Monday Mixer - Time to Fly

Well this week's Monday Mixer has been a real challenge. To begin with I wondered if I could even make up any story using the bizarre list of words Jeff had chosen.

In the end I managed to use all NINE - yes you can count them - each prompt word is in blue.

With hands that moved proficiently Rosa counted tonight’s takings. Drachmas stacked neatly in commensurate towers before her, every eleventh coin was surreptitiously slipped into her pocket.

Suddenly she could hear raucous jeering from the amphitheatre. This new girl may be alluring to the eye but her discordant singing was turning the usually satisfied crowd into a mob baying for their money back.

Rosa scooped a few more coins from the table and slid them inside her boot. She was phlegmatic about her circumstances, things changed quickly and she had learned to be prepared for any eventuality.

Before the fire she was the star act in the cabaret. Now her visage was contorted in such a way that Shrike* couldn’t even bear to look at her. Instead he hid her behind a thick curtain in her own private oubliette.

Tonight she would cut the lanyard that held her captive and fly.

*So I slightly cheated with the word Shrike which I made into a name of a person but in my defence I did look up the word and it is a bird which is predatory in nature with a habit of catching insects and impaling their bodies on thorns.

The #MondayMixer - one of the most educational writing prompts in the world! LOL