I spent a LOT of time dreaming up this story, and very little time actually writing it, so it's pretty much a freewrite. And as all freewrites do, it has stuff in it that surprises even me.
I wanted to take out GMYL and use some of her words, make Butch speak the way she had him speak, but it's packed at the bottom of a box of books (I'm packing) so I had to wing it. Silhouette is a word I was grasping for and couldn't find, so I'm super glad you saw it that way.
I published this story less than 15 minutes before payout of the contest post. Super rushed it! It came out OK though, like a parable. I wonder if most stories, cut down to only their bones, would read like parables.
thanks for the great comment!