I really wanted to win this ARC of  DIVERGENT over at Janet Reid’s blog, but I’m hopeless at the “use these five words in a one hundred word story” contests. Not to mention, I had to look up four of the five words to be sure I knew what they meant. So, in what can only be considered a brilliant move, I asked my husband to enter for me! He’s a songwriter! He can write short. And aren’t songs just stories? His are, anyway.

In what might be called my downfall, I mixed up the ending time for the contest and thought it finished at 9pm our time (midnight eastern), but alas, it closed at 9pm Eastern Shark Time and we missed the deadline. Still, after all his hard work, I thought the least I could do was post his story here! The five words he had to use are in bold.

By Victor Anthony

“Abnegation? AbneGAtion? What the hell kinda word is THAT?”

Junior Kilgore wasn’t known for erudite monologues. The regulars down at the Amity Tavern were used to hearing him trash the mayor, or maybe grunt a few sentences about somebody’s wife’s unbecoming candor at the bowling alley. Yep, ol’ JK was definitely a minimum-of-syllables kinda guy, so hearing him echo “abnegation” after the TV announcer took the boys by surprise. Dauntless, he said it again, as if repeating it might somehow magically reveal the definition. The bartender smiled to himself and pulled another lager from the tap. At least he knew.

And honey, even though we didn’t win Janet’s contest, you’re still a winner in my heart! Thanks for jumping right into the sharky waters.

For those of you who have not heard Victor’s songs, the one that stole my heart is called 26 Letters and the first line is, “I love words.”

Me too, darlin’, me too!