The Beauty and Tenacity of the Despised by William Wren

Mr. Gushaty’s homicide was graphically arresting. When I saw him I thought how sad it was he had never appreciated Coccinellidae. It was a fatal character flaw.

He could not abide the presence of ladybugs. Each spring he waged a war of no quarter given, poison his chosen weapon.

I have always felt the despised ladybug was a spark of giddy orange evocative of the tenacious impulse for life. Like dandelions in a barren plot of land thrusting through with a teenager’s persistent tumescence, so the ladybug.

Mr. Gushaty disagreed and is dead. The ladybugs remain, vibrantly returning each spring.

© Copyright 2016 William Wren. All rights reserved.
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William Wren is a writer in New Brunswick, Canada. He has had two stories published previously by the Rose City Sisters: I’ve Never Been to Pasadena and Healing. He has one ebook collection of stories on Amazon, Disrupted Lives and Other Commotions. He has just completed another and hopes to make it available (as an ebook) very soon.

7 thoughts on “The Beauty and Tenacity of the Despised by William Wren”

  1. Don’t mess with ladybugs. I don’t like looking up words so this is marked down 2 notches. I couldn’t even find the word in Webster. Is that some kind of scientific name for the bug?

  2. I disagree with Bob. Looking up words while reading is how we gain knowledge. Sure, it could appear as flaunting one’s vocabulary prowess but I found the word’s meaning easily by googling it. Your writing displays a unique voice. Nice job!

  3. In a 100 word story, one sometimes needs a word to do a lot of heavy lifting. Whether or not I like looking up words while reading depends on whether or not the story is served by the words, and the voice of the story justifies the words. This time it works for me.

  4. Thanks everyone. I had to look up the word too. Never heard it before. But it seemed the sort of word the narrator would use. So it was more about giving the voice some character. I don’t even know how it’s pronounced. 🙂

  5. I love this unexpected comparison — “…thrusting through with a teenager’s persistent tumescence, so the ladybug.” Not two things I would normally put together, which of course is what makes it great.

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