Brigits_Flame April Entry 03 - Flourish

[kenderlord]

Hannibal McCrae, the finest magician this side of the Mississippi (the bad side) gives me a long, slow, disapproving look.

“Sugarcube,” he says, “How do you ever expect to convince anybody that the apricot is gone?”  I’m trying to palm small fruits while we sit on his front porch.  His front porch in East St. Louis, on the Illinois side of

Comments

[tierfal]

Ahh, I love the lightness of it -- and, of course, the basic theme that it's not what you do, but how you do it, that winds up being important is unfortunately much too true. XD

He’s only agreed to teach me proper showman’s style because I’m helping him file his taxes.
Brilliant!

And I love "grinning like a bear trap," too -- short, simple, and vividly clear. Image magic! :D

[hwango]

Indeed, stage magic (real or not) is all about the showmanship. Very nice.

[kenderlord]

Thank you kindly!

I got a huge kick out of all your names in your entry. I think I caught all of them, from Lovecraft's Whateley to Crowley, to the lidless, burning-eye pumpkin of the Blasted Lands of the Unspeakable East, in Mordor where the shadows dwelleth.

-D

[hwango]

Cool, glad those were fun for you! Once I decided to put one of those references in I just couldn't pass up the oppotunity to populate the whole town with them. = )

[cedarwolfsinger]

Lots of fun, this. Clearly, for Hannibal McCrae, the flourish is more important than focus and intent. Good luck with this.

[kenderlord]

Cheers, Michelle!

Good luck to you this week, too! Your poems are always inspiring.
-D

[harlotbug3]

First of all, the opening sentence is great. 1/2 of all the name Hannibal McCrae would make Dickens weep.

I really like the visceral description of the magic process. The joke about philosophy majors is a bit worn. The idea that a 'real' magician can only consider 'stage' magician as a source of income shows unbelievably little imagination for even a bad 'real' magician.

Mostly it is a fun concept for a story, but a bit too short to make us care about the characters conveying the concept.

[kenderlord]

I love names like that; I'm glad you do, too. I think Jubal McCrae was the name of the hero of some children's story I was kicking around when I was, oh, in ninth grade?

Jubal McCrae Henderson! Yes! He was a squirrel, who lived in a great big tree. And he had these Huge Piles Of Stuff and people would come to him with problems, and he'd have something in a pile that could solve it. He was useful.

What do you suggest for a career for Nat? She needs direction.
-D

[harlotbug3]

Nat seems more like the practical bookish type. I think she'd do well in R&D.

[kenderlord]

Wish _granted_.

I'll bring her back eventually.
-D

I'm your cheerleader this week

[giazz_40]

And all I have to say is wow. I really enjoyed this piece. You made the characters come to life. I could actually see Hannibal and Natalie together on that front porch. Only one comment, is bedammed a real word? Did you mean to say Be Dammed? I love the ending, so great.

Good luck this week, and friend me if you like.

giazz_40

Re: I'm your cheerleader this week

[kenderlord]

Friended! Surely.

Thank you very much. 'bedamn' is an actual word, here being a sort of short hand for "I'll be damned". it's just an oath. But it's old-styley.
-D