Wordzzle 95 - Other realities

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 39, for Wordzzle week 95.


Ten Word Challenge:

alternate reality,
shadows,
frantic,
tomatoes,
field,
lilies,
DVD,
snow mobile,
aggravation,
music

Tomatoes grew in the field, among the lilies, almost hiding the rusting snow mobile. The wind blew, and shadows ran across the field, like beings from an alternate reality. A DVD set at an angle among the plants, like some crashed flying saucer. Whatever stories or music it may have held, it kept hidden. A squirrel came and scolded it for a while, than turned and ran when the wind came through again. An ant came by and waved its feelers frantically at the DVD, then finally went around it. A raccoon came and picked up the DVD, but then an eagle swooped down and grabbed the DVD in its claws. The raccoon waved a fist in aggravation, then began sniffing around the snow mobile, and the scattered bones there. The eagle soared high in the air, clutching the DVD, but then it slipped from its claws and fell, turning slowly, catching the light, flashing brighter and brighter, blindingly bright. The man groaned, and tried to move his head away.

"Take it easy," the doctor said. "You've been unconscious for a few days, but it looks like you'll be alright. Next time you're on a snow mobile, though, spend a little more time watching where you're going and a little less time watching DVDs."


Mini Challenge:

grounds for divorce,
pink panther,
salutations,
wavering,
lasagne

It would be grounds for divorce, he thought, except that he wasn't even married, and didn't even have a girlfriend. He knew that lasagna had been in the refrigerator too long. It had been looking a little gray, but he thought if he had some wine to drink with it, the alcohol would kill anything. It didn't seem to be that simple, though. So he had some more to drink, and finally started talking some leftover medicine he had, several types of it, all of it expired, and most of which he didn't remember anything about. He still felt sick, but also a lot different, and he wasn't sure if that was an improvement. He started watching cartoons on TV, afraid now to go to sleep. The Pink Panther looked out at him from the screen, and seemed to wink at him. He lifted his wavering hand and raised his glass toward the figure and said, "Salutations." The Pink Panther lifted his glass, too, and they seemed to click together.


Mega challenge:

alternate reality,
shadows,
frantic,
tomatoes,
field,
lilies,
DVD,
snow mobile,
aggravation,
music

grounds for divorce,
pink panther,
salutations,
wavering,
lasagne

A pink panther moved silently through the field, gathering tomatoes and lasagna from the plants there. A nearby billboard for coffee had the slogan "Grounds for Divorce" and showed a happy, smiling couple. A snow mobile got up on little cat feet and moved away, casting shadows in various directions, none of which looked like it. A badger watched a DVD on a portable player, its mouth wavering and a tear rolling from an eye. Some lilies beside it frowned, and took an occasional drag on a cigar. From somewhere music began to play with increasing aggravation, reaching crescendo after increasing crescendo, while waves of alternate reality after alternate reality rolled across. A kind of tense, frantic silence followed, finally settling down into a simple stillness.

The pink panther paused at one of the lasagna plants, but finally passed it by, evidently deciding it was overripe.

"You're smarter than I am," a voice from somewhere said.

The pink panther turned and saw a man on the other side of a window that was floating in the air. The man raised a glass towards him, nodding at him. The pink panther produced a glass of his own from somewhere and raised it also, and the glasses met in the air in a kind of mutual salutations.