maiden’s blush, n.
A delicate pink color
Rosy
Julia stared at her nails as they dried. This was only her second manicure, and it looked lovely…professional…discreet. The manicurist had told her the polish was called Maiden’s Blush. Julia glanced at the rows of color and wished she’d had the nerve to paint her nails brick red. She flipped over a bottle and smiled; maybe next time she’d be ready for Daring Seductress.
sowing, vbl.
The action of scattering seed.
Mixed Metaphors
“But baby, I need to sow my rice, you know…like Johnny Appleseed.” Tina listened to the message on her phone and wondered once again what she had seen in such a jackass. He wasn’t good enough in bed to justify his syntactical errors. She had heard that God didn’t give with both hands. But in his case, God hadn’t given with either hand.
pedestal, n.
A position of being admired or exalted, esp. to an unwarranted or exaggerated degree.
Vertigo
Sarah considered jumping once a week, but she lived on the second floor. At the most she’d break her arm. Her family put her on such a pedestal that she got vertigo, but you couldn’t die from jumping off of expectations. That thought made her laugh. She closed the blinds and finished making her breakfast, scrambled eggs and toast.
protest, n.
A solemn, formal, or emphatic declaration or affirmation; an avowal
Simple
“Why do you have to make things so difficult?” I’d heard this refrain at least twice a week for the past three months. “You know what, love? You’re absolutely right. I am done protesting my innocence and ready to accept that I am solely responsible for the fact that you are an asshole.”
antique, a. and n.
a. Belonging to former times, ancient, olden.
n. A relic of ancient art, or of bygone days.
Market
Sarah wondered through the tables of the local flea market looking for a birthday present. She picked up pocket watches and magazines, but most of it was junk. Real antiques were few and far between. She eyed an old advertorial poster of a bottle of olive oil on a cafe table and asked the woman the price. She nearly laughed out loud when the lady said $1,500, but she managed to keep her bemusement to herself for once.
persecution, n.
1. An instance or act of persecuting; an injurious act. 2. A particular course or period of systematic violent oppression, esp. one directed against the members of a particular religious or political group, race, etc.
Luck
Freddy supposed he should have been upset by the pink slip. His friends made sad noises and were secretly relieved that they’d escaped the executioner. The economy seemed determined to hand out persecution like candy, but Freddy lived from day to day. He had enough money in the bank to last a couple of months. Maybe he’d start that novel he never wanted to write.
eikonal, n. and a.
1. n. The optical path length of a ray between specified points in the object and image spaces; more widely, a function of position denoting the time taken by a wave-front to reach a specified point. 2. a. Physics. Designating an equation which expresses the eikonal in terms of the wave velocity.
Help
“Mom, what’cha doing??” Nicole looked up from the crossword puzzle that was pissing her off and checked the time. Her sweet and scattered son had been working on his homework for less than 20 minutes. “I can’t figure out this physics assignment; what does eikonal mean?” Nicole stared at 25 down and replied, “Sweetie, unpronounceable words are your father’s job.”
love letter, n.
A letter expressing love or admiration; esp. one written by a lover to the object of his or her affection. Also in extended use.
Missed
Sometimes John walked the city after midnight determined to see something strange or wonderful. Most nights he ended up at a dive bar by the water that catered to alcoholics and insomniacs. On a Wednesday in April, he sat next to a woman who resembled a more reasonably proportioned Dolly Parton. When she left, he saw that she had written him a love letter on a napkin. It said, “In my younger years, I would have taken you home and lifted the blues from your eyes; I’m past the days of happy mistakes.”
tug, n.
1. An act or the action of tugging; a forcible or violent pull; a severe strain or drag. 2. Labour, toil (obs. rare); esp. a determined effort to accomplish or attain something; a hard try; a struggle; a ‘go’. 3. a. A strenuous contest between two forces or persons.
Boat
“I have no interest in going out on that tomb you call a sailboat. So stop asking.” My brother hated the water, but he bought a boat to prove that he was bigger than his fears. “Just because you almost drowned once isn’t a good reason to give up the ocean, you baby.” As always, my jerkass brother knew just what strings to tug to get my back up and me back on water.
motty, n.
1. Mining. A miner’s tally; a stick of wood or disc of metal, notched or stamped in a particular way, placed on a full corf to identify it as the work of a certain miner. 2. A word, opinion; esp. in to put one’s motty in: to stick one’s oar in, to interfere.
Foul
Every day when Laurann walked past the butcher’s shop, the man behind the counter waved. She wasn’t sure how to feel about this pleasantry, as she had embraced Veganism while dating her ex. Despite never exchanging more than the sad little wave, Laurann knew the sound of the butcher’s voice. Mondays were his delivery day, and like clockwork at half past eight he yelled to his employees, “Oy, would any of you lazy arse buggers mind putting your motty in?” And just like that, Laurann, an unapologetic Anglophile, was smitten.