Categories
Stories Tragedy

L’odeur of Summer 1794

“Find us a good place to sit, Suzanne. In front of the scaffold, but not too close.” “Absolument. I know just the spot.” “I will be back shortly.” “Where are you going, Jacqueline?” “To buy a nosegay.” “Who’s selling flowers on such a day?” “There’s a stall near the tumbrels—next to the prisoner carts. The…

Categories
Stories Tragedy

The Smoke of Her Burning

Part I: It was so terribly cold. It had always been cold in Denmark, especially on New Year’s Eve. The wintry winds brought a desperate chill to those unsettled and impoverished. Wars continued to ravage the land. Treaties were torn up as soon as they were signed. Industrialization poisoned Scandinavian cities and its people. The…

Categories
Comedy Stories

Witch Hunter’s Grandson

27 January 1736—London. Matthew Hopkins, III sat stoically with his glass of port at The Prospect of Whitby, a public house on the banks of the River Thames, four short miles from Parliament Square. The pub’s heavy oak paneling was a comfort against the cold, the glass window panes delicately frosted in lacy patterns of…

Categories
Comedy Stories

Innocence Lost

❤️ 5:00 a.m. — Lauds or Dawn Prayer “St. Benedict had too many rules for the clergy,” he said, rolling over in her big wide bed. “Awakening at this ungodly hour was probably the most demonic,” he sighed and burrowed back into the crisp, white sheets, cool in the morning air. The sheets had been…