This is an entry for this weeks #constrainedwriting contest hosted by @svashta with guest judge @eriesunkite.
This weeks rules can be found here: https://steemit.com/constrainedwriting/@svashta/constrained-writing-contest-18-winners-of-constrained-writing-contest-17
Bes re-read the post carefully. He chuckled to himself.
Even if he did say so himself, he was pretty funny.
He pressed Post, and sat back, stretching his arms wide. He yawned, and rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t resist taking a quick look at his post to see if it had any views, yet.
No.
Not that he really expected to get much attention. Being a minor ancient Egyptian god, he hardly got any upvotes.
He clicked on Trending.
A sunrise picture was top of the page. No text with it, of course. Bes scowled. Fucking Ra. He always got loads of upvotes.
And all he posted was stupid bloody selfies.
He checked his watch. Still had quite a lot of time to kill. He wasn’t very busy, at the moment. Not really. Few mortals called upon his services these days. There were still some old-school believers around, but not many. His clientele were mainly a mixture of crystal-bothering hippies and new age hipsters. Personally, he couldn’t stand either group. But you had to take the work where you could get it.
He was hungry. He hopped down from the chair at his desk, and waddled into the kitchen. He’d had all the cupboards and surfaces lowered - in the days when he could afford to pay people to do stuff for him - so he didn’t need to climb ladders. The cupboards were empty, of course. He knew they would be. He hadn’t been shopping for a long time.
Sighing, he grabbed the keys and his wallet. He had a quick look inside the worn leather pouch, sighed again and headed out the door.
John, the neighbour on the left of Bes’ house, was out mowing his lawn again. Always busy, that one. Cutting grass, washing the car, painting the fence for the hundredth time. Anything to avoid being in the house with his wife and kids. Bes didn’t blame him really. Jenny was an angry alcoholic and the kids… well... Bes liked kids, well enough - it was his job, after all - but the Smith kids were little bastards. For good reason, without doubt. But still… he didn't have a rattle big enough to scare off their demons.
He gave John a wave, and hopped into his car and started it up. A puff of black smoke came out of the exhaust. In the rear view mirror, Bes could see John shaking his head, disapproval leaking out of him like radiation from an abandoned power station. It was alright for him, he could afford a new car every three fucking years. Environmental gestures were a lot more difficult to make on Bes’ income.
The traffic was bloody awful, and Bes sat hunched over the steering wheel, trying to ignore the hunger pangs. His stomach was making such a dreadful noise, he could even hear it over the knocking sound from underneath the hood of the car.
He hated shopping when hungry. He always ended up spending what little money he had on crap.
Eventually he crawled into the supermarket car park, then drove around for half an hour trying to find a space.
The supermarket was full of people. All of them seemed to be cloaked in the same foul mood he wore. The shopping trolleys were too big for him to manage - even if he could throw things inside it he couldn’t get anything out of it without climbing inside - so he selected a small basket with wheels on it. Dragging the basket behind him he headed into battle.
He avoided the biscuit and crisp isle. Best get staples. Cheap stomach fillers. Pasta, rice, bread.
He sensed the child crying before he heard it. He sighed. He was never really off duty.
In the aisle - next to the one Bes was standing in - a child, lost and anxious, sat on the floor, crying.
Bes let his basket fall and ran around the aisle. As usual, other shoppers stood nearby. They too felt the child's distress, but were paralysed by the fear of being accused of inappropriate behaviour if they tried to help. Bes ran up to the child - a girl, no more than four years old - and smiled at her. She immediately stopped crying. And smiled back.
“Hello,” Bes said.
“Hello.”
“My name is Bes.”
“I’m Claire.”
“Well, Claire, I am going to help you find your mummy. Can you hold on to this?” she was too old to play with a rattle, but not too old to see. She could tell it wasn’t just a rattle. She took it and looked at it, wonder in her eyes. As she touched it Bes could see her thread shine. It was nice and strong. Good, a strong thread meant a healthy relationship with her parents. He looked up, following the thread with his eyes. It went over to the aisle on the other side of the shelving unit they were standing by.
He smiled at Claire.
“I think I know where your mummy is,” he said. “Now, if anyone you don’t like comes near you, just shake that rattle in their face. And if they don’t go away… hit them with it. Hard.”
Claire laughed and nodded.
“OK,” she said.
Bes smiled and began to climb up the shelving unit. There was a gasp from the gathering crowd of onlookers. He ignored them and shimmied his way to the top and peered over the boxes of cereal into the aisle below. The thread was indeed attached to a rather frazzled looking woman, who was frantically wandering up and down the aisle.
“Claire!” she called. “Claire, where are you?”
“Er... hello! Claire’s mum!” Bes called from on top of the shelf. “She is just over the other side of this shelving unit,” the woman looked left, right and then up. “Hello!” Bes beamed and waved at her. “If you just come round here,” he pointed to the end of the isle. “You’ll see your daughter on the other side.”
The woman - Claire’s mum - ran around the aisle. Bes shuffled round so he could see her push her way through the crowd and pick up her daughter in her arms.
“There you are!” she said, showering her daughter with kisses. “You know you shouldn’t run off like that!”
“The nice little man found you for me, mummy!”
“Oh, yes! Thank you!” Claire’s mum looked up at Bes, still high up on the shelving unit. “Thank you for helping us! Lucky you were here to help! The gods must be smiling down on me today!”
Bes grinned at her.
“Well, one of them is, anyway!” he coughed. “Could I ask a small favour?”
“Anything! Anything at all!”
“Would you be so kind as to help me down?”
Other stuff by @felt.buzz
Very short stories (stories told in exactly 50 words)
“glimpse”
A daily event, anticipated and dreaded in equal measure
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/glimpse-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-the-365daysofwriting-in-precisely-fiftywords
“Always Read The Small Print*”
*you’ve been warned
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/always-read-the-small-print-an-original-sci-fi-story-in-fiftywords-for-fireawaymarmot-s-writefrommymusic-contest
“A bit upset”
Things get nasty in a parking lot
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/a-bit-upset-an-original-fictional-story-in-precisely-fiftywords-for-the-365daysofwriting-challenge
“Brat!”
He wants a chocolate bar.
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/brat-an-original-fictional-story-told-in-precisely-fiftywords
“Dancing Together In The Sand”
A man dances in the sand at sunset
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/dancing-together-in-the-sand-an-original-fictional-tale-for-365daysofwriting-challenge-told-in-precisely-fiftywords
“Holiday”
A holiday. Is it really?
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/holiday-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-the-365daysofwriting-told-in-exactly-fiftywords
“Why?”
There is only one winner.
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/why-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-365daysofwriting-told-in-exactly-fiftywords
“Raining Love" an original fictional romance told in just #fiftywords]
https://steemit.com/ffiftywords/@felt.buzz/raining-love-an-original-fictional-romance-told-in-just-fiftywords
“Blood Bath”
She likes a bath. Horror.
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/blood-bath-an-original-fictional-horror-story-in-just-fiftywords
“London”
Raining? Surely not.
https://steemit.com/fiftywords/@felt.buzz/london-an-original-fictional-story-for-365daysofwriting-challenge-told-in-fiftywords
Some more of my short stories
“Grivvil and Hev”
Why did Grivvil agree to go on this stupid quest. Alcohol may have had something to do with it.
https://steemit.com/fiction/@felt.buzz/grivvel-and-hev-an-original-fictional-story-for-the-365daysofwriting-challenge
“a missed opportunity”
Two lonely people with history. An entry for @fireawaymarmot’s week 2 contest click here for his latest contest
https://steemit.com/fiction/@felt.buzz/a-missed-opportunity-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-fireawaymarmot-s-writing-contest-based-on-his-original-song
“with joy and regret”
Nightmares come from within. Perhaps a reunion can help heal.
https://steemit.com/weekendfreewrite/@felt.buzz/with-both-joy-and-regret-an-original-fictional-story-for-the-weekendfreewrite-freewrite-challenge
...
Do you want to see me, and hear me putting on a phoney 'horror' style voice to read one of my spooky stories? Well, click here to find me reading the story "The Restless Wandering Shade"
...
Some HUGE news for me!
Another one of my steemit stories has been selected to appear in the Isle of Write Anthology!
“Haunted” is a ghost story (not that the title gave that away or anything) and it currently has 7 parts to it. But it isn’t finished yet. So I had better get on with it, hadn’t I…
It joins my 8 part story “Reunion” that was selected a few weeks ago.
Please support @isleofwrite by visiting their page and checking out their post, they are doing a great job of highlighting good writing, so if you like reading you should really check them out.
You too can be curated and find your story in an @isleofwrite anthology : read the post and find out how!
Gorgeous.
And it's stuffed full of many little mundane bits of life... the 'ordinariness' of hunger pangs and empty cupboards...of dysfunctional families...of traffic jams and environmental degradation...of shopping...of a child crying...of people just watching -how often do we use fear to excuse our inaction?-
... of...I could go on and on...
A hero who happens to be a god, albeit a minor one, steps in and saves the day. And all those uncelebrated heroes who quietly step up in one way or another everyday...
In other words, I truly enjoyed this story :)
Thank you! For reading and for such a detailed comment. So appreciated! :)
You're most welcome. It was such an easy comment to make.
This. Is. Pure. Perfection.
@felt.buzz, I want more of you.
Scratch that.
I want all of you.
This was such a delight to read I'm still having shivers.
Thank you so, ... so very much for this entry of yours.
Thank you! Very kind of you to say so! I had great fun writing it. :)
I give credit where it is due. :P
I liked seeing Bes in action.
Cool story. Good luck with the contest.
Thank you! Sorry I missed the one that you judged! I had fun writing it, which is the main aim for me. And I really liked Bes. I like the idea of down-on-their-luck gods trying to make ends meet in today's world... :)
Bes is such a believable character istg seems like a real dude and to be honest I always believed Raa would be a douche
Thank you! :)
Ra is getting ton of upvotes with selfies. Hillarious, really liked that part
Thank you! :)