For my last post of the year I’m sharing one of my personal favourite prompt pieces! For this exercise our group still had words picked at random: boat and toast, but also the addition of a theme which was ‘An unexpected guest’.
Ark Life
I hadn’t seen workmanship like that in all my hundred and ten years, and never since. The ark was three storeys high, cavernous. The vessel was packed to the rafters and everyone was in such a rush. I preferred a slower pace in life myself.
A tray of canapés passed me and I politely declined. The animals were so pompous. Supposedly everyone who’d gotten an invite was elite in their species, well, according to our enigmatic host. I didn’t like it but then again I didn’t much like the thought of drowning in a flood either.
‘Why tortoise, old boy,’ a voice called. I grimaced as Mr Horse and his wife trotted towards me.
‘Mr and Mrs Horse. You’re both looking well,’ I said, regretfully. They were young and proud, and an event such as this only fuelled their sense of self-worth.
Mr Horse raised his top hat and shook his mane gleefully. ‘Good to see you made it, old chap. So what do you know about this Noah fellow, eh?’
‘Not much. Heard he lived a simple life but then how’d he pay for an ark like this?’
‘Mm, quite,’ said Mr Horse grabbing a champagne flute from a passing tray.
‘Ohh no,’ Mrs Horse lamented staring through me.
‘What is it?’ I asked, twizzling my neck about my shell.
‘Who invited the Unicorns?’ She almost choked on the word.
‘I thought we took the invite from their mailbox,’ Mr Horse said through gritted teeth.
‘That’s loving thy neighbour,’ I muttered.
‘NEIGH-bour – good one old sport!’ Mr Horse whinnied slapping me on the shell. I fell onto my back from the force and cursed under my breath.
‘Why if it isn’t our good friends the Horses,’ Mrs Unicorn beamed as the couple strutted into view.
‘Eunice, hiii!’ Mrs Horse grinned. You didn’t need to live a hundred years to see through her.
I teetered futilely on my shell while the horses and unicorns engaged in their vacuous conversation. On the edge of despair, I felt the force of a nudge and was back on my feet again. Ms. Hare smiled down at me.
‘Looks like you got a lucky break there, sugar,’ she smirked. ‘That there’s not a conversation to be stuck in the middle of.’
I forced a smile. ‘Two-faced sycophants. Insufferable, those horses. ’
‘Just let them be bitter. If this flood’s gonna be as catastrophic as Noah’s saying it is, hell, we’re gonna need a little magic in our lives,’ said Ms. Hare. ‘I’m telling you, those two have always been jealous of the charm and the horns. That’s always been the elephant in the room.’ I stopped short of telling her that there were two.
‘Well this has been swell, Mr Tortoise but, oooo mercy, I think I’ve just seen my date,’ she said, stroking her ears back. ‘Would you look at the size of those feet!’ She hopped into the crowd leaving me aimless.
‘You did bring your tickets with you? Didn’t you?’ I overheard Mr Horse say to the unicorns.
‘Well… no, no we didn’t,’ said Mr Unicorn in a panic. ‘I mean… we heard from Noah directly. Didn’t we dear? ’
‘Oh dear oh dear,’ Mrs Horse crooned. ‘Security is so tight here. Without your ticket you might… be removed.’
‘Oh heavens,’ said Mrs Unicorn. ‘But if we didn’t get a ticket-’
‘Well wait now just a minute, you must surely have got one and missed it. I mean you two would be first on the list!’ Mr Horse continued. ‘We’ll just have to tell Noah to hold on, won’t we hon? You can still make it home to the valley at a gallop and be back in time.’
Oh he was a fine performer.
‘Why yes. Yes it’s all flat,’ Mrs Horse assented. ‘We’ll go find Noah right now.’
‘You are dear, dear friends,’ said Mrs Unicorn.
‘Well, you’d do the same for us I’m sure,’ Mrs Horse smiled. I watched the unicorns race from the ark before I could utter a word. I gave chase as fast as my body would carry me, which unfortunately for the unicorns was nowhere near quick enough. In two of my steps Mr Horse had leapt to the edge of the ark and kicked at the gangway. There was a loud splash moments later.
I stared aghast at the duplicitous pair. Mr Horse raised a champagne flute jovially. ‘How about a toast, old boy? To the future.’
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