Tag: scorpio

#14 Cutey Scorpio

Cutey Scorpio

It was after the ninth frog she stung to death on her way across the river  that she realized she’d hit rock bottom. Jeremiah was, after all, a good friend of hers. So she started attending the meetings – Stingers Anonymous. She had to face all the rationalizations she used for stinging:

“Freud says that stinging is a natural reaction to the narcissistic cathexis…”

“Lemuel the Assassin God gave us Stingers for a reason, right?”

“It’s other animals — it’s their fault their blood is so weak. IT IS SICKENING THE WEAKNESS”

Finally, with the help of her rattlesnake sponsor, Cutey makes it through 30 Days of Stinglessness and gets her chip. She merrily sings as she walks through the forest, cluctching her precious and well-earned chip.

Then she gets to the river again. How will she get across? Immolette says “You’re a cute little scorpion.  You can ride on my back, but DON’T YOU STING ME.” Cutey Scorpio proudly brandishes her 30-Day Chip. “Of course not! I’m sober!” But in heart she knows that once you sting, you can always sting again if you’re not vigilant. They begin their journey. Cutey feels the heat of Immolette’s skin, reminding her of her old/ancestral desert home, and the stars, and the ticklish feel of the hairs on her mother’s claw, and all the things that make a scorpion a scorpion. Her tail tenses, stinger at the ready. She stares at the chip for a long, long time.

(note: recently my wife said, “You have to make a cute scorpion.” I wasn’t planning to do it as part of 30 Characters, but then I realized that the scorpion was trying to stay sober.)