Dawn light on the High Veldt had that absolutely aching clarity that was typical of afternoon light in Australia.

Good light for old eyes to see clearly.

Fractelle's second's last minute advice had been to aim for the centre of the seen mass. "Yair, you do that Fractelle" Forrest muttered under his breath.

Only two rounds had been placed in each weapon by the seconds. The chambers had then been spun as in Russian roulette, snapped into position, and the hammers eased. The seconds had then exchanged weapons, and handed them to the duelists. So your first shot could well be a dud: there were two chances in three in fact that it would be a dud. An uncertainty factor. A la Heisenberg. Approaching more nearly chaos in a duelling context. He he, likely providing time for thought between shots. Maybe even time for a longgggg black coffee in the restaraunt at the end of the universe!

One, ... Two, ... Three ... The seconds called the paces in unison.

Inside Forrest's head the halting, rolling, then soaring majestic cadences of the slow march 'Herzog von Braunschwieg' accompanied the calls, relegating them to near inaudibility, as he and Fractelle paced out the prescribed distance.

In circumstances like this, time always slowed to a crawl.

Forrest did not plan on doing a full about face: he preferred the one-handed side-on position with the pistol. Greater accuracy, not to mention presenting a slightly smaller target. Also marginally more quickly adopted than a fully facing stance. Not that Forrest was really concerned about speed, but if one did have the luck to have a live round under the hammer first up, then it just gave you that little edge.

Forrest was absolutely determined to rest between shots no matter what. Arm right down by the side, exhaling slowly.

27, ... Thumb back the hammer....

29, ... 30! Forrest snapped into the right turn, head swivelling smoothly into the 'eyes right' position, right arm floating up fully extended, sights locking onto the centre of the seen mass, finger contracting like a python's coil.

I am not sure that additional options would make a difference to the meaning of the words on the page (screen).

The most difficult thing about a forum is that everyone has a different way of expressing themsleves and may give offence without intending. It is different to debating with a person face to face where body language and facial expressions add to the intent and meaning of your words. I don't think that this can ever be mirrored on a forum and the words have to speak for themselves.

No amount of bolding or italics would change this I think but I admit I am not a forum aficionado so I could stand to be corrected.

One can only hope that others will be respectful but there are never any guarantees only that we are always responsible for our own behaviour and words.

Forrest

Am I right in assuming that last post of yours was Chapter One?

The two opening sentences were full of promise, but unfortunately the rest was totally lost on me I'm afraid. Obviously, I've missed some vital piece of communication between yourself and Fractelle somewhere along the way!

One more question - Is it going to be a long book?

The door opens slightly and Romany sidles into the room. She is both unsure if anyone has even noticed she's been gone and, at the same time, is equally unsure of her reception after such a long absence.

She slithers up to Bronwyn and whispers "Hi. What's been happening?"
Bronwyn replies with a rather abstracted: "Buggered if I know, really.I think someone's gunning for Fractelle."
With a gasp of horror Romany wriggles over to Fractelle "So..wassup, girl?"
From across the room CJ looks up from his book and yells out "Hey, Romany. Have you been away or something? A few changes round here. BD finally flipped his wig. Thinks he's some guy called Polycarp these days. Lost his memory too. Keeps posting the same things he used to post as BD. Gotta humour the poor ole sod, though."
Romany looks dismayed "You mean we have to recycle all that stuff about Muslim Chapels in Universities and polygamy and 9 year old girls?"
Fractelle nods dully. "Oh god, Romany, its terrible. I keep thinking I'm caught in a time warp."
Roberts saunters over and slaps Romany on the shoulder. She stumbles a little and gives him a shy smile. "Not to worry though." he says "We've got some new posters banging on about feminism and marriage and stuff so now we just redirect them to all the old discussions. Saves a lot of time."
Fractelle nods dully.She looks out of the window to where an armed stranger is pacing the dust, checking his safety catch and talking a language neither of them understands.
"But the biggest change of all..." she falters, and then looks at Romany with tragic eyes:"...is that this forum has turned into a short fiction piece.....and we're all trapped!"

If everything went the way Forrest intended, and he was lucky enough to have a round under the hammer first up, he would give Fractelle a right royal scare: personal experience of the crackBANG about three feet from her left ear! Forrest wasn't so worried about hearing the same himself; he'd heard it all before, and in any case was already partially deaf in the left ear from small arms fire.

There would be plenty of opportunity for Fractelle to call a halt to this madness, especially if she had the bad luck, as it was odds-on she would, to have an empty chamber under the hammer first up.

But, live round or dud, on whoever's part, Forrest wasn't calling it off! Fractelle needed to be taught a lesson! Forrest still had no rodent hindquarters to donate.

Before his own hammer fell, Forrest heard the distant 'click' as Fractelle had her first bad luck.

Click! Bugger.

As Forrest's arm descended and he exhaled, Fractelle fired again without resting between shots.

crackBANG! High and to Forrest's left. "Just as I thought" muttered Forrest.

As Forrest's arm was floating back up, Fractelle transferred the weapon to her left hand. "Bloody ambidextrous as well as imperious, eh"

Just as Forrest's revolver soundlessly discharged he felt a knock on his right boot, then heard the BANG. As his arm was going back down he looked at his foot. Fractelle's bullet had struck the steel toe-cap and torn a chunk out of the sole. It had also, in that instant, moved his foot, and thus his aiming point, ever so slightly.

"That's it then" thought Forrest, "she's out, and I've still got one round left". Forrest was really going to make Fractelle sweat now! Slowly, lazily, Forrest lowered his weapon. Even more slowly and lazily his arm floated back up. "Now to deafen the other ear, if she doesn't fold first", thought Forrest.

Fractelle was just standing there, motionless.

Before Forrest could fire, Fractelle folded.

Strangely: sidewards, at the waist.

Romany

Great to have you back! You've been back five minutes and you've got us sorted already!

Perhaps you can interpret Forrest for me! We've had Chapter Two now and I'm still none the wiser. Though I must admit I'm getting sucked in, despite my better judgement!

Forrest

You're going to have to introduce some more characters. We can't have Fractelle hogging all the limelight!