Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Entry #72

A Thousand And One Years
by Nothingman


The gypsy woman threw the bones down on the mat in her multicolored tent. The bones fell in a new pattern and the woman scowled at what she saw. She looked at the girl in front of her, spread her fingers over the bones and deftly collected them in a palming move.

“Where is my prince, wise mother?” the girl asked.

“Your prince rides the scales of an iron dragon.”

The girl smiled shyly, at the thought of a man she will know sometime in future.

“He rides the scales of the dragon up, and he rides the scales of another dragon on his way down.”

Two dragons, she thought, how brave!

“And when will I see my prince?” she asked as she pulled a golden nugget from her belt and put it on the floor.

The gypsy woman waved her hand over the piece of gold, making it vanish.

“In a thousand and one years.”

“And how will I know my prince?”

“His legs will be clad in blue, and white threads shall drop from his ears, his eyes will be covered by white glass and his weapon sack shall bear his name, ‘Nike’.”

Time passed…

In 2009, a boy, riding an escalator up in a mall, listening to his iPod and thinking of getting his spectacles repaired, was kissed by a girl who was waiting for him for a thousand and one years.

“Oh, Nike,” she whispered in his ear as she cried.


(Nothingman writes irregular short short stories at A Story A Day)

24 comments:

Sameera Ansari said...

Liked the humor,especially about white threads dropping from the ears :)

Good one!

Anonymous said...

nice one man...cool description of the gypsy woman.

JRVogt said...

Good humor here, and it nicely breaks a lot of plot molds. Unique take on it, which I can appreciate.

jaz said...

Well done. Excellent first line!

Lena said...

thats a cool one! loved the humor here. Wondering about the way the "Nike" guy would react :D

laughingwolf said...

lol...1001 years, huh? :O

The Preacherman said...

Excellent Man. Truly excellent. And ta for the inspiration to give it a go. It's fun and there's some bloody good stuff on here in't there?

JR's Thumbprints said...

I liked your iron dragon / Nike connections to the photo. If my mind serves me correct (I've read so many stories) yours spans the greatest amount of time.

JaneyV said...

Lovely. I think that waiting a millennium for your knight in shining iPod is every girl's dream. I like your take on the prompt. This one made me smile.

BernardL said...

Very entertaining.

Sarah Hina said...

Wow, this was such a great stretch! I loved how the gypsy explained everything using her own time's references. And the romantic in me loves the long, enduring quest of the girl's. Very nice, Nothingman.

Truly imaginative take. I'll never look at an escalator the same way again. Dragon scales!! :)

Anks said...

Very very creative... transcending boundaries of myth and reality... :)

BrownPhantom said...

"Dragon" is as good as an escalator can get. While reading, I tried to think what the hell would the white threads be. IPod makes it all the more important to mention 2009 there. 10 years back no one would have got it :). Great attention to the details and a real funny take.

Jadis said...

OWNAGE!!!

Anonymous said...

This is cool. I like the subtle dig at corporations and consumerism tied in with the theme of reincarnation. One of my favourites!!

Sukanya said...

interesting..

Meghan said...

I agree. I love the image of dragon scales. Well done!

Anil Sawan said...

quite an imagination man..! beautiful!

Catherine Vibert said...

Wonderful, magical, funny, great imaginative work! I smiled throughout and laughed at the end. A joyful read.

ceedy said...

This could be an ad for all throducts mentioned in it...nice take...

Anonymous said...

Love the humour. Great punchline.

Esther Avila said...

sweet indeed - loved the iron dragon. great imagery.
Nice work.

Pallav said...

Thanks everyone :) It's been fun writing here :) Hope you all had fun reading...
Cheers!
N

Anonymous said...

Great job with pacing, entertainment value, storytelling, and voice! And welcome to the Forties Club!!

Thanks for being a wonderful part of the contest.