The tiny flutists
Gather and play clashing tunes
Outside my window.
Category Archives: Fiction
Two Clowns
RORY: It’s great! It’s like deep, you know! But funny too!
TIM: Yeah, sure.
RORY: No, really! It’s about mor…mori… morality!
TIM: Mortality.
RORY: Yeah! And about how it makes us equal. Like we’re the same as kings and stuff!
TIM: Try telling the boss we’re equal when he sees how slow you’re going.
RORY: Oh, c’mon, Tim. I wanted to see what it was like back then!
TIM: Then, put some back into it. Do you think a real one would’ve gotten to lollygag and chatter like that?
RORY: But in the play-
TIM: -Exactly. The play. Do me a favor and remember that. A play set at least 500 years ago. When people were buried on top of each other. Didn’t you say he had to dig people up to bury someone new?
RORY: Yeah, but-
TIM: -And when they didn’t have machines. Do you think that clown would’ve been using a shovel if he had a digger like this one?
RORY: No. But-
TIM: -But nothing. Now, stop fooling around and get this dug. Unless you want to tell Mr. Cotter’s family his interment is canceled because you were making a house to last ’til doomsday.
RORY: Oh. Sorry, Tim. I just really- wait. You did read it!
Internal Debate
[A young woman walks into a dorm room, dumps her purse on a shelf, and pauses midway between the desk and the bed.]
INNER CHILD: I’m tired.
RESPONSIBLE ADULT: You can go to bed after you finish your post.
INNER CHILD: But I want to go to bed nowww.
THE PEACEMAKER: How about a quick apology post for not getting anything written and then to bed. [Inner Child whines without speaking. The woman in the room, who hasn’t made a sound, starts to move toward the bed and then pauses uncertainly.]
RATIONALIZATION EXPERT: No problem. People will understand. Besides, writing a post when you’re this tired will probably ruin it.
THE ARTISTE: Don’t be ridiculous. I could write posts in my sleep.
INNER SNARK: Prove it.
THE ARTISTE: I could if we went to bed right now, but-
INNER CHILD: -Yessss! Pleeease!!
RESPONSIBLE ADULT: No.[Inner Child whines as all the other characters but Responsible Adult argue.] No!
THE PEACEMAKER: But we-
RESPONSIBLE ADULT: -We keep our promises. [In the silence, the woman sighs and turns to stare at the desk.]
INNER CHILD: …and then bed?
RESPONSIBLE ADULT: And then to bed.
INNER CHILD: Fine.
[With another sigh, the woman turns to the desk, and the lights fade.]
twytte 