Speedy Deliveries

/ Liz H-H
Unusual bicycle, desribed in story

© Ayr/Gray

Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt, THE UNICORN CHALLENGE. (09/27/2024). No more than 250 words in length.

Theirs was an unusual match. If not made in Heaven, then it was surely not made for the other place down below, too hot for either one of them. Here in the Middle Lands, in a small seaside town in the furthest regions of the oldest French settlement in NewWorld Settlement Alpha-dash-oh-niner-three, Cecilia and Norman have found peace.                   

Norman, noted for the enormity of the Adams apple on his pencil thin neck, is also noted for the sleek strength of his grasshopper thick thighs. He’s the perfect delivery man: coke bottle lensed glasses detect every bump in the road, ropey arms and long-fingered hands smoothly steer his vehicle around every obstacle. Cecilia is safe to lift her thick head and emit a high-pitched shriek, warning pedestrians and lesser vehicles alike that they’re coming through. Their cargo must be delivered tout de suite, especially on sultry summer days.

What is their vehicle? Why, marvel at the picture accompanying this story, at the cleverness of the bicycle they invented together! Behold the long platform out front, where giant slug Cecilia lays on her belly wrapped in damp Nordic canvas, shrieking warning into the amplifier system, while Norman peddles and steers from the seat in back. Easily able to navigate to their delivery destinations with Norman’s GISMaps device, they deliver fresh escargot rapidemont, which Cecilia secures with her tail, under the cool of the canvas.

Someday, when they’ve earned a bit more money, they hope to start a family.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2024)

12 thoughts on “Speedy Deliveries”

  1. I’m with ceayr on this one… engaging as hell, finely detailed, but as the image fractals coalesced, I found my first response, Ewww.
    lol
    well done*

    *first Rule of Flash Fiction: Engage the Reader and make them react. lol

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  3. I love where prompts take people, Liz, and this is a belter.
    All the elements of the photo included in this glimpse of a ‘day in the life’ that could be an exerpt from a glossy lifestyle magazine.
    Brilliant.
    (Good to see you again, Liz.)

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    • Thanks Jenne! Death of a parent & the aftermath has been squeezing my creativity into challenging poetry. This was fun ad it let me go nutso-funzy! Great prompt pic!!

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