by Red WolfI'm leaning against the wall, the slab of sandstone, one of a handful in a sea of granite, cool beneath my legs.
Tracing the inscription with a finger, I smile to myself. When I was a kid, I used to think the sandstone slabs were gravestones and beneath the one I'm sitting on, a knight called Sir Humphrey was buried.
Before I learned who Humphrey Bogart was, the first Humphrey reference I had came via children's television. So in my mind, Sir Humphrey was always a bear.
I used to talk to him a lot back then. Asking him if it was cold under the sandstone, if all the other knight bears under the forecourt died in the same battle.
As I got older, it seemed a shame to lose the magic Sir Humphrey. I made a point of never finding out who he really was, so I could always think of him through my childish misconception.
He's been a good listener over the years, hearing my stories of lost toys, friendships and relationship breakups.
My fingers skip along the surface as I hear my name called. As I get up, I pat the stone fondly, bidding my old friend farewell. He's a funny old thing, is Sir Humphrey, my bear in shining armour.
15 Minute Ficlets — challenge #71: falter
Published Babble Horde — 11.09.2004
Published FictionPress — 19.09.2004
fiction | original fiction
If you like bears in armour. I like the weird things kids believe because they got the wrong end of the stick — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 27.09.2004 18:55 AEST | 
I like that. I like that a lot. It has atmosphere, and the definite sense of history and a larger world behind it.
Plus, Sir Humphrey the guardian bear! How can you not love something like that? — via LiveJournal — posted by Elizabeth Culmer at 27.09.2004 19:01 AEST |
Plus, Sir Humphrey the guardian bear! How can you not love something like that? — via LiveJournal — posted by Elizabeth Culmer at 27.09.2004 19:01 AEST |
I like the weird things you believed when you were a kid. Strange child logic, misheard explanations, adults who told you complete crap and you were too young to know they were having a lend. It's all interesting — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 27.09.2004 19:02 AEST |
Sad but sweet. Very good. :-) — via FictionPress
— posted by IrishVampire13 at 28.10.2004 20:11 AEST |
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