Thursday February 5th, 2015

The exercise:

Write about: the stockpile.

Managed to get to bed last night earlier than I have in a long time. So of course, despite going to bed later than usual, Max woke up early this morning.

After all three of us appeared to be trending toward full health, today we all got hit hard with a relapse. Max ended up with the worst of it, unfortunately. He was starting to lose his voice around dinner time and he keeps waking up with a nasty sounding cough.

Hopefully whatever rest he manages to get tonight will help to get him back on track.

I am tired of writing about this stupid cold.

Mine:

Jeff's collection was the result of years and years of work. He was very proud of it, to the point that he used to show it off to friends, strangers, potential dates. None of them seemed very impressed by it though, so he stopped sharing. Even stopped talking about it, which was quite something.

He didn't stop adding to it though. Every item was carefully logged. Date, time, location. Even who else was present at the time. Jeff was certain that it was extra little details like this that made his stuff particularly important and valuable.

Others used to laugh at his collection, claiming that it was nothing more than an utter waste of time and energy. They said there would never be any use for any of it. Jeff kept on gathering them anyway.

And now. And now! Against all odds, despite all the doubters, it was nearly time to share his efforts. For somehow, someway, his brother Frank had found a girl who had, for some reason most people couldn't figure out, agreed to marry him. And Frank, as Jeff had always known he would, had given the honor of Best Man to his little brother.

Which meant that all the stories and embarrassing happenings of Frank's life that Jeff had so dutifully stockpiled were going to steal the spotlight at the reception. Maybe, Jeff thought with a wide grin, even the ceremony itself!

2 comments:

Greg said...

Aww, relapses are never fun. Though it might not be a relapse, it might just be that the cold has mutated into a new, resistant strain and is reinfecting you to see what you might mutate it into next! You might have the next Godzilla-cold!
Heh, I was wondering all through what the stock-pile might be of. That's going to be an interesting wedding. Probably not a happy one though.... :)

The stockpile
When the first bomb landed it lit up the 4-am sky like an early dawn. Those people far enough away from the epicentre were wakened by the howl of the sirens that were no longer receiving the electronic "Everything's ok" message from the city. They pulled themselves out of bed and into clothes and stumbled from their front-doors along narrow, stony paths to the bunkers, where the wardens hauled open the huge doors to allow people to enter.
"What is that smell?" said Dave, Warden 8502. It rolled over them like a dragon's breath, warm and foetid. The front row of people doubled over vomiting.
"Mushrooms," said Vince, Warden 11063. He reached inside and found a light-switch and flicked it. Lights came on revealing mountain of rot that reached up 30 feet to the ceiling.
"You what?"
"Mushrooms," said Vince. "The provincial government have stockpiles of various foods around the country, and the bunkers were convenient for storage. This the great Canadian Mushroom Mountain."
"They're all rotten," said Dave, wondering if the mountain was moving or if it was his imagination.
"Yeah," said Vince. "Maybe stockpiling them wasn't such a good idea."
"Well, we've got to get people inside," said Dave, looking nauseated at the idea. "Maybe we can all clean it up."
"Be careful then," said Vince. "They put the great Canadian Maple Syrup lake in our bunker as well. And the fifty thousand vials of weaponised smallpox, though that's quite a small stockpile really."
"They kept them separate, right?"
They both looked at the mushroom mountain.
"Probably," said Vince.

Marc said...

Greg - if I mutate into anything noteworthy I'll be sure to let you know :P

Hah, it took me a moment to recognize this delightful duo in this setting. Once I did it made all that followed all the more enjoyable :D