Beyond - Legends -Red Ribbon, Blue Eyes, Brown Belt:- written for the Essential OC Challenge

Red Ribbon, Blue Eyes, Brown Belt: written for this Essential OC Challenge: We all have to (physically) grow up sometime, and every adult OC was once a child OC. Show us a memorable event from an adult OC's childhood. What made it memorable, either for that same character or for someone else? Was it happy, sad or something else entirely? Did it shape their adult life in any way?


The red ribbon signifies a mother?s love, or feminity.

The blue eyes signify innocence.

The brown belt signifies ill intent, or misfortune.


?


The man gazed up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. But that was to be expected.

He looked back down and let the toe of his worn boot drag through the sand. It was no good. There were karuna slugs everywhere he looked.

Extracting karuna bugs from around delicate kasha plants was a job too delicate for droids or machinery; it had to be done by hand, and it had to be done quickly. By nightfall they would begin mating and laying their destructive eggs and then it would all be over.

He mopped the sweat from his forehead with a soiled rag, gray with filth, and headed for the sand-crusted dome better known as home.

?Younglings!? He called as he stepped through the main entrance. ?It?s time for pest control!?

It couldn?t have been fifteen seconds before four of his children were standing in a row before him.

The man crossed his arms. ?Where?s your brother??

His oldest daughter, twelve-years old, stepped forward. ?He?s in his room with the door closed, sir,? she said, chin raised bravely.

Her brother stepped beside her, hands in pockets. ?He had his earphones on, sir. He probably just didn?t hear you.?

A smaller boy stepped forward. ?Or maybe he?s putting his boots on. My boots always take forever to put on.? He looked down at his boots sourly.

The very youngest at the end of the line joined her siblings and pulled her thumb out of her mouth long enough to say: ?You?re not gonna hurt Buford, are you Da??

The man stared at his children for a few moments before addressing his oldest daughter. ?Get to work; help the little ones get started. I?ll be out in a few minutes.?

There was fear in her eyes, but she said nothing. As she led her siblings outside the red ribbon in her hair came untied and blew away on a light desert breeze.

The man headed for his eldest child?s room. Buford. The boy knew what was expected of him. The problem was he didn?t care.

He would be made to care.

The boy was thirteen years old, plenty old enough to be helping out on the farm and earning his keep.

Music. The boy wanted to be a musician. He spent every minute he could listening to depressing tunes, and playing that strange instrument with the strings.

He had to learn that in life you had to work if you wanted to eat.

The man went to his bedroom. He took out his thickest, heaviest belt.

Jaw set, he came to his eldest son?s bedroom and roughly keyed the door open. His son looked up from playing his instrument. His eyes caught sight of the brown belt in his father?s hand. His blue eyes widened fearfully. ?Da???

The man took a purposeful step forward, then paused. Something. This reminded him of something.

His expression became distant, his gaze glassy. His thoughts were slipping to memory.


???


The teen hesitated. Did he really want to become an ordinary worker on an ordinary farm on a worse-than ordinary planet? No, he didn?t. Unfortunately he didn?t have much of a choice. He didn?t want to spend the rest of his life bumming off of others. He had stopped being cute long ago, and it was getting too hard anyway.

He glanced up at the sky. So much for following his dreams.

The teen double-checked to make sure he had the right address, then tucked the news flimsi article in his ratty brown belt and rapped on the front door of a Tatooine dome.

A girl answered. Clearly a toughened farm girl, she didn?t smile. ?Yes??

 

Everything about this is beautiful. And though it sits in a galaxy far, far away, it's so poignant. Awesome.

 

Thanks again, Master.

 

Gentle Bump to the top.

Read this. It's good.

 

That was wonderful! So glad it was brought up again so I could enjoy it.

 

Thank you very much!!!

 

Great job with this. I liked the layers-upon-layers of memories and how they were tied together with the red ribbon, blue eyes and brown belt. I also thought it was neat how the series of memories showed the protagonist growing up and how his life developed, though in "reverse."

Excellent story!

-Thumper

 

Good job on this. I liked the whole going backwards style of it.

 

Wow Mere_K, it's so great to see how your style has developed over the past couple of years. Very intense story.

Da finally tore his eyes away from the movie, a smile tugging at his lips. ?Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.?

 

I really liked the narrative structure of this piece. It's quite lovely. Also, I have a soft spot for musicians. Great job!

 

I know this is late in arriving but I came back to the OC thread after a long hiatus and found you had won the last challenge. This story truly was wonderfully written. I loved the conclusion, the fact that the father remembered what it was like to be young and have dreams. Would that we all remember those times! Bravo!