acupressure
Random word list:
work-wan
Jedburgh
acupressure
extollingly
seugh
Word chosen: acupressure
Definition: a type of massage in which finger pressure on the specific bodily sites described in acupuncture therapy is used to promote healing, alleviate fatigue, etc.
Free association word list:
acupuncture
puncture
stab
wound
bleed
blood
gore
guts
horror movie
Exorcist
exorcism
young priest
old priest
old
elderly
retirement
work
paycheck
money
green
little men
aliens
Alien
space travel
cryogenics
freezing
cold
Montana
winter
snow
Word chosen: old priest
Writing:
Name: Father Joseph “Old Joe” Venegoni
Keywords: Old. Wrinkled. Wise. Smile. Missing teeth. Balding. Broken nose.
First draft:
Father Vengoni walks with a limp when the days are cold. He is hunched over from years of carrying the weight of worry about his past. Despite is age and infirmity, he still manages a smile to his parishioners when he meets them on the street. Hard days of fighting as a youth has mangled his nose, and caused the loss of several teeth. Even though he has a hard look about him, everyone knows that he is a kind and gentle man.
Refinement:
Father Joseph Venegoni slowly shuffles his feet back and forth as he sweeps the steps to his small church. A first glance, his stooped posture may be because of the short handle on the crude broom, but the balding priest stops for a moment to stretch his aging back to reveal a harsh curve to his spine. Before the wrinkled face of the Catholic priest can turn back to his work, a small girl walks by and waves at the old man.
Old Joe cracks a gap-toothed smile at the little girl and waves back in a slow gesture. Even though the missing teeth, crooked nose, and hunched back gives the priest a somewhat horrific appearance, the little girl does not shy away. She knows the priest, and the love that he has for the people of the neighborhood. The misshapen visage of Father Venegoni is barely noticed by his parishioners because they know that despite his harsh past as a ruffian on in the streets of New York, he has left all that behind him.
As the little girl walks past, the old man’s smile fades into the wrinkles of his face. He thinks about the little girl who he left without a father so many decades ago. He knows that he’s paid his penance to God, society, and the little girl, but he hopes that the little girl, and God, can find it in their hearts to forgive him for the violent actions of his past.
The old priest lets his worries fade away as he focuses on the steady wish-wash-wish sound of the broom on the brick steps of his church. Doing menial work around the church is his form of meditation and escape from his bloody nightmares that attempt to emulate the memories of his youth.
