Brigham turned right into the first alley he came upon. As he ran, he could see a dense crowd of people gathered in the street ahead of him. Perhaps the parade was already underway and he could be lost in their number. It was a chance he had to take.
After that, he had to make his way all down the parade to the West Pier, but that would be the easy part. No one would notice a man in a latex mask. Not once he joined the throngs of costumed party-goers reveling together in the celebration of Gay Pride.
Not in San Francisco. He heard himself praying aloud to a god he swore he did not believe in, as he wove himself into the fabric of the scantily clad crowd, asking to be forgiven for every derogatory statement he may have ever uttered or thought he may have had.
The urgency of his plight rendering him quite oblivious, he realized only after he had pleaded aloud, “Get me through this one and I swear I’ll go straight!” that he was surrounded by a contingent of unabashedly virile, leather clad men- any number of whom stood ripe for a challenge.
This scenario written in 50 word increments is brought to you courtesy of 50 Word Thursdays literary prompt: “… after that, he had to make his way all down the parade to the West Pier” – Brighton Rock, Graham Greene.
Thru Violet's Lentz 
Interesting!
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This has been a week for absurd nuance. I don’t know if it’s me, or the prompts.
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Probably a bit of both. This one is pure fun!
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Oops. *Straight* has more than one meaning.
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😀 So much for blending in!
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Some days it would have been better to just stay in bed….
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Haha, I love it, fantastic story 🙂
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Thank you Kristian.
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At the start you wrote “As he ran, he could see a dense crowd of people gathered in the street ahead of him. Perhaps the parade was already underway and he could be lost in their number. It was a chance he had to take.” My question is what was he running from? Am I missing something or am I brain dead LOL There’s a huge crowd of happy people in the picture. He was wearing a latex mask did that insinuate he was Gay or part of the parade? Too many questions, I know. Also you had limited words. So…makes it difficult. What was the “Urgency of his plight” ? Sorry. I don’t usually ask so many questions. Just put a like on my comment or delete it. It’s okay.
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The guy is wearing a mask and running away because he was evidently involved in some kind of criminal behavior. The Gay Pride parade just happened to be a convenient place to hide from whomever was pursuing him. The urgency of his plight is not getting caught. I think it might make more sense knowing these things. God I hope so. Sometimes I know my story so well I fail to tell it.
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Thanks for the explanation 🙂 That was sweet of you. Maybe at the beginning we could have a bigger hint that he’d done something criminal and was wearing the mask because of it. I think that’s where I got confused. But sometimes I get confused easily. You only had 50 words 🙂 It makes sense now.
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When I lived in SF, the Pride parade wasn’t that bad for crime.
It was SantaCon you had to watch out for. Men with sacksrob a store then go blend in with thousands of other, innocent, drunk Santas. Mess.
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