dog”, or whatever Harli’s name was going to be that particular day.
It was true that being at home had been okay. One less companion to moan about her drinking with her feet in the water bowl. Extra attention from Matt who’d been left home with her and Elly.
Everyone knew, though, that green was the colour associated with envy, jealously, spite. Why couldn’t she have had the blue lead?