A New Bloom

‘Clifford, I hate this background.’ Miriam hissed the words out of the corner of her mouth, hoping not to ruin the photo.He knew she would dislike it, but it was required. He decided to tease. ‘Why, darling?’She took in a slight breath through her nostrils and blew it out with force. Hissing again, she said, ‘It is so … Opaque Couche.’ He raised an eyebrow slightly and she continued, ‘So … death colored.’No longer able to contain himself, Clifford laughed aloud. ‘Miriam, you bring life to any photo. And who cares if it looks like death? That’s who we are, after all.”All right you two,’ the photographer called. ‘Hold still! Daylight’s coming and this is our last chance to get a photo!’

I shared a link on Facebook today about the new color created by the Pantone folks. It is evidently color # 448C, Opaque Couche, and has been identified as the world’s ugliest color. It was likened to, most notably, sludge and death. In my share, I said there had to be a story in there somewhere and VisDare allowed me to stretch it a bit. The actual color is a shade of green, but certain poor colorization techniques and general aging when folks don’t take care of their old photos can lend a dreadful green tinge. Therefore, well… you get it. I offer these 124 words for this week’s VisDare; click the photo to add your thoughts and to read about the image.