Amy finds a white suit in a jumble shop for her husband, Sam, principal of the local elementary.
Xing Liu, regent of Zhou, bored with all that his wealth and domain afforded him, demanded each member of his court bring him something never before seen or face the axe. The royal tailor watched thirty-four heads fall until he was called.
In terror, he pleaded for one year of clemency to create a garment of unearthly beauty. The tailor racked his brain in despair until a chance encounter with a traveling herbalist in the mountains provided inspiration.
Amy brushes the rust that is not rust from the sleeve. It shines, immaculate.
Stricken and gaunt, the tailor laid out the robe, pure white as porcelain, with palsied hands. Xing laughed, rulers do not wear white. Laughed until he learned the tailor had skinned a ghost, a shrieking woman with white hair. Once donned, Xing refused to remove it though his own hair turned white. When children in Zhou went missing, his hair turned black again and the robe turned a magnificent red.
When Qin Shi Huang united the Warring States, his army discovered how Xing had stayed youthful in his ninety-year regency. Xing lost his head. His name and the two thousand exsanguinated corpses buried beneath his private estate were erased from history.
Sam's going to the Halloween party at the school as Colonel Sanders. His hair is perfect. The kids love Sam and he is very good with kids.
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, January 18th, 2018
We hope you're enjoying
Bone White by
Patrick Sullivan.
Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.
Daily Science Fiction does not have a paywall, but we do have expenses—more than 95% of which are direct payments to authors for their stories. With your $15 membership, less than 6 cents per story, we can continue to provide genre fiction every weekday by email and on the website to thousands of readers for many years to come.
Tell me more!
Support Daily Science Fiction
Please click to rate this story from 1 (ho-hum) to 7 (excellent!):
Please don't read too much into these ratings. For many reasons, a superior story may not get a superior score.
4.6 Rocket Dragons Average
Please join our mailing list and
receive free daily sci-fi (your email address will be kept
100% private):
