A Case of Identity.... the game being afoot and all....

C is for Character.....and also for Caricature

Character --- an account of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing.

Caricature --- the ludicrously exaggerated qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing.

Or, more simply, character is the 'grocery list' version of someone. While, caricature is the mutated 'grocery list from Mars' version of someone.

One makes for a memorable figure, the other does not....

A Study in Sherlock

The intrepid consulting detective. Eager for a mystery to solve. Intelligent. Calculating. Precise. When taken at the surface, not very different from the mild-mannered, ex-army doctor, Watson. But, had the stories, which were chronicled by faithful, loyal Dr. Watson, focused on two such mild-mannered individuals, I fear we never would have met Sherlock Holmes.

It is Sherlock's 'Martian grocery list' that cements him indelibly in our minds. His rat-like tenacity. His refusal to eat while working-- to prevent energies from being wasted on non-essential tasks such as digestion. His boredom-reducing cocaine addiction. And, of course, his ability to tell from a single speck of clay on the outside of your left shoe, where you've been for the past week as well as what you've eaten the last 3 breakfasts.

Of course, one can not forget Holmes' talent for stepping into the disguise of another. He was a master of self-caricature art!

It's obvious which specimen would firmly plant itself in the memory and consciousness of any reader. But, as the great detective said himself, "There is nothing so elusive as an obvious fact."

So, which shall it be......

"Excellent!" I cried.

"Elementary," he said.

A to Z reflections....

Another A to Z challenge comes to an end--- another collection of posts and poetry have been written, another deep breath of relief is released. For my fellow bloggers that survived as well, it's another 'challenge-completed' notch carved into the writing desk. I've come to enjoy my yearly foray into the world of all things alphabetical. This was my third year, though it was only the second year I had a workable theme (which made the challenge substantially easier than the first year I attempted this challenge.) And, though my first year was difficult because my focus was so scattered, I found this year was more difficult because I lost the enthusiasm that came with the first year excitement----excitement which helped me plug along until the end of the challenge. Year 3 was a success in the sense that I completed the challenge, though, this was the year that almost wasn't---- Somewhere about a third of the way through the challenge, I seriously considered

A million lives, beneath a single sky.....

Though our feet leave different prints,our tongues sound different words, there's a mirrored rhythm in the beating of our hearts. Though born in different worlds, our eyes sharpened 'neath different moons, there's an unspoken truth in the warmth of our touch. We may walk in different strides and dream different dreams, we may speak in different voices, maybe swim in different streams. It's plain to see, when dark night falls, as all the stars shine through, that underneath it all, there's no difference 'tween me and you.

Bitter Honey

Weaving dreams of beguiling gold, a future's price for happiness. What secrets do you, determined, hold? asks the summer wind's soft caress. A guarded name, a hidden hope. Spinning wheels clutching time, grasping straw that falls away, What dreams may come, we soon may find, won't recall at end of day. A cherished life, a memory lost.

From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

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