Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Entry #146

Truth in Wine
by Prashant Dhanke


A life’s work continues to conjure questions well past the funeral. Take Arthur’s case. His son was convinced that trash-can is the rightful place for his late father’s poetry while his wife didn’t see any harm in keeping the papers till the winter; the pile was large enough to keep the fire-grate burning for two nights.

Up in the sky, his afterlife trial began.

“My Lord, Arthur wrote too many lies. Take his poem ‘Post-Big-Bang Symphony’:

Eve had to eat the apple really soon
Adam was keen to sleep with the moon


Liar is a sinner. He belongs to Hell.”

“Romanticism needn’t be a sin. He was a kind fellow. Didn’t even pluck a flower after he turned ten. Let him be in Heaven please.”

Romantic souls were always hard to place. God adjourned the court for a break.

Post-break, God announced, “I’ve put Arthur’s words in that locker”.

The locker was labeled ‘Truth In Wine’ and carried five glasses of red wine atop it.

“To open, drink the glasses in a magical sequence. Else the wine gets refilled”.

No one, who managed to read his words, judged them lies.

Statistics reveal a 65% rise in romantic population in heaven after the T.I.W. constitutional amendment was established.

Back on earth, Arthur’s poetry was rescued before getting burnt. His grandson smuggled the stack to his school. That year, second-graders had paper boats whenever it rained, or as Arthur would have put it, whenever Juliet shed tears in heaven.

23 comments:

JR's Thumbprints said...

Much different than the other entries. It only seems fitting that his poems, his words, be made into paper boats.

Carrie Clevenger said...

Great voice. Keep writing.

laughingwolf said...

waste not, want not...

Laurel said...

WOWwowwow. Love this! Such a great concept. And what a fabulous fate for the poems of Arthur.

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Wow! This is very well constructed!

Indyeah said...

The most unique take on the topic that I have read till now.Great one Prashant.

Ranee Kaur Banerjee said...

I love the way you end. Very unusual take. I enjoyed it.

Karla Jane said...

This was simply awesome !! A very unique story Prashant.Simply loved it !!!

Deb S said...

Yes, a unique story. Nice writing. Well done. Could be up there in my voting.

Prashant Dhanke said...

All of you guys,
Thank you very much for your kind words.
I have to start reading all the stories now :).

pravanjan said...

Lovely post, certainly the best in all the entries I have read so far.

Kunjal said...

i was expecting that you will be posting the story that you referred in your old post. How-ever it was pleasant to see that you came up with this brilliant piece. Well done:)

Catherine Vibert said...

I loved it, so romantic. But seriously, Arthur deserved better children.

As the Mind Meanders said...

Prashant bhai,

The writing was refreshing...

Blog Gore

Precie said...

Everyone has already used the words that came to my mind.

I enjoyed this--the approach, the development, the aftereffects. Really lovely.

BernardL said...

Enjoyed your approach.

PJD said...

This is very fun, a really engaging concept. It is way too big for a 250 word flash fiction, though; it definitely deserves at least 10,000 words. You've got a good plot synopsis here, but it could easily be a novel.

Esther Avila said...

unique and romantic to the end - even with the poetry being made into paper boats. Nice writing.

Aniket Thakkar said...

Like everyone else, I found this to be really refreshing and unique.

Two thumbs up to the concept.

I really enjoyed reading this one.

Rohan said...

What a take Prashant...
I like it...

JaneyV said...

I thought this was really lovely Prashant. Excellent take on the prompt and I adore the wonderful optimism of the piece.

Chris Eldin said...

Creative concept and brilliant writing!! Very well done!

Anonymous said...

That was so inventive! Very high creativity. Bravo!

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