A short story for Valentine's: Greetings
Feb 14, 2022 6:36:43 GMT 1
AQUA KEN!, Indiana Jones, and 3 more like this
Post by LokisMom on Feb 14, 2022 6:36:43 GMT 1
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Did I order already? I asked myself when the doorbell rang. My cellphone laid dark on my coffee table, the pizza app no less untapped. Through the peephole where an adult face should have been there was nothing, however a tiny figure hovered at the bottom of the fisheye’s lenses. I opened up expecting to see a child soliciting for his school. Rather a miniaturized, a fully formed adult male smiled up at me, his proportions as perfect as a man three times his size.
“Good day, madam,” he smiled, bobbing his head in the way of an old-fashioned gentleman. “May I interest you in my line of greeting cards?” He didn’t sound like you'd expect but resonated with a deep voice. It carried on the wind as if an echo coming from faraway.
Before I could slam my door upon this weird peddler, he swung up his equally tiny leather briefcase and popped its little brass latches. The lid sprang open to reveal a stack no larger than a pack of playing cards. “I don’t need any, thank you.”
“But please just look at one of them, if you will?” he asked. “That way I can report to my superiors I attempted a sale.”
I indulged him and picked up the stack. They were not out of the ordinary, more like old greeting cards you might find in an antiques store. The covers were bland scenes of little red rosebuds or bluebirds carrying ribbons in their tiny beaks, all watercolor in faded, pastels. Even the card stock had a creamy texture.
“There’s nothing here that interests me,” I told him.
“Open one.” He persisted. I was getting mad, and my stomach agreed; I had a pizza to order. Even so, I looked down expecting to read some generic sentiment printed in an embossed script. When I raised my eyes, the evening dusk surrounded me. The tiny man was gone and in his place was my neighbor from across the breezeway.
“Are you okay?” she asked. Her look concerned.
“Ah, yes.” Though I didn’t think I was.
“I've been calling and calling your name. You just stood there staring at that thing in your hand. What is that?”
I held up the greeting card, but it was no longer a folded sheet of old paper. Now it was a thin sheet of cold metal with a surface that reflected no light.
My neighbor laughed as she walked to her own door. “A person could come up, knock you in the head, and rob you blind. You take care, now.”
I shut my door to dark and looked back at the thing in my hand. How had the man switched it? I looked about my apartment expecting things to be gone. Nothing was and all my money and credit cards were still in my purse.
“What the fuck,” I said out loud. The sheet of metal in my hand began vibrating and its surface lit up:
The greeting card had transformed again. In its place something I’d never seen in my life. I don’t think anybody could possibly have. Even now I can’t describe it only to say it was a portal to an unknown reality.
Thoughts of pizza were gone, as I would never be hungry for anything but my greeting card.
Greetings
Did I order already? I asked myself when the doorbell rang. My cellphone laid dark on my coffee table, the pizza app no less untapped. Through the peephole where an adult face should have been there was nothing, however a tiny figure hovered at the bottom of the fisheye’s lenses. I opened up expecting to see a child soliciting for his school. Rather a miniaturized, a fully formed adult male smiled up at me, his proportions as perfect as a man three times his size.
“Good day, madam,” he smiled, bobbing his head in the way of an old-fashioned gentleman. “May I interest you in my line of greeting cards?” He didn’t sound like you'd expect but resonated with a deep voice. It carried on the wind as if an echo coming from faraway.
Before I could slam my door upon this weird peddler, he swung up his equally tiny leather briefcase and popped its little brass latches. The lid sprang open to reveal a stack no larger than a pack of playing cards. “I don’t need any, thank you.”
“But please just look at one of them, if you will?” he asked. “That way I can report to my superiors I attempted a sale.”
I indulged him and picked up the stack. They were not out of the ordinary, more like old greeting cards you might find in an antiques store. The covers were bland scenes of little red rosebuds or bluebirds carrying ribbons in their tiny beaks, all watercolor in faded, pastels. Even the card stock had a creamy texture.
“There’s nothing here that interests me,” I told him.
“Open one.” He persisted. I was getting mad, and my stomach agreed; I had a pizza to order. Even so, I looked down expecting to read some generic sentiment printed in an embossed script. When I raised my eyes, the evening dusk surrounded me. The tiny man was gone and in his place was my neighbor from across the breezeway.
“Are you okay?” she asked. Her look concerned.
“Ah, yes.” Though I didn’t think I was.
“I've been calling and calling your name. You just stood there staring at that thing in your hand. What is that?”
I held up the greeting card, but it was no longer a folded sheet of old paper. Now it was a thin sheet of cold metal with a surface that reflected no light.
My neighbor laughed as she walked to her own door. “A person could come up, knock you in the head, and rob you blind. You take care, now.”
I shut my door to dark and looked back at the thing in my hand. How had the man switched it? I looked about my apartment expecting things to be gone. Nothing was and all my money and credit cards were still in my purse.
“What the fuck,” I said out loud. The sheet of metal in my hand began vibrating and its surface lit up:
Greeting from Another World
Roses are red and bluebirds take wing,
What you hold in hand is a marvelous thing.
Next time you are weary, just give me a call.
And all of your worries, away they will fall.
Thoughts of pizza were gone, as I would never be hungry for anything but my greeting card.