home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Xref: sparky talk.bizarre:46504 alt.prose:1726
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!caen!nic.umass.edu!titan.ucs.umass.edu!not-for-mail
- From: zgilbert@titan.ucs.umass.edu (Zvi Gilbert)
- Newsgroups: talk.bizarre,alt.prose
- Subject: Afternoon Tea
- Followup-To: talk.bizarre
- Date: 26 Jan 1993 03:07:51 -0500
- Organization: crystallized time
- Lines: 50
- Message-ID: <1k2rgnINN160@titan.ucs.umass.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: titan.ucs.umass.edu
- Summary: pathetic fallacy inverted
-
-
- As I raised the tea to my lips, a high pitched drumming sound
- coming from the cup made me look down. The tea looked... fluffy?
- And... grey? Startled, I put the cup down rather sharply in its
- saucer, tipping the milk over.
-
- A small and violent storm burst out of the cup in a shower of tiny
- drops. It was grey, tinged with white, and resembled nothing so
- much as a large baseball made of lint. It zigzagged around the
- room, wetting the floor in an irregular trail. Little flashes of
- lightning and high-pitched, soft thunder emanated from the small
- storm. It slowed down fairly quickly, and started drifting
- between the couch and the easy chair, as if they were the
- boundaries of some tropical zone. I sighed as water began to soak
- into the Persian carpet.
-
- "Dearest," I enquired, pitching my voice so as to penetrate to the
- next room, "were you at all angry when you made the tea?"
-
- Eugene emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dishtowel.
- "Well, not as such, darling... well, perhaps I was a tad miffed at
- what you said about my culinary abilities."
-
- "My dear," I said bitingly, "you *have* created a tempest in a
- teapot."
-
- His gaze slowly moved to take in the overturned tea things, the
- wetted floor and rugs, and the miniature storm now occupying the
- centre of the room. "Oh my," he breathed.
-
- My heart went out to him then, as an expression of remorse swept
- over his face. I motioned him forward him with one slender arm.
-
- "Eugene, my sweet, it's alright, really. And you know," I said,
- leaning forward casually and exposing my ample cleavage, "tropical
- storms always did make me... excited."
-
- He cocked one eyebrow, and sat down, grinning devlishly. "Shall
- we pour a cup or two more," he asked, "and perhaps turn out the
- lights?"
-
- And the last scene I will leave you with, gentle Reader, is the
- two of us coupling on the chaise lounge, while several miniature
- storms drift around in the room, occaisionally wetting our
- overheated limbs as they pass over, and several times striking us
- gently with little lightning prods.
-
-
- --Zvi Gilbert
- zgilbert@titan.ucc.umass.edu
-