Sunday, February 11, 2007

Stay back Moses

Gabriel hated detention. It was such a bore, sitting in an empty classroom, completing some mindless task. And it wasn’t his fault anyway. It was that prig Michael, with his shining metal ruler and his Monitor badge. He’d been asking for it. But Mr. Jaweh would never punish Michael. Oh no. Michael was Mr. Jaweh’s favourite. So it was Gabriel who’d ended up staying back after hours, copying “Thou shalt not throw chalk in the classroom” five hundred times. What a pain.

By the three hundredth line, Gabriel was drowning in boredom. He needed a break. He didn’t dare move from his chair, though – if Mr. Jaweh caught him he would have to spend a whole week scribbling out some stupid edict or the other. Staring at the lines laid out before him, ten to a page, Gabriel had an idea. Why not make up his own lines? Like “Thou shalt not make love to a goat”. Or “Thou shalt not bathe Mr. Jaweh’s beard in gasoline and set fire to it”. Staring at the words on the page, Gabriel felt a moment of panic at their terrible finality. Then he chuckled. This was fun.

Ten minutes later, Gabriel heard footsteps. Mr. Jaweh must be coming to check on him. With desperate haste, Gabriel tore the pages with the offending lines from his notebook, slipped them under his desk. When Mr. Jaweh had gone (having scolded Gabriel for writing so slowly) he slipped them out from their hiding place, put them away in his bag. It was strange though. He could have sworn there had been three pages but now there were only two. As he went back to work, he wondered, idly, where the third one had got to.

[One of my three entries for the Caferati Flash Fiction contest (where, as usual, I won nothing - I don't know why I even bother). The second tomorrow. The third at some undefined point in the future]

5 comments:

Chronicus Skepticus said...

Heh! I loved this, as I loved the chapstick story (you're so sweet, you use chapstick! :D) and all the others in between.

As for the caferati contests, you 'n me both, Falstaff. I'm beginning to think that entries don't pass the screening round unless they're long-drawn and morose and filled with references to frangipani (a curse upon the shrub!), mangoes, incense and snotty children. Bah!

Chronicus Skepticus said...

Err...also, not that you asked, but I *liked* the old template!

:(

Revealed said...

Hehehehe. Loved it.

Vaijayanthi Ben said...

Falstaffjeee, yeh gabriel kaun hai?

aapka roz ka khayaali pulao bada hi dilchasp hai.. yeh aapki nechral teylent hai naa? bahut khoob!

Aap humaare awaards mein hissa lenge?

Falstaff said...

chronicus skepticus: Using chapstick isn't really an option - when you get to the point when rubbing your hand across your mouth leaves you scarred, you go out and buy a chapstick.

And for the record, I wasn't necessarily dumping on the caferati contest (though I must admit being tempted to submit a Kafka short under an assumed name and seeing how it scores). 300 word stories are just not my strength. *makes mental note to include frangipani reference next time around*

revealed: Thanks

vaijayanthi ben: Zaroor zaroor? Is naacheez ke liye isse badi garv ki baat kya ho sakti hai?

Aap farishta gabreel ko nahin janti? Aashcharya ki baat hai. Lagta hai aapne salman rushdie ka upanyaas saatnik bherses nahin padha.