Marty liked keeping them guessing: wearing clothes fit for a man or woman; a body that was slender, but muscular; crossed legs demurely at ankles or (sometimes) at a manly 90 degree angle; gray hair cropped cleanly.

Marty’s voice was gravelly, the product of too many years smoking cigarillos. That could also be the reason for the creases scored deeply into Marty’s face. Years of wind, sun, and hard living added to the aged, but ageless, face looking back from the mirror across the bar.

Marty seldom left with another person. When someone had the balls to guess – or ask – on which side of the fence Marty rode the answer was short, sweet, to the point, and no-nonsense: “I’m an enigma. Got the nards to find out?”

That generally put an end to the conversation. Marty would raise a finger with nonchalance to the server and a beer would appear. All was right in the world Marty traveled.
——————————————————————————————————————————

Have you ever walked into a room – a bar, the train station, your pick – and wondered “is that a man or woman?” Did you then decide it was nonaya? (That is, none of your business.) Yeah, me, too. Here’s to the Martys in the world – godspeed and safe journey. I love your right to be an enigma.

Trifecta tossed down yet another challenge. The above is my answer. Where is yours?

10 responses

  1. Amanda says:

    I love that it’s a game for Marty!

  2. Trifecta says:

    Barbara,

    Can you please email us at trifectawritingchallenge@gmail.com? We’d like to include an interview with you in our upcoming magazine.

    Thanks,
    Lisa

  3. Annabelle says:

    Marty sounds like a person worth knowing! I love the sense of confidence that goes with the refusal to be defined; so few people achieve that.

  4. Tara R. says:

    Reminds me of a much cooler version of Pat on SNL.

  5. kgwaite says:

    Cool! I like his attitude.

  6. JannaT says:

    Nonaya – I like that. Yes, I have wondered, and you’re right, it’s none of my business 🙂

    Pretty good way to get rid of the pests, though. Good for Marty!

  7. Mel says:

    Barbara,

    Once again, you captured my attention from start to finish. So well done! BRAVO!

  8. Jester Queen says:

    I like the after commentary as much as the story itself. At first I thought it was going to be all SNL Pat (whose humor I understood, but the skit annoyed me) but this was much more respectful than that.

  9. Way to go, Marty! Impressive! LOVED the way you developed this character!

  10. Trifecta says:

    You’ve got a character you might want to develop here, Barbara. Another nice little story and I enjoyed your post-script too. Thanks for linking up.

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