Novel Idea, Day 14

Good morning, readers!  Well, I must admit that I cheat a little bit.  See, I have actually been thinking about ALL of these writing prompts since I published them.  Yup - that many ideas running around in my head, virtually all the time.  So I have had a little bit of time to think about some of these ideas, and today's is one that I wasn't sure about how to handle, at first.

Theme: The world is still "A" Theocracy

Initial thoughts: there's a reason for the quotes - a theocracy doesn't mean any specific theology.  I find that when you write about a god, a creation story, etc, there are a lot of people who are so dependent upon THEIR version of things, they can't get out of their version of things to see another point of view.  That's a little of why this topic is important to write about - getting out of our own personal beliefs and experiences in order to create something worth reading.  But what kind of theocracy would I write about?  Mean?  Evil? Kind? Utopic in nature?  A natural theocracy? At heart is the question, "Is a theocracy good in general, for humanity?"  Several avenues to pursue here, and a lot of questions. This is complex, no doubt.

The Bishop was coming, and the entire city was in an uproar over it.  There were only a few reasons the Bishop ever came to the city: appointments of significance, executions of significance, or there was about to be a major change.  It was good for the city, in that there was special effort made to clean it up, but in all, it put people on edge, and that meant trouble for most.  It meant extra work for everyone, but especially those in the central corridor, where the Bishop would be making an appearance.

     Damon didn’t much care for the Bishop, or the Church, really.  He couldn’t see how it did anything for him, other than make his life difficult once every so often.  His small shop on the main boulevard leading to the Cathedral was unfortunately a prime ground for the Church’s right hand, the At Ethica,  to check for violations.  It still mystified him how having the wrong advertisement in the window could offend God, but according to the AE, that was exactly what was happening.  Everyone knew, of course, that it was merely the Bishop’s desire to see that everything was functioning as he thought it should, and nothing seemed amiss.  If it did, there would be months of fines and problems for the offenders.  The exposure for his little shop, though, was well worth the price of cleaning and making sure everything was in readiness for the Bishop’s arrival. 

     As he rounded the corner on his way to the shop, he could see the flashing lights.  This was never a good thing the day before the parade.  Someone must have had a serious violation, to pull out the flashing lights.  One of his neighbors, no doubt.  The AE would be there to question him about this, too. 

     “So much for an easy day,” he said aloud as her turned down his street.

     “Damon!” said a voice nearby.  It was whispered, but urgent.

     Damon looked around.  Between two buildings he saw the shadowy outline of his friend and longtime neighbor, Fedlin. 

     “What are you doing hiding in there, Fedlin?”

     “The AE – they’re at my shop!”

     “Oh, that’s not good!  What did you do?”

     “I did nothing, but when I got to the shop this morning, my windows were all broken in!  What am I going to do?  The Bishop will not be pleased!”

     “First, you need to calm down.  If you did nothing wrong, they will simply make you pay a small fine for the mess.  I will help you clean it.  But hiding – the AE will take it badly.  Do they know you were there already?”

     “I don’t think so.” 

     “Well, good.  Let’s pretend like we’re on the way to work together, and maybe this will only be so bad.”

     “Are you certain?  I don’t want to get you into any trouble.”

     “They’re going to question me too, my friend.  Might as well get it over with.  If they know we’re friends, they won’t suspect me of hiding anything.”

     “All right, then.”  Fedlin started for the opening to the alley and stopped short.  “Thanks, Damon.  I appreciate it.”

     “Any time.  Now let’s go.”

     They rounded the corner and talked just like they would on normal occasions, each knowing what was coming.  They got to Damon’s shop and stood, staring down the street.  The AE was used to people not coming forward immediately.

     “Excuse me, Sir.  Are you the owner of this shop?”

     They were quicker than normal.

     “Yes,” said Damon.  “This is my shop here.  How can I help you officer?”

     “Do either of you know the owner of the shop three doors down from here, a Fedlin Abernathy?”

     “I am Fedlin Abernathy.”

     “You don’t seem shocked to see us outside your shop, Sir.”

Not sure where that one might go, and obviously, this is a place where there is a church and it has a lot of power and influence.  Could be an interesting story - the world may never know......

Thanks for reading,

Me