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The Dead Fly On My Window Sill
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The Dead Fly On My Window Sill |
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jbouder Member Elite
since 1999-09-18
Posts 2534Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash 
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The fly was definitely dead. Its crooked legs, frozen in painful contortions, shot from its thorax and its pitted wings stretched at near-right angles from the fly’s back. From a distance, the dead insect corpse resembled a crumpled piece of black string or pocket lint. From a closer vantage point the ruby colored, faceted eyes, once iridescent, were sunken and dull, the facets having long since collapsed on themselves, leaving unpleasant looking pits in the fly’s head. The poor vermin looked as though it had been pain during its last fly-hour. *** The gargantuan, hairless ape approached and there was nowhere to fly except against the curious, wire mesh that blocked the route to the roofless-world. The hideous creature reached for and pulled down a large wall with a number of transparent plates mounted in it, but not before it teased the senses with its appetizing scent. Trapped. Food. Food. Food! Panic! The fly flew wildly about its prison, indiscriminately colliding into the walls of its cell and oblivious to the serious damage it was causing to its own, fragile wings. Inevitably, the exhausted pest settled to the cell floor. Fly-weeks passed and the effects of chronic malnutrition began setting in. The abdominal pains were excruciating, reminding the hapless fly that it really should not have eaten that second mote of paint. Not only was the lack of succulent, decaying flesh a cause for concern, but also the bright, roofless-world light had moved in the sky and was beginning to bake the hapless fly. Never, from the time it was a squirming maggot in a swollen carcass, did it ever imagine it would go out this way. Disappointed, the fly died. *** Later that day, clouds began forming in the late afternoon sky and a torrential wind and rain pounded the sill where the emaciated fly was lying in peaceful, eternal sleep. A small stream of water began forming between the window and the old screen. The small stream gradually increased in size and velocity and, in little time, washed the small, black cadaver toward a small opening at the base of the screen that the fly had most certainly overlooked. Without a sound or an audience, the dead fly plunged to the grass below, never to be seen again. [This message has been edited by jbouder (edited 08-02-2000).] |
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| © Copyright 2000 Jim Bouder - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Hello Jim! Good to see you in here!  Very interesting subject...LOL... Personally, I HATE flies! I wonder how many I've so unsuspectingly killed in this manner. (Not that I feel the slightest bit of regret despite the somewhat empathetic way you wrote about this particular pest!) I like how you snapped from now - static, to then, to now - action. It provided a neat little look at the short lifespan of a...ick.. fly. Cool! Chris Oh - And I think you meant "mote" not "moat!" (Unless they painted in odd spots near a castle the fly had recently visited!  ) |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
Amazing! Take an insignificant (to me) event and make it seem so important..so REAL..this is great Jim. Your talent is showing! |
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Dusk Treader
Moderator
Senior Member
since 1999-06-18
Posts 1187St. Paul, MN |
A dead fly... of all the main characters, you had to pick a fly? Ick... But it sure is an interesting take on a commonplace event.. But, let's stop before we get the fly soap operas  Great story, enjoyed the read much.Abrahm Simons "Keep on dreamin' boy 'cause when you stop dreaming it's time to die" - Blind Melon |
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jbouder Member Elite
since 1999-09-18
Posts 2534Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash |
Hey guys: Thanks for the replies. This is actually an odd-ball piece I dug out of my college comp. files and decided to re-work. Thanks for the "mote" catch, Christopher (grrrrr ... when will they make a perfect spell-check!?!). Abe ... no fly-soap operas are planned for any time in the near future so you can rest easy. Sharon ... the event was pretty insignificant to me too ... but it DID serve to cure the bout of writers block I was having and I was able to get the story turned in on time. Thanks for reading and replying. Jim P.S. Just realized that when I first wrote this, Abe was just learning how to spell.  Man ... I'm getting old. |
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