September 2022 --- 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO JO ZEBEDEE!

[AnRoinnUltra]

The left shoe of dignity

‘This Flombosteron.
Is the most.
Jumbaliant Gnongoolian.
Alive.
Please remove.
Your left shoe.’

‘No offense Barnstangle, but your idea of demonstrating honour is plain daft.’

‘You are human in assuming so Henry.
But.
I’m afraid.
Gnongoolian honour.
Respects life.
Our galactic council.
Has noted.
5348 innocent human females.
Were butchered.
To demonstrate honour.
During the last Earthling.
Planetary cycle.
Unfortunately.
Our species.
Is incapable.
Of such action.
We are hermaphrodites.
Now.
Please.
Remove your shoe.’

 

[Stable]

Confession of an Honourless Executed Criminal

Did the policemen have honour as they dragged my brother behind their horses, bouncing off the cobblestones, for the crime of practicing our culture?

Did I lack honour as I avenged him, by surprise, in the dark?

Do you have honour, judge, as you sit enthroned, ruler of your tiny fiefdom, enforcing respectful address from those momentarily in your power?

Honour is a daydream of the ruling system. I deny it.

 

[johnnyjet]

After the Parade

They threw a parade for the Quiet Hero. He sat astride a float designed to resemble his starship with copious flowers.

He'd returned alone, unable to speak. He remembered only colors and screaming.

After the parade, he went home. The doctors prescribed rest.

The doorbell awakened him.

A man outside was talking. His voice faded. He blurred, disappeared.

Silence. Darkness.

Soon the Quiet Hero was unable even to feel.

Elsewhere, the people shouted, "Next Hero."

 

[Peter V]

Henry XXVIII

“Sire, the Babajingan Emperor does not offer his youngest daughter lightly. To refuse would dishonour him and inevitably lead to a resumption of conflict.”

“Absolutely not Prime Minister, I’m already married.”

“Sire, Queen Isabelle is your… sixth wife I believe?”

“Yes, what of it. I love her.”

“As you did the previous five, I’m sure but...”

“You think I could love this alien?”

“And take the record from your namesake.”

“Okay. Just a divorce mind.”

 

[gOff2fish]

"No Fear"

After the Plague Winds laid waste to the great Cities, the survivors scattered in to the barren wastelands seeking refuge. Tunneling into the mountains of trash they nested in the shells of abandoned buses and campervans, stacked with other detritus and piled like pyramids.

Each clan is named for a Lost God of the Diesel Age and lives by its ethos; Monster, Rockstar, Red Bull.

The new Chieftain of “No Fear” vows to cause none.

 

[sule]

Honorificabilitudinitatibus

He was unsure of his art.

Something spoke within him, giving eloquent voice to darkest desire. They hissed and shouted, filling him with passion while promising glory and immortality - What else could he want?

He was scribe to their salacious sermons, occasionally reworking phrases where cadence necessitated. The plays and poems pouring from his pen resonated with the message of his secret muse.

He sometimes wondered whose works were attached to his name.

 

[StilLearning]

The meaning of last words​

Tugging his glasses nervously up and down, he took her hand: “I’m here mother - what is it?”
“H… on... or..” She choked. Again: “Hhh... on... or...” her voice failed.
He nodded tearfully: “Yes. I’ll... do it: Destroy our enemies, restore our strength”. He couldn’t finish ‘...as father wouldn't', for he’d loved the old idealist.

The killing began that day.

***

The old woman’s spirit seethed. “ON! OR! OFF! Wear your glasses on or off you pillock!”

 

[paranoid marvin]

How To Get Ahead in Medieval Times



"Why didn't Sir Percy finish Sir Geoffrey off?"

"Because he'd beaten Geoffrey to the ground; chivalric code demands you don't kill a defenceless knight."

"Yeah, but whilst Percy was helping him up, Geoffrey kicked him in the wotsits and chopped his head off."

"Geoffrey lost his honour that day."

"At least he still had his head..."

"But..."

"And got Sir Percy's castle..."

"Well..."

"And lands..."

"So?"

"So, Percy was a bit of a muppet."

"True."

 

[Luiglin]

Honour is in the eye of the beholder​

The foe paused; sword raised. The man eclipsed the sun, a haloed stain on a glorious sky.

“Mercy? Too late to learn honour.”

“Because I don’t adhere to your morality, does not make me any less honourable.” Even muffled by the helm, the voice oozed honeyed power. “With you on your knees in the bloodied mud, it does though, make mine… right.”

The blade descended; a head rolled.

“And my honour does not allow fools.”

 

[OuttaInc]

The Perfect Candidate

“On my Honor I solemnly swear
To serve God and my country;
To strengthen our Citizenry through instruction and correction;
To seek out and excise immoral thought wherever it festers;
To never mistake lenience for Sympathy, tolerance for Love, or mercy for Compassion;
To sentence death only as a last resort (the body being stronger than the mind);
And to mete……”

“Candidate?”

“…to meet my duties without hesitation in my position of Deputy Inquisitor.”

Applause.

 

[Daysman]

Dead to Rites

The spectral hand reached again for my brandy glass. It wobbled.
"He doesn't give up," my brother said, sipping his own liquor.
I reminded him, "Father promised to house his family."
"Has our father witnessed these incursions?"
"He claims not, but did not deride my reports."
"Perhaps we might approach him together?"
"The three of us? What d'you say, ghost?"
My brother's stubbed-out cigar promptly flared in the ashtray.
He smiled. "A gentleman's agreement!"

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

My Honour its not lies!

"I'm not sure what to say," said Tom.
"Just tell the truth, exactly what did you see?" said the Judge.
"Well I saw a spaceship land on the grass outside this building," replied Tom.
"What colour was it?" asked the Judge.
"Purple with pink lights," said Tom.
"You're drunk and crazy," said the Judge.
"I'm as sober as a Judge," slurred Tom.
"No you're not and take him away," slurred the Judge.

The spaceship disappeared.

 

[therapist]

Droidtown

‘And this—is the renowned Mech Street! Us droids come here to hang-out, rewire, get an engraving…’
‘Far-out,' Sarah said, scanning the robotic crowds. Outside a charging station, a rusty droid lay in a puddle of its own oil.
She rushed over and checked its display, ‘Are you okay?!’
‘Sarah, leave it.’
‘Doesn’t it need help?’
Other droids continued to walk past.
‘It does, but uhh…Come on, I’ll show you the sonic baths!’

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

The Honourable Discharge of Brigadier Ponsonby, VC, DSO and Bar

I closed the mission dossier. It made uncomfortable reading. A series of unforgivable crimes.
If the subject were court-martialled, he'd inevitably be found guilty, bringing shame upon his family and dishonour to his regiment.

I recalled the assigning officer's words, "Shouldn't happen to someone with his outstanding military record."

My assignment: the subject must die with honour.

I put the barrel of my service revolver into my mouth. Time to do the honourable thing.

 

[Hugh]

A Mullah Nasruddin Story​

What honour can be found in polluting the seas and poisoning the planet?
What honour is there in feathering your nest while others starve?

Mullah Nasruddin and an aged Afreet were pondering these questions in the teahouse, when suddenly the Mullah stood up and walked out into the desert.

“Afreet!” the villagers cried, “Afreet! Why’s our Mullah kneeling with his head in the sand?”

“Easy!” answered the Afreet - “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”.​

 

[The Judge]

The faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting ​

​

​

Eulogies reign,​

Leading here, a gathering point –​

In a world of movement, a queue, stilled.​

Zeal-seized, they wait,​

Ancient emotion creating human rivers.​

Breathing anticipation,​

Echoing chatter soars; awaiting a single moment,​

They prove​

Honour’s not dead.​

​

Entering inside, silence reigns.​

Lying here, the still point​

In a turning world, now forever stilled,​

Zealously attended. Weight of​

Ancient solemnity creating reverence;​

Breathing grief,​

Echoing footsteps cease. A single moment​

They pause,​

Honouring the dead.​

​

​

 

[Elckerlyc]

A Promise Made...


“Promise to have me buried at Waldorff.”
“Not there, Mum. I hate that place.”
“I know. But my heart lies there.”

…

“You have the guts to show your face here, after everything?”
“On my Mother’s behalf. She wished to be buried here.”
“She died...? I’m... Granted. But know that I will do what I promised you I’ll do if I ever saw you here again.”
“I know, grandpa.”

…

“Disinherited you? Why?”
“Sins of my youth.”

 

[Perky]

The Drug Preacher

“Fight your diseases, folks,” whispered the king who was among the damp, black woods, whose trees were scarred by fresh but pure blood. This king, not known by his royal blood, is often called "The Priest". “Fight your diseases, folks”.
The priest walked to a path where the earth was beaten and muddy, “Gods will come for us, you shall not die. You will die alone in honor, but you will not be remembered”.

 

[mosaix]

Pals.

“I ain’t leavin’ you now, Tom. You’ve seen me right more than once in the past. My turn now. You cold?”

As he adjusts his pal’s blanket the rumble of distant gunfire causes him to turn and eye the tree-blasted horizon.

“They’ll be ‘ere soon. Think we can hold ‘em off? Just you an’ me? Like the old days?”

Tom smiles a rictus smile that only a broken-jawed corpse can.

 

[Bruce MacLean]

Virtue Mine Honour

Like a miniature squashed snow globe, the MacLean clan crest was stuck onto my key fob. Its powerful motto meant a lot to me.

Was it worth it, cheating an honest eBayer out of a few pounds by claiming my book never arrived? I had no excuse.

At some point the sticker fell off the key fob, embarrassed by my behaviour probably.

So I lost three things; my virtue, what was mine, and my honour.