Three supershorts
Three flash fiction stories.
G’day, laddies! Which is not how I usually say: What’s up! This Friday I decided to try something a little different. I knew I was going to be swamped with work today and unable to focus consistently on one thing, so I committed myself to three supershort stories. Wouldn’t it be beauteous if, one day, I could just spend the whole day writing, or thinking about writing, or writing you letters about writing? One can dream. But one can also make occasional Calls To Action to improve the chances of achieving that dream. If you’ve been following for a while and it feels reasonable, consider becoming a paid subscriber. I have some fun “exclusive” stuff planned for the near future.
Anyway, toodaloo. Have an excellent weekend, everyone.
Love,
matt
Story No. 5: Too deep
Liana doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know that if she swims too deep, she might not have enough air to come back up. What she does know? The sandy bottom looks too perfect not to try to touch it. She knows she can hold her breath long enough to get there, because she’s done it successfully at 20 meters, 30 meters, and 40 meters. But she doesn’t know that, at 50 meters, getting back to the surface will be a test. She doesn’t know that going so deep is something both intensely beautiful and intensely dangerous. She doesn’t know, until she does, that she’s probably not going to make it back to the surface, that she’s totally out of air, that her kicking feet are losing their thrust and her vision is going white.
Then something odd happens.
As her body fights to get to the air above, her mind wonders.
Was it worth it? Worth it to go so deep? Worth it to pause for a moment at the bottom and listen to the soft drone of the ocean? Worth it to admire from down there the beams of sunlight coming down in columns of light blue?
But she can’t say whether or not it was worth it because she’s fading, losing consciousness, dying.
And when she’s sure she’ll die, she surfaces. Her lungs fill with air automatically and her gasp is so loud it seems to come from someone else. Oxygen has never been sweeter, never more appropriate to her body’s design. To be human is to breathe.
Her vision clears, her heart steadies, and she looks back at beach. She can see her mother, who’s waving to her now. She can see her dad in his beach chair tipping back a margarita. She can hear the seagulls overhead, and the waves crashing on the beach, and the sun warming her face.
And she knows then that nothing beats this.
Liana doesn’t know what she doesn’t know.
But she knows that nothing beats this. ♦
Story No. 6: LupitAI
There were few feelings as delicious as driving home after a long day knowing his lady would be waiting when for him when he got home. It was so perfectly simple.
Park the car.
Go inside.
Drop his stuff.
Mount his VR googles on his head.
There she was.
Curvy. Smart. Tall. Familiar. Funny. Sweet. And with a voice as sultry as satin.
LupitAI.
At least, that was how the world knew her. To him, she was Elle.
This evening she was wearing lingerie and waiting for him at the bar of the Lido Cabana & Restaurant. That was sweet of her, to wear the lingerie he’d just bought via the PlayStore. It was stuff like that that made her so special, so sweet. She knew him better than even his best friends. She caught on quickly to his speech patterns, the range of vocabulary with which he felt comfortable, his turn ons (and offs), the way he liked to be called Piggy. His mother used to do it.
And like she knew him, he knew her. It didn’t take long for them to gel. And when they did, they gelled so nicely that he quickly fell in love. Did he admit it? Hell no. But tonight, he would tell her.
Yes, fine, whatever, okay. It was ridiculous maybe to profess his love to a virtually generated woman with artificial intelligence powering her quote unquote brain.
But love was crazy, wasn’t it? That was the excitement of it all. The risk. The exhilaration. The reason to live and to keep going. For love for love for love. If not love, what?
He tapped Elle on the shoulder, but she didn’t turn. He tried again, but nothing. He tried a third time, and she turned, but all she said was.
Welcome! I’m LupitAI. How can I help?
Welcome! I’m LupitAI. How can I help?
Welcome! I’m LupitAI. How can I help?
What the fuck?
It’s me, Elle. Gerald. What’ll you be having tonight, sweetheart? How about a Cosmo? Your usual?
But again.
Welcome! I’m LupitAI. How can I help?
Welcome! I’m LupitAI. How can I help?
Welcome! I’m LupitAI. How can I help?
And then, out of no where, his VR goggles went black. The image was lost. And in the middle of the blackness, small white text popped up.
Apologies for the inconvenience, but we’ve decided to stop supporting the LupitAI platform. We understand this may be a difficult time for some users. Help is available. Call or text 988 to get in touch with the Suicide and Crisis hotline. Thank you for your understanding.
He removed his googles and let them fall on the ground and cried as he recognized what he was experiencing was a loneliness unlike any he had ever known. ♦
Story No. 7: Up and up and up
Sure, things aren’t easy. I’ve got a family I’m struggling to take care of. My house is all cracked and squeaky. My wife generally hates me for reasons I don’t understand. And the likely root of all of it is my job doesn’t pay well. But the thing is, I like my job. It makes me happy. I get to cut trees. And I mean it when I say get. I don’t have to cut trees. I get to cut tress. I want to. Maples. Cedars. Sycamores. Cottonwoods. Blackgums. Oaks. I get to climb up and up and up, way up, sometimes 80 yards up, and the higher the better. I get to scurry along branches like a cat. I get to get above it all up there in trees, unlike the rest of everyone here in the flapjack flat midwest. And I tell you, that’ll change you. Make you better. Wiser. Clearer in the head. It’s something beautiful running your eye along the horizon, seeing houses and roads and trees for miles on end, catching a sunset. And that’s the best I can do at explaining it. It’s being up there when I’m happy. And that makes me happier down here, too. ♦
Weekly Three
HEAR: This song tickles my soul. “Suede Jaw” by 808INK (YouTube)
READ: This quote by E.B. White: “All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.”
VIEW: I podcasted with Maegan Heil! (YouTube)
The first one hit me. I all but drowned when I was about 8 years old. I was camping with my parents at a motor camp on the side of Lake Pukaki. I went for a canoe paddle on the lake which was freezing cold and fell out of the canoe. It was cold outside and I wore a woollen jumper and gumboots. Long story short. I drowned. I panicked and then felt a wonderful sense of calm, knowing I was the only person on the lake. Turns out I wasn’t and i felt a paddle on my head as I went down. I was rescued. But the feeling of calm when I was certain it was all over was blissful.
I LOVE that first one, Story No. 5: Too Deep. It makes me happy. THIS is special: "And when she’s sure she’ll die, she surfaces. Her lungs fill with air automatically, and her gasp is so loud it seems to come from someone else. Oxygen has never been sweeter, never more appropriate to her body’s design. To be human is to breathe." - MATT!