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Cowboy or Alien?

It’s just as well that Rachael gave us extra time for the second campaign challenge. 200 words to include imago, lacuna,miasma synchronicity and oscitate? It was off to the dictionary for me,  but when I got there, I wasn’t much farther forward!

The excellent and inventive efforts of other campaigners left me awestruck but
still hunting for ideas. What kind of piece could carry that vocabulary without
the ‘target’ words simply jumping off the page and hitting the reader right between the eyes?

As a last resort I thought I might do some kind of sci-fi pastiche – cue Dr. Who, a  sonic screw driver and as many long words as you like. Then I sat down
and typed the word Imago. As sometimes happens with writing, what followed wasn’t quite what I expected.

  Imago Jones

Imago Jones saddled up his horse and rode out into mainstreet, well aware of the miasma of sweat and stale liquor that followed in his wake, reminder of a night that had doubtless seen whoring as well as drinking but was now a mere lacuna in his groggy head. He tipped his battered stetson off his face. Well, it  hardly mattered that he stank.  Because no one was around.  Not one single soul.

How come? He was pretty damn sure it was Sunday. And the sun was high. Where were the churchgoers? Where was that busybody of a preacher who a week ago had stood at the church door hollering at the town’s lie-abeds? All the way to the end of the street, nobody stirred. The world was silent except for the mutter of his nag’s shoes on the dusty highway.

Ahead was the open road, the landscape of scrub and sequoia that stretched from here to who knows where. Should he look back? Imago stretched and yawned.  In his head, the place he had left behind gaped and oscitated. The township disappeared.

Synchronicity: time, space, imagination.

If there was one thing Imago Jones knew, you should never look back.

(200 words)

I’m still not sure I’ve got those words to fit, but if my cowboy  meets your approval, you can cast a vote for no 163 on the linky list that follows this post.

Thanks for looking!

27 thoughts on “Cowboy or Alien?”

    1. Hi again Ruth – somehow couldn’t post a comment on yours, but love the ‘awful synchronicity’ – perfect for the moment. Lovely atmosphere – conjures up Florida for me.
      AliB

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  5. Thanks everyone for visiting and your comments.
    As to the questions about what’s going on, I think your guesses are as good as mine!
    It’s late here now but I’ll return your visits tomorow. I’m now no.163, by the way.
    AliB

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  10. Thanks David Jen and Eliza – glad you liked my first attempt at Western.
    Golden Eagle – thanks also – loving that avatar.
    Catch you all later!
    AliB

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  13. I love this. Imago Jones has such a cowboy ring to it. The daft thing is that a few weeks ago none of us would ever have used such a word as miasma and yet now it trips off our keyboard 😉

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  14. Thanks, Rosalind. Yes, my vocab has expanded quite a bit, though not sure oscitate is something I’ll use again – well not for a while!
    AliB

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    1. Hi Raelyn
      Thanks for your comments – like your little memoir too. Sorry blogger doesn’t like me today so can’t post on yours.
      AliB

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    1. Hi Candy
      Great idea for the challenge – had heard of this plant, but now I know more!
      sorry for some reason can’t post to your blog today.
      AliB

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  20. A modern western featuring a time-travelling alien cowboy ? And what has become of all the townspeople ? Great stuff !
    My entry is at no.#185

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