She marvels at his noble chiseled features. When she first saw him, she thought he looked a hero from the time of myth. Lustrous hair, etched grey at the temples, broadcasting wisdom. Deep blue eyes shining with confidence and sexuality. The latter tempered, of course, by devotion.
Her eyes fix on the monogrammed cuff links. He told his believers that they were passed from his grandfather, founder of Conwell Divinity School in Wenham, Massachusetts, to his father, evangelical minister in Boston, until his martyrdom on mission in the Congo. Now he, Jonathan Josiah Worthington III, wore them every day as a reminder of his heritage, and calling. “Your humble servant, preaching each Sunday from the Tower of Salvation to Salina, Emporia, Clay Center, Kansas, and points west. “
She watches his blood cascade from the head wound where she hurled the lead crystal glass. Ruby red stains his five-hundred dollar shirt before reaching the storied cuff links. Pity it took so long a search to find them on Ebay. Her eyes follow the unbroken glass, holding its own blood spatter, as it tumbles through the foyer like a galloping Grail.
She steps over his well-defined, coveted torso. “Goodbye, Gary Gerk, of the Peoria Gerks. Goodbye liar, grifter, fornicator, cloven-hoofed fraud, cheater of the old, enemy of the poor, sinner extraordinaire to the young.“
Standing to the side of the window, she pulls back the damask curtain.
“Let there be light.”
From John Dufresne's Writing Exercises: Flash Fiction with the following requirements: Setting is a man and woman in a room in Salina, Kansas. The man is wearing cuff links and a silk tie. The woman has a glass in her hand. Terms “salvation” and “light” are to be used in the story. Weave one central character with his/her point of view into a plot using figurative language, vivid description. Compress into 200 words.
