Steel Yourself

'The pen is mightier than the sword', in this case at least. A story fragment. Enjoy.

Extracting the well-worn 1844 Waterman steel pen from the inside his inside suit pocket, he recalled the first transaction performed with this particular writing instrument.

He was not even a he then he was Mrs. Abigail Hagstrum. A poor widow signing away her only treasure, the house she and John has purchased. She did not have a choice since John had died and she could not find work. She had needed the funds to survive. It was just another blow , in a series of blows, to her life. Her parents had died when she was a child leaving her in the care of others who were not very nice. At the age of fifteen she had been allowed to marry John. He was 22 and had secured employment in a new city, far away. He had taken her away, away from her past and her pain, to new surroundings. He had worked hard and saved for years to buy this house. Kids would have been next for them had she not been barren. He had died while out of town on business.

She was to sign over the house and all its contents to the richest man in Bringham, He owned most of the transient housing in town as well as some businesses, a real scoundrel.
“I will sign this agreement first on the top line. Then you will sign on the line below. Then the transaction will be complete and you will have the money.” , Bringham, said, as if explaining it to a child.
“I do, of course, understand. I did attend school. It is just difficult for me.”
“Yes, yes. Do you have a pen?” he asked coldly, patting his overcoat to illustrate his point.
For all of his wealth he did not have a pen? More like he did not see the value in using his ink stores. She opened her pocketbook and withdrew the pen John had given her before he left on that dreadful business trip. She remembered vividly what transpired next. As she handed him the pen she though to herself “if only I had what you have “ In the instant that both of their hands holding the pen she noticed a quick jolt and a flash of light. It tingled and she was disoriented.

She was looking at herself as if in a mirror but this was no mirror. Abigale was becoming very distraught, unable to grasp what had just happened. She looked at the body that was just her then looked at the body she was now. She was now he. He was now she. The body of Abigail started to scream. Others came in to find out what was wrong. Neither seemed to be able to talk coherently. The contract was never signed. They called the police and they took Abigail’s body away. She never saw that body again. She was now Mr. James Bringham, land baron. He refused to talk to anyone until he was used to this body. It was a very odd sensation. Bringham was single, male and rich. His body could go anywhere and do anything.

She had stolen several bodies since then, some male, some female. This time it would be female. This current body was wearing out. This body had given all of the accumulated wealth of more than a century to this lovely young woman, Anna, currently sitting across the table from him. She was most likely a gold-digger but that was fine, preferred actually. He signed a document and handed her the Waterman and the transfer was complete in a flash. Anna signed the document fast and then the notary signed before the young woman in the old man’s body realized what had happened.

“Please take great care of him as I will miss him dearly.” Anna’s body said. The plan was flawless. The signing was in a mental institution. The old man had explained that, though he was lucid now, his faculties could go at any moment. This had happened to all of the men in his family at his age. The entire transaction was spelled out in the document. Everything was given to Anna, bills for the old mans care had already been settled. The staff had been well prepared for the outburst that came next. Anna forced a tear to well up and roll down her cheek and got up from the table and left with a single thought.

“Now to start again.”

Author's Note

This started with me listening to a news broadcast about old pens.

Reviews

[Clayton Bardwell]

Afternoon Jeff,

This is an interesting piece. However I was confused from the start about who's who in the zoo, and became more confused as it went on. I love the hook about the well-worn 1844 Waterman steel pen.

[Jeff Boothe]

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. If by zoo you mean asylum, then yes, it is a bit conufusing with the switching of bodies an such. I struggled with using her real name (Abigail) or the name of the current host. Clearly it needs work.

It just a fragment of a story though, she acidentally switches bodies with a young boy and has to figure out how to get back, lessons learned along the way, of course.

[KAOlmsted]

I don't know what fascinates me more; that you wrote this from a news broadcast about old pens or that there was absolutely no other news to report other than a piece on old pens ;-)

I read your profile so I won't bore you with pointing out all of the errors in this work, apparently editing is not a priority *laugh* I liked the premise, though, even if it is not quite my genre...the story was clever enough. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I look forward to reading more of your work.

-kimmer

[Jeff Boothe]

Thanks for the review. I appreciate ANY pointing anyone can do. I need it and I know it. I will have to adjust my profile to reflect this.

Have noticed that there is a ton of poets here and I don't read or write poetry. Maybe thats a reason for the sparce hits on my stuff.

[KAOlmsted]

It's true...people generally read and review poetry over stories...that's why I post so much poetry ;-) I figure if I get a nibble with the poems, I might get a bite on the book :-D