Rattler’s Tale #7

More RATTLER’S TALE Stories
by Anthony North
for
Friday Fictioneers
Poets & Storytellers United
The Sunday Muse
in association with
KEYUDOS

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

ROOTED

Dick found it when walking in the wood.
A conspiracy theorist, he jumped for joy.
Wow! Tech growing out the ground.
Investigating, he was disturbed by Bob, the sceptic.
‘What you doing?’
Dick said: ‘It’s got rootkit and worms emanating from it.’
Bob was a stiff, logical chap who never lost his head.
He picked it up. ‘I wondered where I’d left that.’
He walked off, leaving Dick feeling a right namesake.
Home, Bob took off his head and contacted Mothership.
‘We need better camouflage,’ he said. ‘Too many conspiriologists nowadays.’
He blamed the new leadership models. US, UK, EU? No more blondes.

AN UNUSUAL TAKE

‘Oh, kitten, I could eat you all up.’
‘Hold on Tiger. Take it slowly.’
***
The Director looked at the take. He’d been too late calling ‘cut!’
It was one hell of a mess.
The Producer said: ‘Are you sure this is a good idea? We’re running out of actors.’
‘I’m gonna direct a romance if it’s the last thing I do,’ he bit back.
***
The Director went round all the studios, but could he get another producer?
Could he hell. As they said: ‘You’ve been through 5 already.’
‘But I’ve got an appetite for this film.’
Which was one way of putting it.
***
Later, the geneticist said: ‘Why don’t you use the voiceovers as actors again?’
‘Humans!?’
Enraged, the Director was on his haunches once more.
Luckily it was the last geneticist.
The Director went back to the jungle, destined to remain a nature documentary star.
I guess mimicking can only go so far.

86 comments on “Rattler’s Tale #7

  1. It’s hard to separate which conspiracies are real and which are made up now, there are so many of them. Aliens living among us might be the least of our problems!

  2. Dear Anthony,

    It’s hard to know which conspiracy theories to believe these days, isn’t it? I certainly didn’t expect anyone to remove his head. Unique take on the prompt.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

  3. “He walked off, leaving Dick feeling a right namesake.” Great, Dickens-esque line. I got a smile out of that story, which I needed today. Thank you.

  4. Teehee! This time the conspiracy theorists were right – and they never knew it! Droll take on the prompt.

  5. He needed a big stick to make that animal behave. Actually a folded newspaper would probably ‘do the trick.’
    ..

  6. I enjoyed this leap of your imagination, though at the rate we’re going, it might turn into a prophetic poem. Smiles. Nothing would surprise me any more.

  7. I love the image of a conspiracy theorist, jumping for joy at rootkit and worms! But Bob’s the more interesting of the two, especially the irony of a ‘logical chap who never lost his head’ taking it off to the Mothership. I clapped at ‘No more blondes’.

  8. Rootkit and worms – I saw what you did there. The wicked twist from a director’s chair – Ha!. If I didn’t appreciate the dark humor now and then, I’d be a little shocked.

  9. I can see by the comments that I should read the entire post, but this time round, I only read “an unusual take”–unusual indeed! Hazardous duty, all around, until the director heads back to the forest, ego hardly diminished. Well done.

  10. Both are so extremely clever, but you really got me with the first! You could be the next Rod Serling.

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