Toe in the Water

Suitcases

Suitcases

A while back, an anonymous benefactor gave me the right to have one of those little pictures on my suitcase. I chose the silhouette of a typewriter and, for three months, my suitcase sported an extra snippet of information about me. These days, of course, it should have been a computer keyboard but it wasn’t on offer. And anyway, I typed my first half-novel on my mother’s tanklike Imperial so it was pretty emblematic of my development as a writer.

At the end of my three months of glory, the typewriter disappeared and my suitcase went back to the pristine bright yellow that I had earned in the meantime. In comparison to my illustrated suitcase, this now leapt out as a fierce, yellow headlight next to my name but I was never going to pay real GPs to renew the pic. I became used to the brazen symbol of my status.

And then along came the Quill awards. Now, I haven’t made a fuss about these, although, to be honest, I did win a couple and garnered an Honourable Mention too. But, since the subject has arisen, let me list here those products of my labours that now boast the coveted Quill (or HM).

Quill for Best Spiritual/Religious - "If (with apologies to Rudyard Kipling)" 
Quill for Best Nature - "A Tiny Black Beetle" 
HM in Best New Portfolio

It was while I was reading the lists of Quill results that I realised how useful was my proud yellow suitcase. Those few of us yellows who had no picture stood out like bold little suns in the lists. I didn’t need to look through all the names - it was sufficient to pick out the yellow perils and then see which of them were mine. It saved a lot of time, being able to pick myself out so easily.

So the true value of the suitcase colours and designs is now revealed. Yes, they are status symbols but, more importantly, they’re a quick identification marker in the sea of WdC hopefuls.

Finally, here’s a vaguely related gem I found amongst my self quotes:

Caught like a deer in the head lice.

Word Count: 354