Power Ritual

The senex stared at the garlic, the little cast-iron pot. Should she summon the Old One? What would it demand this time? But half her staff had been taken, the other half, turned. The chorus-women deserted. Once again the child zealots had led them astray.

She removed the pot, chanting:

The Outsider’s here, siddle-siddle, hiss
Lay the garlic in the pan, make yourself a wish
Round about it go, dance in despair
I’m the one who betrays with a siddle-siddle, kiss.

If only there were some other way to be re-elected.

But at what cost? At what cost??

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson
word count: 100  
written for Rochelle's Friday Fictioneers  
click on Rochelle Wisoff-Fields's hand-drawing of the frog  
for more tales of a hundred words or less. And join the fun!

41 thoughts on “Power Ritual”

    1. Rochelle,
      Thank you so much for reading and commenting. My disenchantment came through in this one; but it’s the political season, so no surprise there!
      Aleichem shalom,
      Dora

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      Reply

  7. I have a great mental image of the “public” side of government, and then the little secluded rooms we can’t see where well-known politicians cluster around bubbling pots making dark deals 🙂

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  9. I saw a documentary about the Bohemian Club. It’s a bunch of powerful men getting together in the woods to perform rituals and whatnot. The documentary made it seem much more seedy than Wikipedia. There might be more truth to your story than it appears.

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    1. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised. Occult practices that were enacted in ancient Sumerian documents are all related to taking power and keeping it. The power-hungry haven’t changed a lot since that time. Not at all.

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  15. So–I added a new word to my vocabulary. Had to look up “senex.” And I’m a bit confused, but every definition I saw said a senex was a wise old man. Yet your main character seems to be a woman. Am I missing something?

    Anyway, you’re quite a wordsmith. This is intriguing, and easy to picture.

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    1. You’re not missing anything but a very bad attempt at a pun, I’m afraid. I was using senex/senator as a foreshadowing device. 🤣 Thanks for reading, Linda — appreciate your comments very much 😊

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