{"id":10539,"date":"2018-03-10T11:34:44","date_gmt":"2018-03-10T00:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/?p=10539"},"modified":"2018-03-10T11:34:44","modified_gmt":"2018-03-10T00:34:44","slug":"46-great-opening-lines-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/?p=10539","title":{"rendered":"46 Great Opening Lines: 29"},"content":{"rendered":"

If an anaconda bites your hand – as, no doubt, one someday will – gulps your fist whole and holds fast, fight the keen urge to yank back. Really.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Opening line, Emergency Instructions: If an Anaconda Bites Your Hand<\/em>, David Macey<\/p>\n

This is the first line of a short short story, perhaps it’s called flash fiction, found in issue 84 of the journal Agni<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I definitely don’t have a thing for snakes, but in this three-paragraph story I saw something humorous, reminiscent of an illustration in Le Petit Prince<\/em> of a boa constrictor swallowing an animal.<\/p>\n

\"Image
First illustration in ‘Le Petit Prince’, Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It also reminded me of a rock formation I once saw, with a long snakish snout, a semblance of teeth and a fierce eye.<\/p>\n

Like anacondas, and boa constrictors, rock can be dangerous. You can be washed off it, fall from the top, disappear into its midst like Miranda in Picnic at Hanging Rock<\/em>. But rock doesn’t search for prey, doesn’t coil about those too near, is never hungry. Its jaws won’t open, it won’t bite your hand. My husband is safe.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Eden NSW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If an anaconda bites your hand – as, no doubt, one someday will – gulps your fist whole and holds fast, fight the keen urge to yank back. Really. Opening line, Emergency Instructions: If an Anaconda Bites Your Hand, David Macey This is the first line of a short short story, perhaps it’s called flash … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “46 Great Opening Lines: 29”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1088,20],"tags":[1200,1203,1199,1201,1202,2,246,7,8,333,270],"class_list":["post-10539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-46-great-opening-lines","category-my-photos","tag-agni-journal","tag-antoine-de-saint-exupery","tag-david-macey","tag-eden-nsw","tag-if-an-anaconda-bites-your-hand","tag-literature","tag-opening-lines","tag-photography","tag-photos-2","tag-short-story","tag-writing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10539"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10554,"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10539\/revisions\/10554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundslikewish.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}