Vignettes by Me, on Themes Picked Randomly: Day Four

Theme 965: Dancing

“Hey, hey, Feculent, are you there!?” Procrustes hoarsely whisper-yelled into the hole under the basin pipe in the far corner of his cell. Crouching lower still, he strained to move his shock of ear hair closer to the hole. Soon he heard a creak of bedslats and a sullen shambling.

“What is it?” queried the voice of Feculent, made tinny by its journey through the plumbing between the two cells.

“You won’t believe what’s happened!” Procrustes whisper-cried in response.

“I won’t?”

“No, I doubt anyone would, but I know you can trust me, er, that I can trust you, correct? So I’ll tell you.”

“Fine. Go ahead.”

“Remember the two big mayflies I told you about yesterday? The ones stuck between the screen and the outer bars of my window slit?”

“Of course. The mayflies.”

“Well, I’ve taught them to dance!”

“Hm. Are you sure they didn’t already know how to dance?” Feculent wannishly susurrated.

“No! You see, I’ve established a mental link with them. My mental tuning ability has progressed to such a level, I can communicate with insects. I can even elevate them to a higher level of consciousness. You should see these two dance!” The thought was exciting Procrustes, clearly, since glistening globules were forming on his forehead.

“What did you teach them? The jitterbug?”

“No, nothing so sophisticated, only a little jig of my own invention. Can’t you see the potential in it, though, Feculent? This is only the beginning. Imagine a vast swarm at my command. They would have to let us out then. My swarm would give them no choice!”

“You may be right,” Feculent admitted. “I have some business to attend to now, though, in bed. Keep me updated.” There followed once more the sullen shuffle and the creak of bedslats.

“Yes, I will, I will!” Procrustes rasped. He stood up and turned his eyes with pride to the window slit. Two mayflies crouched in the pale lightwell, twitching.



Explanatory Postscript: When I say “picked randomly,” I mean picked from a Master List that I’ve compiled of 999 themes intended to serve as creative writing prompts (from the following sources: 501 Writing Prompts; 25 Creative Writing Prompts; Examples of Themes; List of Themes; 365 Creative Writing Prompts; 100 Themes Challenge Writing Prompts; List of Journal Ideas; and Top 10 Types of Story Themes). To pick a theme at random, I roll three ten-sided dice (the first for the hundreds place digit, the second for the tens, and the third for the singles) and find the theme under the number I have rolled. If I hit a theme I have already written on, I roll again. If I ever roll 000, I make up a theme. The Master List is a secret, so don’t ask for it.