Keeley Schroder February Challenge
February Challenge (Day Fifteen)
Over Half Way!
Day 15: If you were a protagonist from any love story (film or book), who would you be and why?
Raven:
Frank paws his fingers over the old encyclopedias, scattering dust and demons onto the dawn’s first rays of light piling down through the high windowsills of the old library. In the shadows, leaning against a doorway, a young woman with her arms folded over silk covered breasts, questions him: “You still believe you can solve the mystery of time travel, don’t you?” The girl’s Irish accent, with the smacking lips, in keeping with chewing gum, wears a short plaid skirt and yellow open toe high heels, through which protrudes yellow toenails.
“It’s not that I want to go back too far, Jackie. Just far enough to meet up with the Raven. I need to spend some time at the old farmhouse, walk across the lumps of rich soil, reddish brown, just to see him touch the tip of his hat and hear the summer wheat in his breathing.”
The gum’s bubble burst, smacking on Jackie’s shiny red lips in a glossy pink film.
*********
Okay, so who is Raven. Why would I want to be this ficticious protaganist?
Well, he has perfected the art of travel. On June 10, 1954, he flew to London from Johannesburg. Before that, he’d been living in a room on the twenty-second floor of the Hotel Cohiba, in Havana’s Vedado section. (I love Cuba.) Raven is living as a priest, among money changers and prostitutes. (Sounds enticing, right?)
But all this is Raven’s disguise, his acceptance into that community. In the story we first meet Raven while traveling in a railway car, he’s on his way from Cadiz to Tangier. He’s a master of disguise. (His anonymity turns me on.) This time he’s eating a green banana, passing himself off as a Spanish nobleman, a visionary. He appears very aware of himself.
The man has to be made of ice. He speaks strangely, saying his visions have to be smelled, fondled, and heard. He is a lothario for sure, but his soul is that of a monster, (oh yes, I’m in.) When we get to know him, we discover strange things, unfathomable, repulsive…and then again, delightful things. Around women, well it is as if he stirs a symphony inside their hearts. Around men, they become mere skeletons.
Back to the story, Frank (the hero) has to find Raven.
“Who was he, this Raven?” The girl asks, with great sincerity.
Frank looks over at Jackie, now standing in a bolt of light, her red hair on fire. “Raven is immortal, having used a thousand aliases. He looks and acts like any other man; having adopted the same habits and been careful to adjust his behavior to any society in which he finds himself.” Frank’s hands cease to hover over the books. “Truth be told, Raven has witnessed every change, every deception, every misguided truth that has occurred during two thousand years. And the only thing that remains the same, in all that time, is the beauty of the sun’s setting, the pinks and gold and the timeless beauty of a curious, Irish redhead.”
The protagonist? He’s mine. I made him up. It’s just well, I feel very close to him. It is a book in progress. I cheated! 😁
Why not join in the fun of Keeley’s February Challenge. We are all friendly.
Keeley Schroder, The Sturg, Autistic Widower (“AJ”), Karen Schwartz, Adrienne Beaumont, Bernie Pullen, NancyO, Robert G. Longpré, Katie Michaelson, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Brett Jenae Tomlin, redkitewrites, Richard Bailey, Marilyn Flower, Laure Dorsemaine, Debika Kumari, Julie KingGood, Michelle Jimerson Morris, Celia McKinley, Pamela Oglesby, Charisse Tyson, Amy Frances, Ravyne Hawke, Toni the Talker, Cathy Cremer, Harry Hogg, Kayla Tackett, Julia A. Keirns, Courtney Capone, Anna Itzel Cazita, K. Joseph
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