Wordzzle 93 - Food fright
This is my contribution to this week's Wordzzle. Wordzzle is a game in which each week word lists, used to create stories, are given on the blog Views from Raven's Nest. Participating users post their stories on their own blogs.
This is my entry number 37, for Wordzzle week 93.
Ten Word Challenge:
spaghetti,
woe is me,
mythology,
avarice,
windy,
pathetic,
paper towels,
water,
all my children,
books
I unwrapped the glob of dripping paper towels, and found a soggy mass of spaghetti and meatballs. I looked at it and sighed. We're really going to have to get some more paper plates, I thought. Maybe even some paper bowls. I looked around to see if anyone had something I might want to trade for, but theirs seemed to be just as pathetic as mine, sometimes even more so. If we were said to suffer any form of greed right now, it was simply a desire for something decent to eat, and any great desires for wealth or power, any feelings of avarice, were forced to the distant edges of our minds.
I looked around again, but there wasn't anything better than what I had. The one next to me, in fact, must be one for the record books. It looked almost like something you would read about in mythology, as some eternal punishment someone was condemned to. I shuddered and took a drink of my water and looked away. Thank goodness it was windy out here, and carrying away the smell.
"Woe is me," the man said. "All my children made this for me, and I have to eat it." Then he looked toward me with desperate hopefulness and said, "Want to trade?"
Mini Challenge:
best deals of the week,
Nobel Peace Prize,
sleep deprived,
cauliflower,
practice
I should get the Nobel Peace Prize, I thought, for not throwing it at them. The frozen broccoli and cauliflower packages had been listed in the ad among the best deals of the week, and I had bought ten of them. When I opened them, though, I found that the contents were covered with frost and had lots of dark spots. I had decided to go ahead and eat them anyway. I hated to take them back. Not only would I have to go to the trouble of doing it, it would mean admitting I had made a mistake. I couldn't throw them away, either, as I didn't want to waste the money, even if I hardly paid anything for them. It had been several days now, and I was about halfway through them.
I dumped the contents of the package in the pot of water and stared at it, feeling sick and sleep deprived. I looked at it and sighed, and added an extra large glob of margarine to it, then some salt. Maybe that would help, I thought. Maybe I could keep it down this time. Practice makes perfect.
Mega challenge:
spaghetti,
woe is me,
mythology,
avarice,
windy,
pathetic,
paper towels,
water,
all my children,
books
best deals of the week,
Nobel Peace Prize,
sleep deprived,
cauliflower,
practice
"Are you sure you wouldn't want my sauerkraut and cauliflower and hot dog casserole?" the man next to me said, his eyes watering. "It's really very good."
"No thanks," I said, feeling sick at the thought, raising the mass of paper towels and spaghetti to my face to take a bite. "I'm trying to cut down."
He turned back to his food, staring at it, a look of disappointment and pain on his face. "Woe is me," he mumbled over and over. "Woe is me."
I looked at the other people there. Some were trading with each other, though we didn't seem to have the best deals of the week here. I took another bite of the spaghetti. We were going to have to buy some plastic forks, too. My paper bag tried to blow away and I grabbed it, then flattened it and set the paper towels and spaghetti down on it. It was getting a little too windy, but I wasn't complaining. I could hardly smell any of the food now.
"Why do these things keep happening to me?" the man said. "I like to think I'm a good person. I don't suffer from avarice or sloth or any of those other things. I'm faithful to my wife, and kind to my children. I'm even kind to animals. And yet this keeps happening. Why me? Why?"
I tried not to listen. Listening reminded me of his food.
"I bought them cookbooks," the man said. I bought them all cookbooks. My wife and all my children. And still, still this happens. Woe is me, woe is me."
I didn't reply, trying to appear absorbed with my spaghetti and meatballs.
"If anyone should get the Nobel Peace Prize, it's me," he said. "For keeping my peace."
I groaned. He just didn't want to stop. "Maybe with enough practice they'll get better."
"Practice doesn't help," he said. "They practice on me." He looked at the casserole again, tears running down his face. "I'm such a pathetic figure," he said. "Not even in legends and mythology has there been anything as bad as this. Woe is me, woe is me."
The sleep-deprived looking man on the other side of him, who had been staring at a bowl of mottled cauliflower and broccoli, turned toward him, a haunted, hungry look in his eyes, and said, "Want to trade?"
This is my entry number 37, for Wordzzle week 93.
Ten Word Challenge:
spaghetti,
woe is me,
mythology,
avarice,
windy,
pathetic,
paper towels,
water,
all my children,
books
I unwrapped the glob of dripping paper towels, and found a soggy mass of spaghetti and meatballs. I looked at it and sighed. We're really going to have to get some more paper plates, I thought. Maybe even some paper bowls. I looked around to see if anyone had something I might want to trade for, but theirs seemed to be just as pathetic as mine, sometimes even more so. If we were said to suffer any form of greed right now, it was simply a desire for something decent to eat, and any great desires for wealth or power, any feelings of avarice, were forced to the distant edges of our minds.
I looked around again, but there wasn't anything better than what I had. The one next to me, in fact, must be one for the record books. It looked almost like something you would read about in mythology, as some eternal punishment someone was condemned to. I shuddered and took a drink of my water and looked away. Thank goodness it was windy out here, and carrying away the smell.
"Woe is me," the man said. "All my children made this for me, and I have to eat it." Then he looked toward me with desperate hopefulness and said, "Want to trade?"
Mini Challenge:
best deals of the week,
Nobel Peace Prize,
sleep deprived,
cauliflower,
practice
I should get the Nobel Peace Prize, I thought, for not throwing it at them. The frozen broccoli and cauliflower packages had been listed in the ad among the best deals of the week, and I had bought ten of them. When I opened them, though, I found that the contents were covered with frost and had lots of dark spots. I had decided to go ahead and eat them anyway. I hated to take them back. Not only would I have to go to the trouble of doing it, it would mean admitting I had made a mistake. I couldn't throw them away, either, as I didn't want to waste the money, even if I hardly paid anything for them. It had been several days now, and I was about halfway through them.
I dumped the contents of the package in the pot of water and stared at it, feeling sick and sleep deprived. I looked at it and sighed, and added an extra large glob of margarine to it, then some salt. Maybe that would help, I thought. Maybe I could keep it down this time. Practice makes perfect.
Mega challenge:
spaghetti,
woe is me,
mythology,
avarice,
windy,
pathetic,
paper towels,
water,
all my children,
books
best deals of the week,
Nobel Peace Prize,
sleep deprived,
cauliflower,
practice
"Are you sure you wouldn't want my sauerkraut and cauliflower and hot dog casserole?" the man next to me said, his eyes watering. "It's really very good."
"No thanks," I said, feeling sick at the thought, raising the mass of paper towels and spaghetti to my face to take a bite. "I'm trying to cut down."
He turned back to his food, staring at it, a look of disappointment and pain on his face. "Woe is me," he mumbled over and over. "Woe is me."
I looked at the other people there. Some were trading with each other, though we didn't seem to have the best deals of the week here. I took another bite of the spaghetti. We were going to have to buy some plastic forks, too. My paper bag tried to blow away and I grabbed it, then flattened it and set the paper towels and spaghetti down on it. It was getting a little too windy, but I wasn't complaining. I could hardly smell any of the food now.
"Why do these things keep happening to me?" the man said. "I like to think I'm a good person. I don't suffer from avarice or sloth or any of those other things. I'm faithful to my wife, and kind to my children. I'm even kind to animals. And yet this keeps happening. Why me? Why?"
I tried not to listen. Listening reminded me of his food.
"I bought them cookbooks," the man said. I bought them all cookbooks. My wife and all my children. And still, still this happens. Woe is me, woe is me."
I didn't reply, trying to appear absorbed with my spaghetti and meatballs.
"If anyone should get the Nobel Peace Prize, it's me," he said. "For keeping my peace."
I groaned. He just didn't want to stop. "Maybe with enough practice they'll get better."
"Practice doesn't help," he said. "They practice on me." He looked at the casserole again, tears running down his face. "I'm such a pathetic figure," he said. "Not even in legends and mythology has there been anything as bad as this. Woe is me, woe is me."
The sleep-deprived looking man on the other side of him, who had been staring at a bowl of mottled cauliflower and broccoli, turned toward him, a haunted, hungry look in his eyes, and said, "Want to trade?"
posted by Stephen at 12/18/2009 11:46:00 PM
3 Comments:
Poor guys. I loved the way you tied the three together with the last line. Very funny. I can relate to the broccoli and cauliflower guy.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that the New Year brings good and happy times.
Nice stories
I liked both. I gave it a try for the first time and enjoyed it also. Guess I'll become a regular here now that I know how easy it is. heres a place I hang out pretty regularly
Microfiction #10
What a surreal world you have brought us to this week. These three beautifully crafted pieces left me with more questions than answers. The place is windy and the people don't seem to have much between them except some rather ghastly food. It's intriguing though, the one guy kids and there's somewhere where you can buy frozen veg packs - albeit manky ones. I admire how you linked them all with the "want to trade?" phrase. Great atmosphere.
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