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.
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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