Blithesome

[ BLITH-səm ]

Adjective

1. (of a person) Having a cheerful disposition.
2. Filled with, marked by, or causing pleasure.

Let’s Create!

** Either a story beginning, a story ending, a piece of flash fiction, a poem, painting, dance move—inspired by the word, blithesome, where does it take me? Where does it take you?

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I couldn’t have predicted how much the sounds of those four instruments would have affected me. It’s startling how much my mood could change, even my world-view could change, from such a simple thing as music. The funny thing is that I was there because it was the first club I’d seen; the first place where I could drown my sorrows. 

 My drink lay untouched on the bar as I clapped with the crowd for the men on the stage who were taking their last bow. 

 “Thank yall for comin’ out to support us tonight,” the man with the trumpet spoke. 

 The sea of people, beneath a cloud of cigarette smoke, cheered the band off the stage and began moving towards the bar. It was last call. 

I left my drink where it was…

… the same place as when the bartender gave it to me, and left the club, entering the cool night air. I felt like a new man. Invigorated; blithesome. 

 My steps led me with purpose through the streets, back to my apartment. I climbed up the stairs, my arms pulling me upwards by the railing, up to new heights of elevation and of excitement. My hand turned the key, turned the doorknob, and pushed open the door. Moving over the threshold felt like moving out of the void that was my previous life, and into clarity. 

 I didn’t need to light candles, moonlight flooded through the windows. I sat at my desk, where an empty page rested, waiting to be filled as it had waited for years. The thought of not having something to write was laughable now, and I wrote the first words I had ever written with any confidence…

 “———

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Notes/Thoughts/Ideas

 I would’ve loved to end this with the first line of a great book written in the 1940s, but the time it was taking me to research one, made it have to wait. Know of a good one? Throw it in the comments! Why the 1940s? Well, the idea I had here is connecting to another story from The Word. 

 The word was “insufflate,” and the story described a man on stage, a trumpet player, with his band. I imagined Coltrane in a jazz club on some significant night for him and the band. Now, this story takes the point of view of someone in that audience. 

 The goal with “insufflate” was to describe Coltrane and his band putting their very souls into the music. This story is showing someone truly feeling it and becoming entranced and emboldened by it. 

 My thoughts after insufflate described a potential TV show idea, and I think this here can tie things in as well. Each episode focusing on a different creative or influential person. Then, the next episode follows someone else, but we see how their paths intersected at some point and how those events influenced them. 

 It would be like following a chain through history from one amazing person to the next, all connected somehow even if they never knew it. Parts would need to be fictitious to ensure those intersections on each episode, but the idea is still pretty fun. 

What do you think of Blithesome?

 Can you imagine the TV show I’m describing? Sound cool? 

Leave your thoughts, your own story beginning/ending, flash-fiction, or whatever in the comments! Where did blithesome or my story take you?

If you liked this story, check out my podcast of short stories, More Than A Story.

Today’s word is from Word-Genius.