Drabbles: Green Apple I, II, and III

[honorat]

by Honorat Selonnet

Entries for the Black Pearl Sails Drabble Challenge: Green

Yeah! Barbossa and his apples.



Green Apple I

She sits before him, living, breathing, feeling. The sight of her first bite wrings an involuntary gasp from him. She does not know what a wondrous thing it is that she does. To feel hunger and be able to sate it. To desire food and be able to taste it.

He has planned this meal so carefully, meaning to draw out this vicarious pleasure like the slow summer days of childhood. It is so very little, but even the hint of satisfaction drives him mad. He cannot wait. He must see those soft, full lips, those perfect teeth envelope the smooth green flesh. He must hear the music of the fruit crushing.

“And the apples,” he entreats. “One of those next.”

Green Apple II

For too long he has kept this bowl on this table. For too long he has shaped his hands around the elegant curves, contemplating the beauty, the mystery of such simplicity, devouring only with his sight. He remembers the silky feel of glowing green skin, the tang and sweet and crisp and juice on his tongue, or he thinks he does. But sensation has been gone so long he is no longer sure.

To see and never to taste is hell indeed.

But to see and hear the slice of teeth through the firm green flesh, to see pleasure in the face of his enemy is utter damnation.

“It’s a funny ol’ world, innit?”

Green Apple III

As his enemy falls, Jack’s sword arm reaches out ever so slightly—as if the death of Barbossa is the death of something in himself. The edge of his blade drips with his own blood and with Barbossa’s, intermingled in one shade of crimson. The droplets stain the gold under his feet. The smoke of his pistol drifts up in the moonlight like incense. Dark, somber eyes hold faded blue-grey ones, emptying of all the torment and the glory that was Hector Barbossa.

From Barbossa’s limp hand, the green apple, never to be tasted now, rolls down a slight incline of gold. Ten years Jack has cherished implacable hatred. Ten years he has plotted this vengeance. Ten years Barbossa has waited to feel, only to feel the chill of his own death.

Comments

[hendercats.livejournal.com]

These are all great! Can't pick a favorite, though my favorite snippets are in the first one:
She does not know what a wondrous thing it is that she does.
and most especially:
He must hear the music of the fruit crushing.
Have always liked the scene Green Apple II focuses on (and that extra little dig Jack gets in by handing Barbossa the apple when they go out on deck).

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for dropping by. It's nice to have someone stirring around back here. Barbossa and his apples intrigue me. That first scene with Elizabeth, she's such a contrast with him--they're almost archtypal: youth vs. age, beauty vs. horror, life vs. death, innocence vs wickedness, ignorance vs knowledge. All symbolized in that apple which she can taste and he can no longer. And Barbossa's face when she takes that bite--desire personified. He's all of the seven deadly sins rolled into one in that scene.

The scene where Jack makes himself at home in the captain's cabin and helps himself to the apples is great. Again, Barbossa is so mesmerized by watching anyone eat and you can tell he hates it that Jack can. Jack does know how to zero in on a weakness and twist the knife.