I like the tie in with dog in a manger, and away in a manger. Nice prompt!
Away in a manger "Hi," said Leo, and tried to smile. As a lion this meant baring his teeth, and the drummer-boy, already pale and smelling of pee, got paler. "Who are you?" "Pete," squeaked the drummer boy. "Umm... sorry, but I was wondering if I could clean myself up a bit in here? I had... umm... an accident." "Sure," said Toto. "DoHo's asleep so she won't bother you. Just make it quick." Pete looked around the barn: at the slumbering mound of Dorothy that was still snoring like an elderly motorcycle trying to start in the cold, and the piles of straw and the rusting farm machinery. "This is nice," he said, not sounding at all like he meant it. He set his drum down. "That's the Scarecrow, mate," said Toto. "Put your drum on someone else's head, ok?" Pete shivered, but picked the drum up and moved it aside. "Er, I was thinking... perhaps I could have some privacy?" he said. He wriggled. "Only the accident was... in my pants." "We can smell that," said Toto. "Me and Leo have got good noses, and Stan over there has a mass spectrometer built into his chest cavity that takes input through his nose. He can tell the difference between gneiss and schist at thirty metres." Pete stood there, acutely embarrassed into silence. He shifted his weight from one foot the other while Toto, his eyes bright, stared at him. "Oh all right then," said Toto. "There's a manger or a byre over there. Go stand behind that, and hope DoHo doesn't wake up." Pete waddled over to the manger and started taking his trousers down. DoHo shuddered in her sleep for a moment, looking like she was experiencing her own personal earthquake, and then settled down again. "What's a manger?" asked Stan. "That wooden box of hay?" "Yep," said Toto. "According to the stories when Jesus was born he was put in one of them by his mother. Animals eat from it." The tin man shook his head, and something inside rattled. "She put her baby in an animal food box?" "Yep," said Toto. "So every Christmas people put up nativity scenes which show that side of the birth, with the animals gathered around and the baby in the food box." Stan's tin face somehow managed to express horror again. "But why?" he said. "Because if they showed the actual birth it'd be a bit gruesome?" suggested Toto. "I can't imagine childbirth two thousand years ago was anything but messy, sweaty and bloody."
2 comments:
I like the tie in with dog in a manger, and away in a manger. Nice prompt!
Away in a manger
"Hi," said Leo, and tried to smile. As a lion this meant baring his teeth, and the drummer-boy, already pale and smelling of pee, got paler. "Who are you?"
"Pete," squeaked the drummer boy. "Umm... sorry, but I was wondering if I could clean myself up a bit in here? I had... umm... an accident."
"Sure," said Toto. "DoHo's asleep so she won't bother you. Just make it quick."
Pete looked around the barn: at the slumbering mound of Dorothy that was still snoring like an elderly motorcycle trying to start in the cold, and the piles of straw and the rusting farm machinery. "This is nice," he said, not sounding at all like he meant it. He set his drum down.
"That's the Scarecrow, mate," said Toto. "Put your drum on someone else's head, ok?"
Pete shivered, but picked the drum up and moved it aside. "Er, I was thinking... perhaps I could have some privacy?" he said. He wriggled. "Only the accident was... in my pants."
"We can smell that," said Toto. "Me and Leo have got good noses, and Stan over there has a mass spectrometer built into his chest cavity that takes input through his nose. He can tell the difference between gneiss and schist at thirty metres."
Pete stood there, acutely embarrassed into silence. He shifted his weight from one foot the other while Toto, his eyes bright, stared at him.
"Oh all right then," said Toto. "There's a manger or a byre over there. Go stand behind that, and hope DoHo doesn't wake up."
Pete waddled over to the manger and started taking his trousers down. DoHo shuddered in her sleep for a moment, looking like she was experiencing her own personal earthquake, and then settled down again.
"What's a manger?" asked Stan. "That wooden box of hay?"
"Yep," said Toto. "According to the stories when Jesus was born he was put in one of them by his mother. Animals eat from it."
The tin man shook his head, and something inside rattled. "She put her baby in an animal food box?"
"Yep," said Toto. "So every Christmas people put up nativity scenes which show that side of the birth, with the animals gathered around and the baby in the food box."
Stan's tin face somehow managed to express horror again. "But why?" he said.
"Because if they showed the actual birth it'd be a bit gruesome?" suggested Toto. "I can't imagine childbirth two thousand years ago was anything but messy, sweaty and bloody."
Greg - thanks!
Yes, I can see why the nativity shows that side of things, now that you've laid things out so... clearly.
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