Flash Fiction: "Oscar Wilde is 'Wild' Enough"

The white skinny bodies of teenagers jumping from the jagged rocks on the coastline into the sparkling blue abyss, the ocean catching the sunlight as if a shoal of diamonds had gathered on the surface.

They were English and on the island of Corfu for their holidays. A family with teenage children - who had joined forces as it were with the other teenagers nearby. The island was still green in June, but like the teenagers, with snorkels in their hand, the green surged down towards the shimmering blue. The only word to describe the intoxicating potion that the sandy coves drank from - blue, a freedom inducing blue. The beaches curved around the sea like a mouth around a sapphire ice pop, sucking on the sweet, refreshing taste all summer.

The teenagers were a black sucking hole of youthful energy, that made excessive noise in the little cove down from the villas. Splashing, diving, crashing noises, and joyful screams into the afternoons.

But that summer they shipped tigers over to Corfu and released them on the island. Stunning striped orange against the aquamarine backdrop, glimpsed in spots of sunlight through the trees, as they prowl the boarder between olive grove and beach.

Well, not really, but thats how it felt to Marcus.

For this stranger smelt like he had been rolling in the sheets with female tigers. That musty smell that they spray everywhere when they want to mate. He smelt like he had just left sea view apartments with satin sheets and women just like him - casual and confident.

“Savage” Chelsea noted. Her eyes peering over her pink, plastic rimmed sunglasses.

“Savage…By Dior?” he asked innocently

“By that look in his eye” she giggled “Oh… he’s a savage.” They lay, balanced on elbows, on towels on the beach. He mirrored Chelsea’s position although her arm ached, she didn’t see the point of just laying here, but Chelsea said sun bathing was sophisticated and elegant… And told her that’s what they were doing today.

And they stared at him. The tiger. That, on heavy paws, wandered down onto the sand when the day cooled and the sky turned pink.

They assumed Marcus was under a tree somewhere in the countryside reading one of her books, or wandering around the old town. Because he didn’t spend anymore time with the other teenagers that summer.

The villas were dotted about the costal road and they interacted in a selfish, bored and disposable way. Summer was like a envelope that sealed away things - to be in a different land and with people you won’t meet again.

The stranger was staying at the villa closest to the sea, in the bedrooms of the villa Marcus could just about see the roof terrance through the trees. He must have his own path down to the sea from the back garden.

In the evenings the road was dappled with sunshine puddled, a rainfall of honey. It rained honey, syrup or gold here - but never water. The curve of the island that can be seen from the beach hazed against the . The palms flapping in the breeze that picked up off the ocean.

There was a lot of activity in the kitchen, plates clattering as the table was set for dinner. And his parents discussed, this stranger. Wondering what he was doing here alone. Wondering if they should invite him over one evening. But mainly, wondering how much he paid to stay in that villa, and if it was different to their villa. He slowly put forks on the table

“His villa is nicer… It’s a lot nicer…” the kitchen stopped. They all turned to look at himm, spaghetti strainer in hand with the water dripping in the sink.

“I mean, from the outside, like, from what you can see from the road” he stumbled. The dinner time hustle continued. It was almost funny to her mother - he didn’t have a wild side. The only wild he knew was, Oscar Wilde.

Until this summer.

By Alex Ramírez

While studying Acting and Preforming at UCA, Alex spends his free time writing flash fiction and character studies, this most recent piece inspired by ‘Call Me By Your Name’.

Alex welcomes your comments and ideas on how to expand this story below....