Friday 15 March 2013

Crush - Friday Flash






He arrested his pumping thrust mid-stroke. Stout-hearted oak almost toppled over the card sharper operating on the sidewalk. Nearly induced a cardiac-attack. The man gathered up his ill-gotten gains into a sac and transplanted his procedure elsewhere. Somewhere less congested.

Heart in mouth, bated breath in suspended lungs. Could it possibly be?

His heart missed a beat as he distended his neck to search out his bypassed Miss.

That old throb started tugging at his core. His organ burning in his chest. The blood pulsing around his veins at a rate of knots, tingling agonisingly. His heartstrings tangled like a cats cradle. He shot his shirtsleeves tight over his wrists to try and venesect the pressure. But it was too late. The heart of the matter was indeed his heart. A resuscitated pang for his love. A one woman love infarction. That heart stopper and head turner had just crossed his path again. Encased in a sable stole.

And then the old ticker skipped as did his stride. There she was moving at a cracking lick. It was his heartfelt wish to see her, to talk to her again. He gathered up his pace- making. Heartily, lustily. His ticker hammering away at his ribs like a xylophone with joyous excitement. He put his hand over his chest to see that his fit-to-bursting heart was still contained within. Still in the right place.

The motor was powering his legs like pistons. Systole... as he bounced up in his stride. Diastole on the downstroke, although he felt he was being carried along on a cushion of richly oxygenated air.

She entered the revolving door of a hotel. He followed her directly in the next glass chamber behind. She contracted sight of him and missed her opening into the atrium, instead going round another circuit. Her lashes fluttered and his heart responded in kind. But hers was a double-take quickly followed by a double declutch of her expression. A look more dagger than arrow to the heart. Tricuspid valve slamming shut on him like a tomb, rather than Cupid's airy flight. Furry venous, not Venus in Furs. His heart sunk with displaced hope. Footsore and heartsick. He knew in his heart of hearts that they were never to be heart and soulmates.

Murmuring to himself, he slowed his rate and let her heart-free into the bosom of the lobby. As he re-emerged back into the arteries of the city, the smell of warming cockles from a stall rendered his sclerotic muscle into a ball of wrinkles.

Heartbroken.






from the flash fiction collection, available from Amazon Kindle store free to download 3rd-7th June 2016



18 comments:

Chuck Allen said...

Wow! I <3 this. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Very clever telling!

Icy Sedgwick said...

Aw! I felt so sorry for him by the end, but love the way you kept heart related motifs throughout the piece. Hopefully his heart will mend.

Bevimus said...

He should go see Icy's character, she'd mend him right up!

Love the language of this, as with all your pieces!

Alison Wells said...

His "bypassed Miss" and other sundry gems. Super.

Tony Noland said...

Furry venous, not Venus in Furs

LOVED this line.

Eric J. Krause said...

Very clever storytelling. Poor guy. But I'm sure his heart is strong enough to find another.

Unknown said...

Heartstrings like 'Cat's Cradle' - that's a brilliant image. Love the nervousness of this, that quiet humiliation. It's palpable (or palpitating?).

Sulci Collective said...

Damn, wish I'd thought of using palpitating!

Thanks DJ

Larry Kollar said...

The hearty punning keeps the beat! This was a fun one, and I agree with Bevimus. Send him to Icy's character.

Helen A. Howell said...

Such a heart rendering tale! Love all the references in this it reminded me of when I took medical terminology exami ^_^

Helen A. Howell said...

Opps that should have been rending not rendering LOL

Cindy Vaskova said...

This is one helluva way to describe the triumphs and pains of one's heart! I loved it! It's so clever, and the song for me works like the credits to a short movie. A very heart aching short movie.

Unknown said...

Clever & Witty! That's a lovely combination...

Katherine Hajer said...

A virtuoso turn!

The Wire at the end was fun. I don't have Chairs Missing. I should do something about that.

Anonymous said...

Nice piece, good contrast between humour and emotional. I agree he definitely needs to see Icys character.

Deanna Schrayer said...

Marc, this is super! I absolutely love the way you weave the heart of the city with his heart, very clever. As always, you not only know exactly what words to use but also exactly where to use them.

Strange coincidence: I've been working on a poem called 'Crush', which goes from a little girl having a crush on a schoolmate to that same woman being crushed by the man she thought was the love of her life. Though it's becoming so long it may be a flash instead of a poem. I've always loved the word 'crush' because of the many annotations it has.

Sulci Collective said...

Thanks Deanna, what drives me is that there are so many words with shades of menaing that cut across themselves or even mean the exact opposite, such as 'cleave' or 'fast'. That's always something I look to utilise, to have words that have a secondary shade of meaning echoing underneath the main one that may undercut or undermine its strength and sow some ambiguity.

Mary Papas said...

I loved the ending!