Flash Friday Fiction: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em …

crawford-gilbert-1928
Joan Crawford & John Gilbert; publicity photo for the film “Four Walls,” 1928. Public domain image in the U.S.

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em … – 148 words

I was jealous. Damn jealous. Wanting the gold to myself. Wanting to wrap myself in it, luxuriate in its weight, let those baubles trickle through my fingers.

But no. It was you. Always you. You got the dresses, the earrings, the fame. I was merely background, my sober demeanor matching my black and white formalwear.

Am I not pretty? Is my hair not as perfectly coiffed as yours, Brilliantine securing its rippling waves? My eyebrows have not your arch, I concede, but my lipgloss catches the light better than your matte finish.

I wanted to garb myself in flowing robes of glittering delight, to paint my face all the colors of the rainbow, to revel in the beauty of my own fine form.

The closest I got was embracing you.

Why else do you think I married you?

I didn’t want your body, darling.

I wanted your closet.


This week’s novel inspiration: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tragic tale of excess and social upheaval in 1920s America as portrayed by the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby’s obsession with the married Daisy Buchanan.

Story elements (base your story on any TWO of these elements; be sure to tell us which two you chose. Reminder: please do not use copyrighted characters).

* Conflict (choose one): man vs man; man vs society
Character (choose one): nouveau riche, jealous husband, shallow socialite
Theme(s) (choose one): obsession, prohibition, the limitations of wealth
Setting: 1920s New York


I chose character (jealous husband) and theme (obsession, and prohibition, of a sort), for this week’s tiny tale. Stories had to be between 100-150 words. What do you think of my silly offering?

Please style your way on over to Flash Friday Fiction to check out the other entries, and perhaps leave a comment or two for the very talented writers there!

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