James Christopher IV

Today is Five-Minute Friday, in which The Gypsy Mama gives a writing prompt and bloggers write for the love of writing for five minutes. Then hit publish. Just write. Today’s prompt is “roar.”

I kinda cheated… I ended up getting going and wrote for closer to 10 minutes.

There once was a young lion cub, whose name was James Christopher IV.

He was a brave and curious lion cub.

While other lions tended to stay close to the pack, James Christover IV would sneak away to explore all the world around him.

He would pick up rocks to uncover all sorts of amazing animals and plants.

He would climb boulders to see the world far beyond his tiny jungle.

He would swim the cool river and watch in amazement as the fish swam alongside him.

But James Christopher IV was also a compassionate lion.

And while other lion cubs would chase down their prey and terrorize those meeker than them, James Christopher IV was content to play in the tall grass and become friends with all creatures big and small.

As he and his friends grew, the other lion cubs began to grow long manes of hair and their meek purring became fierce roars…

But James Christopher IV’s roar never came.

Try as he might, the roar was not there.

He’d clear his throat, cough, and push his voice as hard as he could, but no roar would come.

His friends teased him about his meek pur while the rest of them paraded around with their ferocious roars.

But then one day, as James Christopher IV was walking through the jungle he saw two of his friends circling a young giraffe.

They poked at the giraffe and called him names.

They laughed as each roar they sounded would scare the giraffe into a cower.

As James Christopher IV saw this teasing and taunting he felt something building up inside of him.

He was a feeling he had never felt before.

It was a fire coming from deep inside his chest.

And without warning, James Christopher IV roared like no lion had roared before.

The ground shook around them. The leaves fell from the trees and the birds that had been singing in the distance stopped in awe of the sound.

The other two lions stopped in their track and lowered their heads in fear.

James Christopher IV looked at his fellow lions and began to speak in a voice deeper than he’d ever heard before.

“Leave him alone,” James Christopher IV said sternly. “Move along and let me never see you taunting or teasing anyone again.”

The lions backed away from the giraffe and left the clearing quietly.

James Christopher IV walked to the giraffe and asked if he was OK.

“I am,” the giraffe replied. “And thank you.”

James Christopher IV bowed his head towards the giraffe.

“I bid you good day,” James Christopher IV said as he began to walk away.

When he arrived back to his pack, all the lion cubs and lions were already talking about James Christopher IV’s tremendous roar.

James Christopher IV’s father walked towards him and patted him on his head.

“Son,” he said. “I think we’ve finally found your voice. Remember how you found it and always be true to your calling.”

From that day on, James Christopher IV rarely raised his voice to a roar — but when he did, the entire jungle knew he was sounding the alarm for justice.

Thanks to Joy Bennett for tuning me into this project. You can listen to her story on this week’s podcast and read her submission on her blog.