Henry Cyril-Paget
Now here’s a photograph that stands on its own without knowing a whit about it. But even better is that it does have an extremely fascinating narrative tied to it.
Henry Cyril Paget was the 5th Marquess of Anglesey (16 June 1875 – 14 March 1905), called “Lord” Paget until 1880 and then Earl of Uxbridge between 1880 and 1898. His nickname was "Toppy", which shouldn’t surprise anyone who is familiar with the cutesy nicknames the British elite are wont to give each other. He is known quite famously as the inheritor of an enormous fortune and his ability to squander it completely in his short life (29 years). Regarded as the "black sheep" of the family (no surprise there), he was dubbed ‘the dancing marquess’ and for his Butterfly Dancing, taken from Loie Fuller in which a voluminous robe of transparent white silk would be waved like wings.”
The man knew no boundaries and probably should be considered some kind of patron saint by today’s drag queen society. When they say he inherited a fortune, they are being polite. In 1898, he received the title of 5th Marquis that brought with it a yearly income of over £110,000 (about £8 million, or $6 million in today’s equivalent). In six fun filled years he had blown it all and the estate and all his belongings had to be auctioned off to satisfy his debts. He had spent thousands of pounds on clothing, furs, cars, jewels, boats, dogs, horses, toys, theatricals, medicines and fragrances. He even modified one of his cars so that the exhaust would spray perfume. One could run through a lot of Chanel N°5 that way!
There’s much more to this unusual man, enough to recognize that the guy just can’t be dismissed as a flaming pufta, which he wasn’t by the way. Look him up!
The 2-Sentence Novel
© 2021 David Ryan
Future High Tech Trivia
After the invention of a practical anti-gravity device, the world waited breathlessly for its first commercial application.
Solar powered street lamps were the unexpected but welcome winner.
Last Communion
© 2021 David Ryan
Cont’d (Seventh installment)
I also realized that the window had appeared after I wondered aloud about where I was. And my ex-roomies, the demons, had disappeared sometime after my expressing the problem of decay and rot. Something or somebody was listening to me and fulfilling my every desire. Perhaps I should make more of those desires known.
“Do you hear me?” I asked, feeling just a little bit silly.
“Yes, I hear you.”
It was a voice like no other I had ever heard. It wasn’t quite masculine or feminine, but neither was it one of those fabricated computer voices we get when asking about our bank balance on the phone. It was more organic than that, and it seemed to come from everywhere. So I wasn’t alone, even if it was a computer. And I felt much better for it, despite the severe willies reverberating throughout my body.
“Where are you?”
“I am here, where you are.”
I had to think about that. “Oh,” I said. “Are you a computer? Are you alive? May I have another glass of water?”
“I am certainly not a computer. I am definitely alive and, yes, you may have another glass of water.” Another glass popped up where the last one had been, having disappeared while I wasn’t paying attention.
“My name is Daniel, Daniel Hunter. What’s yours?”
“Daniel, I have known you and your name for quite some time. I do not have a name. I am what I am.”
Either this was a fan of Popeye, or whatever was speaking had a definite bent toward the metaphysical.
“Am I in a vehicle of some kind? I mean, I know I must be, and you’ve shown me where I am, but what am I doing here? How do I get home? Is it just you and me? I mean, are those other guys gone for good? Did I kill them? Do you have anything besides water? Is this the only room? Where are the controls? What am I going to do?”
“Yes, you are in a vehicle. To be precise, you are in me. You are here because those whom you slew brought you here for their own reasons. I will send you home when you so request; how will require some time to explain to your satisfaction. Yes, it is just you and I, those ‘other guys’ are gone. Yes, I can serve you anything you want if I know its molecular structure. No, this is not the only room. There are no visible controls — your voice is the only control which may or may not effect your desired outcome. What you are going to do is beyond my knowledge. I would venture, however, that you will soon ask where the bathroom is.”
My frame of mind was turning conversational. The urgency and fear that I had been feeling were diminishing. Of course, the news that my new acquaintance could send me back home had quite a bit to do with it. Every one of his (I had no doubt he was masculine) answers left me with more to think about. It was good to know that I was the only body on board, even though I had killed everyone else to earn that distinction. Just how I had killed them was going to have to be explored too. Yes, now that I believed I could go home, I rather felt like staying a bit to learn what I could; the possibilities were beginning to intrigue me. First, though, I needed to know where the bathroom was, so I asked for directions.
“There is no bathroom, Daniel. You may urinate wherever you want. It will be disposed of immediately.”
Now, back in my drinking days, I often did just that. In the present circumstances, it seemed like fouling my own nest. But it was true urgency I was feeling, so I hopped off the platform, went to a rounded corner and began to pee. “I feel rather embarrassed about this. I feel like I’m pissing on you,” I said.
“I do not understand your embarrassment, Daniel, though I do recognize it as part of your nature. You are ‘pissing’ on me, but there is no alternative at this moment other than holding it long enough for me to send you home to your own bathroom. Be assured that I do not mind.”
Listening to these words and the splashing, I watched my urine soak into the floor and walls as soon as it hit, not even making a puddle or leaving a stain. That made me feel a little better. I was glad that it was only my bladder that needed relieving, however.
When I was finished, I adjusted my jockey shorts and saw that there wasn’t even a wet spot on the floor. (Yes, I was almost naked; they had kidnapped me from my bed, after all.) “Thank you, I feel much better.”
(More to come. . . but why wait? Buy the book HERE)