Word: Zephyrean

 

zephyrean

[ zef-uh-ree-uhn ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or like a zephyr; full of or containing light breezes.

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               A gentle breeze was blowing. It carried on it the sounds and smells of the open picnic grounds. Children laughing. Food cooking. Even the occasional birdsong could be heard. For Dan, the only thing he cared about at that moment was the young girl throwing a kite in the air.

               He watched with a barely contained grin as she tossed it up, only to watch it come back down. He was aware of his wife stirring on the lawn chair they had brought, but figured it was just her waking up from her nap. Their daughter ran over, clutching the kite to her chest with a look that said she was trying not to cry.

               “Daddy, it’s not working!” She whined.

               “Oh no. Well, you’d better tell it to start.”

               “Daddy, this isn’t funny!”

               “Well maybe it’s sleeping like Mommy is. You’ll have to wake it up before it’ll fly.”

               “How do I wake it up?” She asked with genuine curiosity.

               “If you toss it up, and then start running really fast, I bet it’ll wake up. Maybe not right away, but it will.”

               “Okay!” She replied, much more cheerfully.

               Dan watched her run off to make the attempt again. She tossed the kite up and started to run.

               “She’s gonna be a runner.”

               Dan turned to his wife, Kelly. She watched their daughter with heavily lidded eyes and a faint smile. The light breeze ruffled her clothes. Dan tried not to look at the wrap covering the top of her head.

               “Yeah. I bet she is. Definitely not a kite flyer though.”

               Kelly gave a weak laugh as they watched the child try and get the kite to fly. It skidded along the ground, bouncing around behind her. Occasionally it caught a breeze and started to lift off, but whenever that happened, she stopped running too soon.

               “Keep going, baby girl!” Dan called. “Keep running until it starts to get really high.”

               “You know, I think it’s things like this that I’m going to miss.” Kelly said.

               “Hey now, don’t go talking like that. You’ll get better and there’ll be plenty more moments like this. We’ll both be there to see her cross whatever finish lines she reaches.”

               Kelly was silent for a moment. Dan almost thought she had gone back to sleep, but she was just feeling the breeze moving across her face. She reached out and placed a hand on his. She didn’t say anything. Dan knew what she was telling him.

               “Daddy, look! It’s up!”

               Dan looked at their daughter. The kite was indeed finally up in the air. She was letting out the string, and the kite rose higher. Her eyes were open wide and she had a huge smile on her young face.

               “Great job, baby girl!” Dan called. “Hey, Mommy’s awake for a little while. Why don’t you let her hold it for a bit?”

               “What? No, I…” Kelly began. Their daughter rushed over and nearly forced the handle into her mother’s hand.

               “Here, Mommy! I bet you can get it to go even higher!”

               “Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t done this in a long time.” Kelly said. Her eyes fluttered as they looked from child to kite. “But I’ll see what I can do.”

               Dan watched two of the most important people in his life as they played with the kite. Kelly looked like she could barely hold onto it, but she found enough life to keep it under control. Dan smiled. Yes, there would be many more moments like this. He was sure of it.

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Cue sad music playing in the background, followed by a symbolism rich artistic shot of the kite. Yeah, you all know what I'm talking about. 

Word: Brume

 

brume

[ broom ]

noun

1. mist; fog.

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               “I need to go out there.” Jeff said.

               Everyone else in the shelter stopped what they were doing and looked at him like he was crazy. Who would willingly enter the Mist?

               “Food supplies are running low.” He continued. “Someone’s got to scavenge for more. At least until the green boys figure out how to grow something.”

               Several people wanted to argue, but none could. The food in the shelter was indeed limited, and the stores were shrinking every day. If someone did not leave to get more food, everyone would starve.

               “Does it have to be you though?” The question came from Mary. In better times, she would have been Jeff’s fiancé. Now that such labels were meaningless, they were just two people who roomed together. “I mean, there’s plenty of others here who can.”

               “And how many of them are volunteering?” Jeff asked. He looked around. Several others avoided his gaze. Not that he blamed them. “It’s also why I’m going alone. I won’t force anyone to leave with me unless things get really bad. And, since it’s not at that point yet, I’m going.”

               He went to the door leading outside. To the Mist. And to the things inside it. He quietly shouldered a large pack and two weapons. One was one of the few guns remaining. A carefully maintained shotgun, and a handful of the ammo for it. The second was a good, heavy mace. Or at least, as close as anyone could come to making a proper mace without the needed tools. It was not pretty, but it was solid, heavy and reliable.

               “We’ll use a number three today.” Jeff announced.

               “You sure?” Another person, Will, said. “I think I heard some of them trying to mimic number three.”

               Jeff paused. The coded knocks were one of the few ways they could tell the Mist born things from the people they mimicked. It was lucky that the things were not the smartest creatures, and could only copy so much. Knocking on a door in a set pattern had been reliable so far, especially when there were several patterns. But if Will was right than they had a problem.

               “Have you confirmed that?”

               “No, but it came from that wanderer that showed up last week. Said he heard one of them hitting a tree, and then showed me what it sounded like. Wasn’t quite right, but it was definitely trying to be a number three.”

               Jeff swore under his breath. He still thought people who willingly went without shelter were idiots. But they were the only source of news of the outside world these days. And that meant he could not afford to distrust one.

               “We’ll need to come up with a new identifier then. Until then…I suppose number six will do. We don’t use that one very often, so it should still be safe.”

               Will nodded. “Number six it is.”

               “Good luck out there.” Mary said. “And…be careful. If you see too many of them, get back here quick. We have enough food to last a little while longer, and your life is more important.”

               She did not voice her real thoughts. She did not need to. At least, not to Jeff. He nodded in understanding. He turned away from the people. His friends. His family. He turned to the cold metal door and opened it. The Mist flowed in. Not enough to spawn one of the things, but enough to unsettle those inside the shelter.

               Jeff rushed out, closing the door behind him as soon as he could. He looked out into the Mist. A solid wall of damp and grey that hid the world. He took a deep breath, held his mace at the ready and ventured out. 

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So, what do you think? New monster horror/sci-fi type thing? Or is it just going to go nowhere? Well, it probably will go nowhere since I'm probably not doing anything with it, but still. It's occasionally nice to think about.

Word: Theocracy

 

theocracy

[ thee-ok-ruh-see ]

noun, plural the·oc·ra·cies.

1. a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God's or deity's laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities.
2. a system of government by priests claiming a divine commission.
3. a commonwealth or state under such a form or system of government.

   ************************************** 

   Sammy heard Mommy and Daddy talking in the grown-up room. They called it a study, but to him, it was the grown-up room. He liked it better that way. He had just come home from school, and was eager to tell them all about it. Mostly to show them the picture he drew. He stopped at the door and heard them speaking.

   “He’s too young. We can’t tell him. Not yet, anyway.” Mommy said.

   “I know, I know. But do you have a better alternative? The white guard is breathing down our necks and the reds aren’t far behind. If we don’t tell him now, we might not get the chance.”

   “We can bow out. Nobody will blame us. Not with Sam around.”

   Sammy had no idea what they were talking about. Why would the guard be after Mommy and Daddy? The white guard especially were their friends. Only bad guys got chased by the guards. The teacher-priests had told him that, and they couldn’t tell lies. It was against the Book. At least, that’s what everyone said.

   Sammy opened the door. Mommy and Daddy stopped talking and looked at him. Mommy immediately headed over to him and gave him a big hug.

   “Hey there, Sammy. You’re home early.” She said.

   “Uh-huh. The drivers said that God was happy with us, so He gave us a clear way home.”

   Daddy did not look happy for a little bit. But he soon smiled and joined Mommy.

   “Oh he did, huh? Well, we’ll have to…to thank him later, won’t we?”

   “Uh-huh.” Sammy said happily. “What were you talking about? Are there any bad guys here?”

   “What? Why would you think there’s bad guys here?” Mommy asked.

   “I heard you say the white guard are around, and they only go after bad guys.”

   Daddy gave the little laugh he did when he thought something was funny, even when it wasn’t.

   “Bad guys. Sure. Sometimes they do. Other times?”

   Mommy gave Daddy her best mean look. It was the look she gave when she did not want someone to do something. Sammy frowned. He did not know what was going on, but he knew it was something. Maybe something bad.

   “What do you mean?” He asked. Mommy and Daddy looked scared for a moment. Then Daddy got down on one knee. That was how Sammy knew something important was happening.

   “Do you know what a theocracy is?” He asked. Sammy shook his head. “It’s when the church rules a country. It’s what we have.”

   “But our country is ruled by God. The teacher-priests said so.”

   “They might be teachers, but they’re still priests. They’re still members of the church, buddy. But that’s not important. What is important is that some members of the church are bad guys. They do all kinds of bad things while saying they’re good. They do all kinds of bad, terrible things in the name of god. And, since they’re the ones in charge, nobody can say anything to make them stop.”

   Sammy was confused. The priests were the ones who spoke for God. There was no way they could be bad. Daddy was not done talking though.

   “Well, some people think that the priests shouldn’t be in charge anymore. That they should be punished for doing bad things. But they don’t want to be punished, so they tell the guards to get these people. The priests call them bad names and make everything think they’re the bad guys, even when they want to make the country better.”

   Sammy was getting more and more confused. None of what Daddy was saying made any sense to him. He was about to ask a question when Mommy spoke up.

   “How about we talk about this later?” She said, looking hard at Daddy. “You can tell us all about your day at school and I’ll make dinner. And we can talk about other things.” She said the last two words differently, like she wanted to make sure Daddy heard those words more than the rest.

   “Of course, dear. We’ll talk about other things.” Daddy said with a big smile that even Sammy could tell he did not mean.

   Sammy had so many questions to ask now. But it seemed like Mommy did not want him to ask them. Maybe someday they would tell him. Until then, he would make sure that the white guard did not think anyone at his home was bad guys.

   ******************************

   I don't think I really did an adequate job telling how scary a situation like this could be. And what's worse is that it might not be completely realistic. Seriously, this is one election away from becoming a reality in the US. And that should scare everyone.