Things to think about: CMOP

Showing posts with label CMOP. Show all posts

Sunday, 13 October 2024

Flash Fic Challenge: Bull in a Cake Shop

Bull in a Cake Shop

Alice looked up as the bell over the cake shop door chimed, marking the entrance of a customer. It had been a slow day, and the foul weather hadn't helped. In the cold and the wet, most people drifted to cafes where they could get a seat and a hot drink along with their cake, rather than here, where they would have to protect their cake all the way home.

The customer was tall and broad-shouldered, muffled in coat and hat and scarf against the weather. He tipped his head on one side, eyeing the cakes, and Alice heard an amused snort as he clearly spotted the cupcake of the day. It was small and round, with blue icing, and the outline of a yellow rubber duck on top.

He pulled a hand out of his coat pocket and pointed to the duck cake. “I'll take two,” he rumbled, his english slightly accented but clear. “It's good weather for ducks.”

Alice smiled at the old joke and moved briskly to bag them up. “Anything else, sir?”

He tipped his head the other way, eyed the selection and picked a few from the collection kept for the odd college up on the hill, where some of the people had - specialised - tastes.

Nobody talked about the college. Everyone local knew about it though. The college took everyone who wanted to learn, human or not, wealthy or not, powerful or not, and turned out smart, sensible, well-educated graduates who didn't so much as blink at people who were different from them.

Alice had taken courses there herself as had her wife (who was also her business partner). Now, she rang up the order with a knowing smile, looking up under the hat, and handed over his bag and his change.

The Minotaur looked back at her, winked one large brown eye, dropped a hefty tip in the jar and vanished back out into the wind and the rain, closing the door behind him as he went.

Sunday, 9 June 2024

Flash Fic Challenge: The Mysterious Aversion to the Obvious

The Mysterious Aversion to the Obvious

Sometimes, I swear, the practice of treating what should be obvious as a giant mystery really gets my goat statue. Emma Stone and the Mystery of the Roomful of Hats. Please. You can't think of a really blatant reason why a medusa like me might want to cover her 'hair' when out and about in a so-called 'normal' part of town? You think people like me never have to get groceries, or visit other people, or move through space from one location to the next?

Gee, do you think we just appear in a single room when it's convenient for you, and don't exist otherwise?

Or it's Emma Stone and the Mystery of the Giant Penny. Which, granted, is partly on me. Call me a fool, but I did expect people to actually use their eyes and notice that my bike has painted wheel--covers. Yes, they are painted like pennies, it's a reference to the early pennyfarthing bicycles, but honestly.

Use some common sense. Actually think about the world instead of jumping to wild conclusions about everything that's even a smidge outside of your concept of 'normal'.

Or don't, if you're feeling lucky. I can always take off my hat and sunglasses and make sure that you're actually as hardheaded as you act, if that's what you prefer?

Sunday, 11 February 2024

Flash Fic Challenge: Hammer and Tongs (and Bucket)

Hammer and Tongs (and Bucket)

(This is set in my Olson College universe. Enjoy)

The gym was supposed to be empty at this time. Or at least, empty except for me and my cleaning equipment.

Instead, there were a couple of young adults going at each other with blunted practice weapons and rather sharper words. (Judging by the tone, anyway. It wasn't a language I spoke.) This is a college though, and I've been working as a cleaner here for years, so I know how to deal with young fools, most of the time.

I'd say the pair were going at each other hammer and tongs, but given the weaponry involved, it was more like oversized hammer and shortswords.

They didn't notice me enter.

The water in my bucket bounced hopefully at me. (Water likes me, it knows I'm a water creature at heart, which is useful for cleaning, but for anything bigger than a bucketful or so it's more like a friendly wave in passing than an active help.) I glanced at the water, so that it was still clean, and flicked my fingers. "Go for it."

The water leapt out of the bucket, into the air, and came down on the youngsters' heads.

They spluttered. And finally noticed that I was there. The slightly shorter and slimmer one bowed an apology, and elbowed the other, who copied him.

Then they left, and finally, the gym was empty. The water rolled around on the floor, and I jabbed a finger at the bucket until it reluctantly hopped back in, and let me start mopping.