Flash Fiction
Quick reads by Neil Colquhoun
THE GUITAR
Day 1. The boy runs towards the brightly coloured wrapping. He tears his present open and squeals with delight as it reveals the Soundmaster guitar. A legend adorns it:
‘Never plays a wrong note.’ He is delighted as he strums the strings.
Day 11. The boys still bounds out of bed to play the guitar. Today he plays “Stairway To Heaven” and laughs for a full ten minutes afterwards.
Day 14. The boy shows frustration for the first time. Again and again, he bends the strings in the wrong direction, but the notes still resonates perfectly.
Day 16. The boy is crying as he smashes the guitar against the floor. His hands are bleeding as the strings cut into his flesh. Each time it strikes the floor, the guitar rings out with an exquisite F sharp.
Conclusion. The boy has lasted four days longer than the previous subject, but is still some three days off the record. Have the child replaced and restart experiment.
MONSTERS
When I was younger, my father had a furious temper. He’d often hit me and my mother. But once I got old enough, I learned how to use that fury.
‘Dad! Here’s a monster under the bed!’ He came in and roared, ‘Any monsters in here are gonna get a kickin’ if they keep my boy awake!’
Then a monster came out from under the bed and ate him.
‘Thanks, Frank.’
‘No problem, Neil.’
TEXTING
I’ve just sent you a text.
When I’m at my best, I imagine you looking at it and smiling because it’s funny.
When I’m at my worst, I imagine you with your head on the muscular chest of the man you’ve just had a night of passion with, passion I could never emulate.
He’s asleep, and as he breathes, your head rises and falls. You’re looking at my text and smiling because it’s funny.