And Only I Am Left To Tell the Tale

/ Liz H-H
Red Phone booth overlooking a lush country village with a marina and a few boats, mountains and blue sky in the background.

© Ayr/Gray

From Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr’s photo prompt, The Unicorn Challenge(11/10/23). No more than 250 words in length. Otherwise, let your creative flag fly!

In the days of yore, a peaceful village nestled in the arms of a twinkling ocean inlet and rolling flat fields, graced with beautiful and unique birds. For years, the village was content with its few sailing boats, small school, single church, and a millenary that made the finest hats. Each hat was graced with an iridescent tail feather from those birds, who monthly shed just one tail feather, enough to suit the vanity of the townsfolk.

A little vanity is not a bad thing, but word spread of the singular beauty of these hats. The major’s distant cousin came to visit and left with a hat. Soon, kings and queens, captains of industry, and certain clergy all had to have one. Instead of collecting tail feathers, children were withdrawn from the village school to forcibly pluck them.

Neither birds nor children cared for this arrangement. Desperate, they called on the Mad Man in a Blue Box for rescue. Sadly, an interstellar recession was on and The Doctor was trapped, mid-regeneration. Instead, Donna arrived in a red phone booth, and green piper’s suit to match her lustrous red locks. Marching from one end of town to the other, she picked up birds and children, leading them into a mountain range that rose up, cracked open, and swallowed them all.

On clear nights, you can hear children screaming joy on hidden roller coasters. Or maybe it’s Donna, calling for The Doctor to save her from all those kids and shitting birds.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2023)

24 thoughts on “And Only I Am Left To Tell the Tale”

  6. The moment I read “a peaceful village” I knew it wasn’t. Why did I know? How did I know? Because I’ve read your tell tale tall stories before! ;)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Hello!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.