Brevity and Gravity

Submitted by paperpoet on Mon, 05/17/2010 - 15:13

3/31/09

Brevity and Gravity This is a brief, grave story involving fleas, gravity and irony. There once was a flea (as promised), who lived with the circus. He was a circus flea, to be precise and factual. His name was Freddy, (a rather novel name for a circus flea, at least in my mind.) His performing buddies were fleas named Timmy and Jimmy and together they made up ‘The Fantastic Fleas!’ (The novelty continues....Till now, that is.) For on a lovely circus day during a lovely circus practice, three fleas were defying gravity with their amazing, breathtaking stunts. How they had gotten away with it for so long, nobody knows, but in any case, gravity does not like to be defied. And in such cases of conflict, who is there to lend a hand but irony! So as the fleas practiced their marvelous jumps and leaps, blissfully unaware of unseen forces, they hoisted Freddy on their shoulders for their most spectacular trick of all- The amazing Triple Leap Double Twirl! Timmy and Jimmy would stand on the bottom, holding Freddy high, and all three would jump up into the air and twirl down again, landing in their starting position- a crowd favorite! Freddy leapt up in the air, followed by Timmy and Jimmy and began the first twist when suddenly something happened. Whether Freddy made a fatal mistake that enable gravity to snatch him to his doom or irony itself cruelly pulled Freddy into the clutches of gravity, we will never know. Nevertheless, Freddy fell. Hard. No amazing flip, no graceful twirls eased his decent. Just a fall, a collapse, a failure. Freddy lay motionless on the soft shaved wood floor of the circus tent. My reader, you probably think that Freddy has died. You maybe even suspected that he would perish at the beginning of this story! Ha! Irony delights in the unexpected and that is exactly what you should be expecting! Congratulations to those who were. But anyway, Irony has not finished her part in this story. The fall on that day did not kill Freddy. But it managed to break his legs-and his heart. Freddy would never perform under the big top again, due to his injuries, but he could not bear to leave the circus. Freddy resigned himself to ticket sales. And whenever the Fantastic Fleas preformed (with their new partner, Kimie), he would always watch. Always remembering, always dreaming of those days gone by and the day that it all had ended. So, my reader, as you may recall I said this story would be brief and it was. Not the briefest perhaps, but brief nevertheless. Gravity was promised and you received it in all its forms. And irony! Oh the irony! Even the fleas could not flee from it! THE END

Author's age when written

Genre

Fiction