Sepia Saturday 238: Rough Draught

I sighed when I saw the prompt for this week. "Oh gee - this is tough," I thought. Finally, I cleared the phlegm from my throat and gnawing on my pencil resigned myself to the assignment but waited until nightfall when the silent "G" screaming out for attention was easier to take in the softer light. "Right!" I said to myself as my mind took flight. With all my might summoned, I leaned into the computer to weigh the alternatives but something outside caught my eye. Was that a gnu walking by with the neighbor's daughter? Thankfully not!! Everything and anything distracts me these days - a gnat flying by, a whiff of cologne or a burst of laughter can ruin my concentration.  Gnashing my teeth, I got back to the campaign at hand. You could go anywhere with this sign business - anywhere from say ads for champagne or varieties of designs from the simply benign to the exotically foreign.  

Finally I said to myself, "Enough!! This is rough but we can get through it." Once more pawing through the photo box, I found this postcard I sent to my sister from Wexford, Ireland in the seventies. Grim as it is, I thought it worked for our prompt because the signage covers all three of the owner's undertakings (whoops - pardon the grisly pun) - the bar, the funeral business and grocery store. 

Undertaker's and Bar in Wexford Town.

On the reverse I wrote: 

"Hi Eilleen. This is quite a corner - eat, drink and drop dead all within steps of each other. How convenient! Lots and lots of Killeens here. See you soon, Helen"

Funny, when you start to talk about the dismal and ghoulish, the silent G is naught not be found. Gravely I contemplated a partial glossary: garrote, gallows, grimy, grotty, grotesque, gritty, ghostly AND grisly - just for a start. 

Just as I thought I was finished, I noticed the SIGNS sign could be read as SGNS, the "I" being somewhat obscured by the fire escape. That could lead down another road altogether, a road I'd find most enjoyable but don't have time for today as I'm busy writing a job description for a new Chief Cat here at the grove.  The most famous "missing letter" sign I know is from the play of the same name: 

What a relief it is to have that silent G behind me! As an antidote I offer while giggling, a gaggle of grinning geese going somewhere gaily, somewhere over the grassy green. 

More short stories about signs can be found over at Sepia Saturday.