Freewrite Friday!: Handsome Clover

So not in the mood to do this tonight. Frantically working on an overdue story, still editing a blog post I've been working on all week, and have barely started packing for tomorrow's 8 AM flight. But the show must go on. This is gonna be done quickly and probably a whole hot mess. But here goes nothing.

Handsome Clover

“I made it to the end of the rainbow. This gold is mine, fair and square.”

The leprechaun frowned. “But you’re not supposed to be able to see where the rainbow goes. The ends should fade away into a fine, invisible mist.”

“Yeah, well, I do and they don’t. So let go of the pot and let’s both get on with our lives.”

“No!” For someone only two feet tall, the leprechaun was surprisingly strong. He gave the sturdy iron pot a tug, but I wasn’t letting go. This gold was gonna pay for my nose job. And then Bradley Strandler would have to notice me. I’d heard it a million times – “You could be so pretty if it wasn’t for that nose” – and I was ready to take matters into my own hands. Just as soon as I got this pot out of the leprechaun’s hands.

 

“You must let go! Please! I have to be back to Gleann Glas in,” he checked the tiny watch on his wrist, “eighteen minutes and forty-two seconds,  or something terrible will happen!”

I fake yawned. “Then I guess you’d better start walkin’ ‘cause I’ve got all day.” I made a show of rolling my neck in a slow circle and inspecting my fingernails.

“Miss. You do not understand the trouble you are causing. The very balance of the universe could be upset if I don’t return to Gleann Glas with this gold in,” he checked his watch again, “eighteen minutes and nineteen seconds!”

The very balance of the universe? That sounded serious. I figured he was probably lying just to get rid of me. But on the other hand…what if he was telling the truth? As farfetched as his claim was, I hadn’t walked out my door this morning expecting to meet a leprechaun. “Fine.” I sighed.

His face lit up.

“But on one condition. I’m going with you. And I’m going to speak to your leprechaun supervisor and let him know you broke rule number one. Whoever gets to the end of the raindow, gets the pot of gold.”

He smirked. “That’s the rule, huh? And where did you learn that?”

I shrugged. I didn’t remember exactly. But it was common knowledge. “Everyone knows that.”

He slowly shook his head. “Girl, you don’t know the half of what you think you do.”

After realizing that I was serious about coming along, the leprechaun finally gave up on convincing me to stay, and led the way to his home, Gleann Glas. With me on one side of the pot and him clutching the other, we ran a quick half mile through the woods. I had to bend to one side and do an awkward lurk/jog because of the height differential, but we made it work.

Finally, we reached a giant oak tree with a door squarely set into it’s center. The leprechaun panted to catch his breath and looked warily from the door to me.

I put my free hand on my hip. “So are you gonna open that, or what?”

His eyes widened. “You can see the door?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“But you have no Irish heritage.”

I knew I didn’t look the part. When most people think ‘Irish’ they don’t imagine my mahogany skin and zig-zagging cornrows. “Maybe you don’t know the half of what you think you do either.” I stepped forward. “Now, if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to speak to your supervisor about whats up with my gold.

*Final note: This Freewrite Friday was a little less derivative than the others. In case you're wondering where the 'Handsome Clover' was, I started out imagining the MC meeting a really tall, good looking leprechaun king, but I was trying to figure out how she got to that point. So I started at the end of the rainbow, and before I knew it, I was at 500 words and it was time to get back to the rest of my To-Do list.