Negative Charge

"There's something of the old electromagnetism going on here," thought Alex as he straightened his tie in the mirror. "The electricity is palpable and the attraction is undeniable."

He stopped by the punch bowl for two cups of the potent concoction. There was no time like the present for his daredevil charm assault on the lovely Krista. He approached her deliberately, giving one eyebrow a rakish lift.

"M'lady, I have taken the liberty of procuring a cup of this festive nectar on your behalf."

"Excuse me?"

Patience. Perseverance would be rewarded. He would insert himself under that lovely skin.

"I have hailed the coachman of intoxication to your curbside, sweet maiden." Alex proffered the cup of punch.

"Oh, thanks but I'm sticking with beer tonight," Krista replied, waving a Bud Light long-neck in his face. She turned away to continue another conversation.

His ability to become subcutaneous beneath her silky smooth epidermal armor would be determined by the winner of the battle of his inchoate, instinctual id versus his unsteady, frightened super-ego. He believed the working class referred to this as "hanging in there."

"If I may be so bold as to request the honor of your accompaniance upon the dance floor of this most excellent ballroom?" he rejoined.

Krista was taken aback by his impertinence. She muttered something to her companion and moved quickly away, disappearing into the crowd.

Alex fingered his mustache and salved his wounded ego with the knowledge that electricity can also be generated by friction.

Seed words: subcutaneous, coachman, daredevil, electromagnetism, versus, insert, impertinence, inchoate, hanging, frightened

Head Voice

He had heard of the "head voice," or singing through the cavity that connects the mouth and nasal passages with the esophagus. He imagined that the pharynx was being over-selected in the evolutionary process of Western culture, since the predominant vocal style in popular music seemed to be the thin, nasally whine favored by indie-rock boys and diary-pop girls. Unimpressive in his estimation, but nonetheless commercially successful.

He had a recurring pang of awareness that his perspective on most things was not shared by the general populace. The notion had arisen out of his affinity for a risque form of chant music practiced by French Catholic prostitutes of the 18th century. "Now there was a head voice," he thought to himself as he crushed a solitary almond and blended it with jojoba oil into a paste he would later apply to his aching heels. Holistic remedies for orthapaedic ailments did not generally find favor in the mainstream either.

Since the prostitutes had been excommunicated from their beloved Church by the very church leaders who formed their principle clientele, they made unlikely but convenient teammates with the Protestants and other revolutionaries who sought to overthrow the Church and the French monarchy. He now embraced his mission to overthrow the mainstream in his own century. If he could carry it off with the aplomb displayed by the prostitutes and Protestants, perhaps he could emancipate the voices in his head. Perhaps.

Seed words: aplomb, teammate, pharynx, predominant, almond, risque, pang, arisen, unimpressive, chant