FICTION - SHORT STORY BONUS
A MAD MAN IN THE CITY
Julian finally left his village when there was no one left living there. He had never left his beloved village before, but intrigued by the fact that everyone had gone to the city, he decided to go and see for himself what wonderful things those cities had. So he packed a knapsack with a few clothes, put on his best smile, and off he went to the city.
On reaching the city, he was given a most unexpected welcome. A couple of policemen stopped Julian and questioned him in great detail. It turned out that Julian had seemed 'suspiciously happy' for someone with hardly any possessions. In the end, the police had to let him go, but they were still suspicious about this apparently simple and good-natured fellow.
The first thing Julian noticed about the city was all the rushing around. Everyone was in such a hurry that he thought that there must be something special
happening that day, which no one wanted to miss. Curious as to what it was, Julian started following a man who looked like he was hurrying to see whatever it was that was happening. However, after several hours following him, the man arrived at a small flat and went inside. He had done or seen nothing of interest that whole day.
That night Julian slept in a park. The park was strewn with bits of paper and plastic. As the bins were completely empty, Julian thought how cool it was that the city had seemingly invented plants with petals made of paper and plastic. He only believed this until the following morning, when a man came by and dropped his chocolate wrapper.
Julian carried on walking through the city streets, trying to understand what was going on, when he arrived at a group of big warehouses, which many people were entering. "This must be the best museum in the world," he thought, on entering, and seeing all the useless- looking things they had inside. But then he saw that people were picking these things up, paying for them, and taking them away.
"Why would anyone want a watch which doesn't show the minutes?" he wondered to himself, after seeing a woman very contentedly leaving with the most modern of watches on her wrist. He thought pretty much the same when seeing a pair of shoes with impossibly high heels, and then some electronic device which did a thousand things, and none of them well. Once again, he decided to follow the lady with the watch. He saw her joy turn into disappointment when her friends gave her new watch a look of disapproval. Julian started regretting having left his village, just to come to this place where no one seemed happy.
Then he saw a few kids playing. Now, they certainly did seem happy, playing, running about, chasing each other. Except for one child, who seemed troubled by a little machine they were calling a console. He was hitting it so hard with his fingers, and making all kinds of faces and angry gestures, that when one of the other children came over to invite him to play with them, the boy with the console just rudely walked away. Julian thought that the boy was trying to destroy that little machine because it was making him so unhappy. He decided to help the boy. Julian went over, took the console, threw it on the ground, stamped on it, and looked at the boy with great satisfaction.
At this the boy flew into a rage, as did all the other children there, and nearly all
the adults. They pursued Julian so relentlessly that he had to run away. He didn't stop running until he reached the road leading back to his village.
As he was making his way home he couldn't help wondering whether the whole world had gone mad.
End Of Story ....
Oh, the Horror . . .
Emma and her husband, Jerry, like to watch movies. No, actually, Emma and Jerry love to watch movies. They have only one tiny problem. They never like the same movies . . .
Emma likes horror movies. She likes the fear and the blood.
Jerry, on the other hand, hates horror movies. He hates the fear and the blood. He likes love stories. He likes romantic couples and happy endings.
Emma hates romantic movies. She thinks they are silly and boring. At first, they don’t know they have such different tastes in movies.
Emma comes home. “Oh, my goodness!” She calls out. “Jerry! You have to come with me to the movies. There is this amazing new movie! I must watch it.”
“Which one is it?” “The Bloody Ax.”
Jerry thinks about it for a second, “Hmm . . . doesn’t it sound a bit weird?”
“Of course not, silly! It seems like an amazing movie. We must watch it.” Emma laughs at him.
“Well, if you say so. Let’s go for it.”
Two hours later, Jerry is sitting in the movie theater, screaming. Five minutes later he is running to the bathroom to throw up.
“Oh, my goodness, Emma. I didn’t know this is what you meant when you said ‘amazing!’ I don’t think I can watch a movie like this again.”
“It’s OK, Jerry,” she says. “I guess you don’t like horror movies as much as I do.” A few days later, Jerry comes home.
“Emma!” he calls out. “Listen! You have to come with me to the movies. There is this fantastic new movie! We must watch it.”
“Which one is it?” “Sun, Love, and Hope.”
Emma thinks about it for a second, “Hmm . . . doesn’t it sound a bit silly?”
“Of course not, Emma! It seems like a fantastic movie. We must watch it.” Jerry laughs at her.
“Well, if you say so. Let’s go for it,” Emma agrees.
Two hours later Emma is sitting in the movie theater, completely stiff. Five minutes later she is running away in terror.
“Oh, my goodness, Jerry. I didn’t know this is what you meant when you said ‘fantastic!’ I don’t think I can watch a movie like this again.”
Jerry looks at her and says, “Well, I guess you don’t like romantic movies as much as I do.”
“That’s right,” Emma agrees. “What are we going to do? Will we ever go to the movies together again?”
Jerry thinks about it for a moment and then answers, “I guess we will have to wait for a horror love story. You know, a boy meets a girl, they fall in love, and then she eats him!
End of story...
AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP
One night, three thieves stole a lot of money from a rich man’s house. They put the money in a bag and went to the forest. They felt very hungry. So, one of them went to a nearby village to buy food. The other two remained in the forest to take care of the bag of money. The thief that went for food had an evil idea. He ate his food at a hotel. Then he bought food for his two mates in the forest. He mixed a strong poison with the food. He thought, “Those two will eat this poisoned food
and die. Then I will get all the money for myself.” Meanwhile, the two wicked men in the forest decided to kill their mate on return. They thought that they would divide the money between the two of them. All the three wicked men carried out their cruel plans. The thief who wanted all the money for himself came to the forest with the poisoned food. The two men in the forest hit him and killed him. Then they ate the poisoned food and died.
Thus, these evil people met with an evil end.
Ends...
EAGLES IN A STORM
Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.
When the storms of life come upon us – and all of us will experience them – we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow
God’s power to lift us above them.God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm.