Worse than the disease

Posted on April 13, 2021 by ben Alexander

A d’Verse prosery prompt

If you are a dreamer, come in, come in. That’s right, Dear, just hang your rainbow up over there on the moose and make yourself at home. I’ll be out in a jiffy; I’ve just put the aquarium on – would you fancy some beer or artichoke juice? Do you take tonic or paprika? One spade or two? Oh, and I’ve also got some fresh tuna steaks to munch on – my gerbil made them just last week! Now, Dear, what have you come to see me about?

What? Nightmares? Oh, how dreadful! Well, luckily for you, I’ve got just the thing. Take a look in your left shoe; that’s where I keep my special headphones. Those will do the trick! Just plug that end into a prune and wrap the earbuds around your big toes before going to sleep – you’ll never have another nightmare, guaranteed!

It’s prosery time at d’Verse. The rules are simple:

Use an assigned line in the body of your prose. You may change the punctuation and capitalization, but you are not allowed to insert any words within the line itself. You can add words at the beginning and/or at the end of the line; but the line itself must remain intact.
Your prose can be either flash fiction, nonfiction, or creative nonfiction. YOU CAN NOT WRITE A POEM for this prompt. AND, your prose should be no longer than 144 words, sans title. It does not have to be exactly 144 words. But it can be no longer than 144 words.

The assigned line was:

If you are a dreamer, come in.
-Shel Silverstein, ‘Invitation’ (a poem)

71 thoughts on “Worse than the disease”

The photo in your post made me think of Salvador Dali, and your story entertained me. It was fun to read, and I like that I had no idea what was going to come up in each next sentence 🙂

ben Alexander April 13, 202111:19

Dave, to be honest with you, I had no idea what was going to come up in each next sentence until I wrote it!

Thanks!
David

I love that you went the Shel Silverstein nonsense route with this one, David! Great fun, especially the chatty tone, and the idea of hanging a rainbow up on a moose!