Fealty

Word of the Day Friday, March 05, 2010

fealty

\FEE-uhl-tee\ , noun;

1. Fidelity to one's lord; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord.
2. The oath by which this obligation was assumed.
3. Fidelity; allegiance; faithfulness.

They sat on the floor facing one another, the carpet leaving indentations on the skin of their ankles and knees.

This was the most serious of childhood negotiations. The earliest transactions of bartering and trade. The first practice of trying to deceive and swindle.

It was all in the pitch, the building up, compliment after compliment, paving the way to the deal.

Of course, being the older sister she expected the younger sister fealty to play an important role in the negotiations. As a last resort she planned on using coercion. But only as a last resort.

She flipped her sticker book open to the page of the sub-par Peter Rabbit stickers, "I'll trade you this one of Peter Rabbit, for your fuzzy Teddy Bear sticker," she offered, starting to peel the sticker off the page.

Her little sister's large blue eyes wandered down to the sticker she was pointing to, "That isn't a good one, that is a bad trade. I'll give you the teddy bear for your Black Stallion sticker," her sister countered.

Of course, at the end of the sticker trading session they both still had all the same stickers in their books, neither one willing to give too much ground.