This week’s words: Converge Prod Burrow Messiah Tendon Gag Poultice Limit Intenerate (to make soft or tender; soften) Peroxide Generosity Nettle
John Nettle was a most spiky character, There was nothing intenerate about him. He didn’t have a soft side and he basked in the knowledge that most people feared him.
The sad thing about ‘Stinging’ Nettle was that he perceived the fear as a form of adoration as if he was a messiah of some kind when in reality he was a low life dog of a man.
On days where he thought taking from the poor to give to his own rich coffers was a form of generosity and that his generosity knew no limits was made painfully clear to Many Smithanopolis the day Stinging found him with his hands in Stinging’s till.
Many was gagged and bound, his ankle tendons cut and strung up and tortured within an inch of his life.
Stinging peroxided Many’s hair, which he knew, would raise Many’s ire that one notch further but Stinging didn’t mind nor did he care.
Stinging was without a doubt a self-serving bastard who liked to lord it over anyone he thought he could lord it over. His ultimate humiliation was to apply a bread poultice to the back of a victims neck and then shove him down the burrow he had built in his back yard, just big enough to jam a man down but near impossible to extract him.
With your head in the burrow Stinging would prod you with a big stick asking the question he wanted to know the answer to and when he received an answer he didn’t want to hear he’d drop you down the burrow a bit further.
His comeuppance came the day the police converged on his place and stormed his house arresting everyone who looked suspicious, which meant everyone.
Stinging tried his Messiah act on the police who merely laughed, he tried to make his escape down his burrow but discovered he couldn’t fit and he was afraid of the dark.
The police had their man and it didn’t take much prodding to reduce Stinging to blubbering mess.
They put him away in a place where intense intenerations were used to break his character and where he was gagged at night to remind him of the limits the human body can endure before it breaks.
Twenty years later Stinging was released but had by then acquired a new name. John ‘Singing’ Nettle had become a new man.
Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/wordle-66-june-22-2015-2/
Morpethroad 
I love your effective use of naming and nicknaming Michael! What a character! Shoving people down burrows, bleaching their hair, not someone you’d like to tangle with. I love the bit about him discovering a fear of the dark.
Thank you Yves, in the end I gave him some redeeming feature, not everyone is bad and with enough inteneration anything is possible.
Absolutely never underestimate the power of nteneration haha
yep, turned old Stinging to Singing….
Wow, what a well-drawn character, Michael!
Thank you Dell, lovely to see you drop by. You are looking well today/evening.
Oh, you! You’ve got me chuckling and blushing!
Goodness Dell but you do look attractive when you blush….or is it the lighting? I find lighting works best for me….the less the better I look….
You Aussie Scamp, you! I’m giddily giggling now at near 4am–and writing like a machine, as usual! Yes, “dark” would be my best lighting….stumble at your own risk.
Hahaha….ah great reply. Go to bed.
Maybe an hour and a half more…. see you later. Best always.
Did John “Singing” Nettle ever do a duet with Johnny Cash?
An unusual, but effective, use of those wordle words!
Unusual I like. A duet? I think round the prison sink at wash up time there were a few memorable renditions of “I walk the line”.
And of course, Folsom Prison Blues!
Once again – such a playful and skillful use of the words – that the little tale is wonderful – with great moral lessons to be learned. And us per your creative mind – wonderful imagery evoked with the portraits you paint – characters unforgettable by virtue of the naming. Great job Michael 😀
Thank you Mercy. Playful I like skilful is more like luck.
Well the luck of the draw walks well by your side 😉
Although I flinched at the thought of ankle tendons being cut, this piece was thoroughly enjoyable to read. You have a real knack for writing characters…..true characters!
Thanks so much C.C. for stopping by, these tasks are a lot of fun in creating character.