Past midnight, but I still haven’t made it to bed yet, so I consider it under the wire! [Also, my level of sleepiness may possibly be reflected in the silliness of this prose…]
The Effect of Entropy
Entropy Tok was an enigma.
Where her father, Erasmus Tok, was effective and expeditious in action, Entropy…? Was not.
Entropy tried — she really tried, but somehow, wherever she went chaos seemed to follow.
On the evening of the eleventh, Erasmus entreated Entropy to effect an endeavour.
He wanted to eat an egg for dinner. She had an hour to make it happen.
Now, Erasmus appreciated expediency, though he accepted that Entropy, as a human, might occasionally err. Luckily, when he held Entropy to a high standard, it was an expectation she was inclined to endorse. Erroneously.
But Entropy was nothing if not an optimist. And so she set out.
It seemed an elementary exercise. A brief expedition to the egg emporium. An eager entrance, an economic transaction and an enthusiastic exit.
Except… Entropy entered the exit door. [Who among us can say they have not done the same at least once in our lives? Exactly.]
By entering the exit, she emerged at the wrong end of the escalator. Undeterred, and after an excess of exercise, Entropy arrived at the top, only to be met by an enraged employee.
When Entropy explained, however, the employee relented and expedited the sale of the eggs.
In exultation, Entropy returned home, only to ensnare her elbow in the electrical cord of the frying pan. The eggs came to an elegiac end.
My eggs are gone, cried Erasmus, his empathy exhausted.
Not gone, dad, replied his enterprising daughter. Nog!*
The Entropy Effect, enacted.
*Nog, of course, being the reverse of ‘gone’…without the e.
***
For the month of December, my goal is to post a piece of festive flash fiction here to the blog every day. Twenty-five stories, each 250 words or fewer — a little fictional festivity to brighten the darkest month of the year. For readers, I offer these stories as a moment of peace within a hectic month of busy. And writers? If you’d like to join me, I’ll feature any flash fiction you’d like to share!
More soon…
~kc