note: This was written as part of a flash fiction writing contest at the blog,\u00a0The Clarity of Night<\/a>, back in 2009.\u00a0Here is a link to the original post<\/a>. The idea was to write 250 words based on a provided prompt.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDrink,\u201d said Graymatter, pointing at the goblet.<\/p>\n \u201cI will do nothing of the sort,\u201d spat the man in the sombrero. \u201cI drank first at ourlast encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour memory is faulty,\u201d replied Graymatter. \u201cMuch like your spine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave you met the last man who questioned my valor?\u201d said the man in the sombrero. \u201cHe\u2019s six feet under the ground. Perhaps you would like to join him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSave the braggadocio and drink, coward,\u201d said Graymatter, leaning back in his chair, just out of reach.<\/p>\n The man in the sombrero looked at the glass and then at his rival. With a cackle, he folded his arms and grinned. He would not be fooled so easily.<\/p>\n Graymatter blinked. Had he underestimated his opponent? Had the large man somehow found composure?<\/p>\n The enemies sat silent, each waiting for the other to flinch. The taunts of Graymatter gradually wormed their way under the skin of the man in the sombrero. Unable to ignore their itch, he clutched the glass and consumed its contents.<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d asked Graymatter, smirking at the shrewdness of his maneuver.<\/p>\n \u201cRed… banana?\u201d replied the man in the sombrero, coughing as his body rejected the wretched drink.<\/p>\n Graymatter gasped. \u201cImpossible,\u201d he said. \u201cThat flavor exists in legend alone.\u201d<\/p>\n The door swung open. A young man wearing a golf shirt emblazoned with the Kool Aid logo emerged. \u201cNext,\u201d he said, placing a new glass on the table. \u201cAnd this time with a little less drama, please. We have twenty more flavors to test today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Matter of Taste by\u00a0Paul Liadis note: This was written as part of a flash fiction writing contest at the blog,\u00a0The Clarity of Night, back in 2009.\u00a0Here is a link to the original post. The idea was to write 250 words based on a provided prompt. \u201cDrink,\u201d said Graymatter, pointing at the goblet. \u201cI will do nothing of the sort,\u201d spat the man in the sombrero. \u201cI drank first at ourlast encounter.\u201d \u201cYour memory is faulty,\u201d replied Graymatter. \u201cMuch like…<\/p>\n