August is a month for Prompts #8
8/8: Pithy
The tick tack and clickity clack of heels colliding with the ground echoed through the halls.
“Good morning Judge,” a man said wearing a brown suit with a stack of papers occupying his hands.
“What’s so good about it?” the woman quipped as she strode past him with a gust of wind in pursuit. His stack of papers blew out of his hands and swirled around the halls, “Clean this mess up!”
The staff immediately filled the hall snatching the scattered notes from the air. The man in the brown suit still trembled where he stood and asked, “What’s Judge Monroe doing here on a Saturday?”
“I don’t know, but she goes by Madame Monroe now,” a woman in a lab coat whispered as she dropped the papers she collected in his hands.
Madame Monroe’s long black coat billowed as she marched through the building. At the end of the hall two massive doors with stained glass windows shook as she approached. She burst through double oak doors and stormed past the woman at the front desk.
“Excuse-“ The woman tried to say but Madame Monroe cast an icy glare in her direction. She averted her eyes and plopped back in her chair immediately.
The all white office with glass and silver decor sprawled out into a circle. The wall of windows featured an impossible view of the two thousand planets aligned with the Universal Tribunal. On a glass desk in the middle of the room a silver name plate read,
Honorable
Emrick Kay
Zazpi Judge
The chair behind the desk turned and there he sat with a hunter green suit that caused his eyes to gleam like emerald fire. He opened his arms with a stupid grin and said, “Judge Melissa Monroe, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“The Hummingbirds are on Cli,” crooned Madame Monroe with pithy.
The man behind the desk chuckled as he pushed himself back and stood up. He straightened his shirt and loosened his tie before closing his office door.
“Why are you here Melissa?”
Madame Monroe’s eyes widened and fury boiled over as she roared, “Mine the Abhorrent’s fiendish crew of fluttering fools destroyed my Auction House on Leivviel. My merchandise, my guests...” she gasped and whispered, “My name.”
“Your reputation,” the man added with a layer of joy mixed with malice, “What will you do?”
Madame Monroe looked up at his perfectly chiseled chin, “What will I do Emrick?”
She lifted her gloved hand to her forehead and sighed heavily. He rushed to her side and offered her his hand.
“Don’t fret Madame Monroe. I’ve got just the thing.”
“Do you?” She asked, she flashed a smile at him and pulled off her glover with her teeth. She traced a heart in the palm of his hand with her index finger and bopped his nose, “Show me.”
Emrick reluctantly pulled away from her and dramatically twirled behind his desk. He maintained eye contact with her as he tapped a series of buttons on his keyboard. A square opened on the floor behind Madame Monroe as a metal podium ascended with a glass vial in the center. A red powder like substance swirled viciously inside desperately trying to escape the confines of its container.
“What is it?” Madame Monroe asked as she tapped the glass with her stiletto nails.
“Red Dust Death,” Emrick whispered behind her, “The greatest assassin in all of Tucy is in that vial.”
“How does it work?”
“Find your target, mark it with this,” he handed her a slip of paper and said, “There’s no escape once marked.”
Madame Monroe licked her red lips and smiled, “I’ll take it.”
“Of course,” Emrick said, “However, this isn’t a freebie. I expect compensation.”
She whirled on him, brushed a blonde curl that fell in her face, and offered a coy smile. “Oh Emrick, you’ll have VIP status at the auction house and your first purchase is on me.”
Emrick’s eyes lowered suspiciously, “So generous Madame Monroe. That is so, dare I say, uncharacteristic of you.”
She smiled politely and approached him. She leaned in close before she tightened his tie, adjusted his lapel, and patted his chest.
“I have Hummingbirds to exterminate and you’ve provided the means to do so. For that I am grateful and willing to provide the absolute finest of services when you come to Leivviel. When the renovations are complete I’ll send your wife an invitation.”
She collected the vial and slipped it into her diamond shaped clutch. Madame Monroe wiggled her fingers as she sauntered to the door with a pep her step.
“Happy Saturday,” he grumbled
“Ta-ta!”
Emrick watched her wearily as his office door closed a vein pulsed in his neck and he punched his desk. His secretary opened the door a moment later, “I’m sorry sir. She just-“
Emrick raised his hand and she stopped speaking, “Fret not Rebecca, get Judge Georgia on the phone. Let her know she picked it up.”
“Yessir.”
The door slammed shut and Emrick walked to his wall of windows and sighed, “Foolish woman is gonna collapse the Universal Tribunal for such trivial affairs.”
Stay Tuned…
Mine Imagination: Flight of the Hummingbirds
By: T. M. Ashley
M.I Flight of the Hummingbirds is the debut by T. M. Ashley, which features a six century old mastermind that was banished from space and time and is now free to do as he pleases and find his way home. Read the Prologue here:
Comments
Post a Comment