This flash fiction piece is resurfacing in response to Michelle‘s fabulous guest post for Flashback Friday #53. Je ne sais quoi, is the question. Well, David Bowie, you got it! Join us in defining the undefinable attraction of something.
This Little Slice
I knew I’d been possessed by David Bowie when I put on the silk-ruffled blouse and Jareth riding boots hidden in my labyrinth of flea-market finds. It’d taken a quarantine for me to organize my closet, stocked like a bomb shelter since the 1980s.
Strangely, I channeled a spinning globe of halo hair singing, “Dance, Magic Dance,” while piles of crumpled clothes like gnarled goblins leaped from the floor and found nooks. A sudden knock on the door. I turned to face the fame of a lingeried leg lined up through the slash. Apparently, my rebel neighbor’s a grinning soul.
© khartless 2022, All Rights Reserved
The first time I saw David Bowie I was eight years old and spending the afternoon with a friend. The Labyrinth was playing on her television when I arrived. I don’t know if it was the tights, the British accent, the hair, but it was definitely my first crush. I don’t know what kind of spell he cast, but it worked on me at first sight. I ‘ve watched the movie many times since that first viewing. I know too many of the lines by heart. Let’s just say in the following scene, I never would have popped that bubble and left David Bowie’s fantasy ball.
Perhaps it’s je ne sais quoi that leads to fame, or is it fame that gives a person je ne sais quoi? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for another Flashback Friday on Songshine Sounds.
Yard Sale of Thoughts 
Oh, what a sweet post. Do you know, I remember having a crush on Anni-Fried from Abba. I found out last year that she was born the same year as my mum!
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Thank you. Bowie is 35 years older than me, but it didn’t feel that way back then. 😉 Anni-Fried, good taste friend.
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Oh, year, I forgot, you’re another redhead. It’s funny ‘cos Bowie was 35 years older than me, too 🤣
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Oh, wait. I shouldn’t do math…anymore. 😂
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I enjoyed this; it had tang 🙂
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Thank you. Brevity makes everything beautiful. 🙂
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🙂
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That’s so sweet, fangirling since the age of 8! I remember listening to Stan at my uncle’s stereo and becoming a fan of Eminem at 12 years old. It must be like that for you🙂 Great reflective flash!
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Now that you put it that way, it seems creepier than in my mind 😉 Eminem just is a word wizard. Even if you want to object and say, no this is wrong, you just can’t deny the talent in twisting the word vine. Have you seen my post—-Winter Passing. It’s a very small poem about this past winter but with Eminem’s newer song, Gnat. I would say, he’s continuing to be even more amazing as that song illustrates. Thanks so much for your kind comment.
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You’re welcome!
I am and will be forever a fan of Eminem, so how can I deny that he’s a word wizard! He’s the God of words😂 amazing that you’re his fan too!!
Sure I am gonna read it now..That song is so damn awesome and the video is trippy as hell!
you can read a recent poem I wrote with him as inspiration🤘
https://septemberhearttohearts.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/tendon-a-rhyming-nonsense/
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yes, I remember this, I remember the swirling imagery; my fave Bowie song is ‘Heroes’ 🙂
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Oh, just back from teaching my night class. I will have to put that one in my rotation. Thanks, John. 😃
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you teach a night class? creative writing? oh yes, you must hear ‘Heroes’ —
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I think Bowie cast a similar spell on many, many people. Me included. 😁
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Excellent tastes, Jeff. Yes, it’s the sort of brilliance that doesn’t come along all that often. Thanks for reading and commenting, friend. 💜
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Indeed. I completely agree. Most welcome, K. Always. 💜
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Yes I vaguely remember this. You must’ve not been on WP long back then.
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Wonderful tribute story to such a fantastic actor 🙂
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I think my crush on Bowie started after I saw The Hunger in the early ’80s, but I still had a hard crush on him when Labrinth came out, I guess I always will!❤
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💜yes. He definitely has that “ it” factor and so I say we embrace our good tastes. Thanks for sharing, Tiff. 😀
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