My favorite line from any of my stories. So much so that I don't even remember which of my earlier stories this was from. After a woman kicks a paying lodger out of her house in favor of two transients who just sought shelter for the night, she turns to the two travelers with a fierce determined look in her eyes. And they expect to be kicked out as well. But instead she just takes a deep breath and explains.
"I don't know you any better than I know him. But I know you enough to know that I can trust you. NO ONE insults a friend of mine, in my house." And she gives them the guest room that man previously occupied.
It almost feels like a parable Jesus Christ would have taught, or a similarly themed fable. Which is probably why I wrote the thing at all. And maybe it was just a scene written for its own sake and not part of any story or legacy. But I intend to write it again.
This is a slightly more in-depth description.
A woman opens her home to two travelers literally just seeking shelter for the night. They are weary and tired but not sad or really even lost. They are 'promptly welcomed and immediately ignored' by their apparently indifferent host. A man comes down to table, a paying lodger who is there for the week. The man starts laughing scornfully at the transients who, to quote him 'must not understand the beneficence and compassion of their host or they would be more grateful'.
At which point the woman turns to the gentleman and with restraint but unequivocal force in her voice tells him to leave immediately and never expect to be welcomed by her again. The shock he received realizing a man with both money and position would be dismissed in favor of two transients was matched only by the fear or intimidation on the faces of the travelers themselves.
Cooling her voice a little and relaxing her face a bit she explains. “I don't know you any better than I knew him. But I know you well enough to know that I can trust you. And no one insults a friend of mine in my house.
The next favorite ending line, and hopefully the next story to be summarized is Sasha Jordan Scott saying goodbye to Captain Quentin lance. "Quentin, I'm not sure how to say this but I cannot 'move away' in the strictest sense...I never lived in Starling City to begin with!
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