Unheard Words, Radical Thoughts - Part 4

Start of a new month brought in some really interesting words for me to weave my stories around. In fact, I think for one word (amphiboly), while I got the usage right from sentence point of view, but the example may not be apt. But narrating the story was far more important for me, so I just went with the flow.

So here are the three words shared in first three days of October, on our Readers' Club's WhatsApp group and what I did with them.

Druthers

noun [druhth- erz]

one's own way, choice or preference

Tale: Bad Habits

She couldn't stand that man. His hygiene habits had pissed her off many a time. He would make loud noises while eating food and would burp shamelessly. Whenever he used to fall asleep, the entire neighborhood would know because of his loud snoring. Once she saw him itching around his crotch and then eating food with the same hands. She was disgusted to no end. If she had her druthers she would have never married him.

Understory

noun [uhn-der-stawr-ee, -stohr-ee]

the shrubs and plants growing beneath the main canopy of a forest

Tale: Futility

Beneath the cover of heavy understory, two eyes glowed like ember. The anger in them could have started a forest fire. But he was waiting, patiently. Waiting for her to come. He had no business being here. But life is uncertain and here he was, willing to pounce on her the moment he sees her and kill her. Kill her with his bare hands. As she strolled in, royally, and unaware about her hunter, she started drinking water from the pond in the clearing immediately. Following her were her six cubs whom she was protecting fiercely. He then realized what this lioness did yesterday was her maternal instinct and his young son's foolishness. He returned and mourned for his son.

Amphiboly

noun [am-fib-uh-lee]

ambiguity of speech, especially from uncertainty of the grammatical construction rather than of the meaning of the words

Tale: Love You, Love You Not 

She could never make out from his texts whether he was flirting or not. His use of amphiboly was so effective that even if she feels upset by any of his text, he knew he would be able to explain otherwise. Like this one time he texted her, "I love you, isn't that the most beautiful thing one can ever say to a beautiful girl like you?" She used to like him, but that day she knew, he wasn't the guy. He wasn't willing to risk anything to get her.