AT DAWN (any gender, mid teens to late twenties)
Can you please just give me some instruction? How to best hold the sword, how to dodge the blows, maybe even some old tricks to winning? Teach me!
Master, the corporal has discovered who I am. She demands that I meet her in the field at dawn. She wants to duel. Either that or...
[pause]
I don't need your silence. I don't need contemplation. I need practice and I need it now.
I know you were one of the great fighters, all the students know it, that's why we came to you.
But it has been five years of philosophy and mediation and we have yet to practice a physical battle. You say it will all come forth when the time comes... well the time has come and I tell you I don't know what to do!
I wonder if you do anymore. Have you been gathering a greater kind of strength in this temple or have you just been hiding?
The corporal will give me a choice... duel or join. I'm of no service to anyone if I die this morning. My choice will come at dawn. Your choice comes now.
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes.
If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"