The challenge? Write a story in exactly 6 sentences based on Denise’s one word prompt: BENEFIT. Visit, comment, and write & post your own on SIX SENTENCE STORIES. The Café is open. Come as you are!
[I have no explanation for this one, but still, I’m not sorry!]
Glorg gripped his leather belt at either side of his round belly, and stepped boldly into a shop that smelled like fresh mown grass and cooled barbecue grill, tipping his head as much as his neckless body would allow, smiling in satisfaction at the sheer masculinity (as he imagined it to be) of the enterprise.
He’d just arrived on the little green planet, Neptiliad, and was hoping to make a good impression on the local, interstellar population, enough to catch himself a mate and start reaping the benefits of matrimonial bliss.
Sealeste the shopgrill gazed at him from her one good eye and seductively wrapped a spinal tentacle around her upper arm; she’d seen his type before, the type that had worked all their life, moving from planet to planet accumulating credits and ripping tales of adventure, realizing only too late that there was more to life than solo weightless encounters with anonymous creatures of every literal stripe and shape.
At least, that’s how she’d felt when she’d retired from the Force.
Showing him to the booth, she leaned him back against the forty five degree angle table, adjusting and strapping the transfer cap under his armpits (because he didn’t really have a chin, either), then stepping into the next booth, quickly setting up her own matching transfer cap and throwing the switch to the machine; this was the best part of the job: swapping out consciousnesses with other bodies in order to try out a different life.
One day, she’d find the right one, the right life, and she’d stay there forever.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2024)
Valley of the Trolls 
Ah, wouldn’t we all want to step into another life sometimes, at least for a short while.
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If only it were that easy! Thanks , Mimi!
(Sorry it’s been taking so long for me to respond. WP keeps sliding you into my Spam folder!)
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What a fun read! Plus, giggle, giggle – one eye and how many legs… or arms, perhaps?
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Glad you enjoyed, Chris! It was fun to write with a twist at the end. Arms, legs, tentacles, maybe all of the above? 😁
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I was hooked at “stepped boldly into a shop that smelled like fresh mown grass and cooled barbecue grill” … what a perfect olfactory entrance for a Six!
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Thanks Misky. Always good to follow one’s nose, yes?
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Repeating myself… I do like how your neuron synapses work, Liz!
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(fzzt…fzzt…POP!) :-D
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damn! we need one of those at the Six Sentence Cafe & Bistro!
… wait a minute! we do, sorta*
what a fun Six
*implied in the signs discretely hung over the doors to the restrooms, ‘Do You Know Where Your Keyboard Is?’
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Maybe replace the dim lighting, or I need to drink less and look up when I’m visiting the WC? Thanks, Clark!
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A very interesting story, Liz. I’m glad that you did this one. I hope that Sealeste finds a right fit soon.
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Me too, though the journeys have been enlightening! Thank you, Shweta!
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You’re welcome 🤗
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You shouldn’t be sorry and who needs an explanation! Let yourself go, Liz! That was a fun read…”tipping his head as much as his neckless body would allow”. What’s not to love about that!
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It WAS fun.😝
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Glorg is a great name for someone with the round belly and no chin. I wonder if Sealeste is going to like being him.
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Time will tell! And if at first you don’t succeed…😆
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Well, in a way he found his woman….he became her!
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And she’s one step closer to finding the life she wants. Win win!!🤩😂
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That was quite a fun story.
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Thank you, Joanne! ‘Twas fun to write!
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Jeez, Liz! I’m not sure why you did this either but I’m sure glad you did! Highly entertaining. I love it!
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My inner weird bad outer now. 😂😂
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😂
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