Tales From The Town #130: The Rudest Word In The Entire World (Part 1)

“This game is rubbish!” Claire said, kicking the board up in the air and scattering toy cars everywhere. “It’s complete CRAP!”

“Claire!” Tina and Ethel exclaimed. “You can’t say that!”

“I can!” Claire said. “And I did!”

“But it’s…. it’s rude!”

“Really rude!”

“I don’t care!” Claire said. “And you shouldn’t either!”

“But we do!”

“What if Daniel hears!”

“You know how upset he gets about rude words!”

“And rude people!”

“And rudeness in general.”

“Well, maybe Daniel should just shut up!” Claire said.

Daniel came running into the room, arms outstretched, pretending to be an aeroplane. Then he flew back out of the room and up the stairs to play with the dolls, who didn’t swear at all, not even when talking about the witch.

__________

Notes:

1. Written on July 28th, 2023

The Mysterious Fu Manchu Mysteries – Episode 9: Zarmi’s Smile

The Mysterious Fu Manchu Mysteries (1923) were a series of silent shorts based on the Sax Rohmer-penned novels featuring the mystery man of the show’s title, starring Harry Agar Lyons as Fu Manchu, Joan Clarkson as Karamenah, Fred Paul as Nayland Smith, Humberston Wright as Dr. Petrie, and Julie Sudo as Zarmi.

In this episode, fan favourite Zarmi returns. Consider by many to be the most enigmatic of all The Mysterious Fu Manchu Mysteries, it was also the most successful, making over 1 million shillings at the box office in Britain alone (exportation of this film was prohibited over the Alluring Images Act of 1921).