48 Hour Short Story Contest

It was an argument that never should have happened,” Janis said. I offered an agreeable nod and paid for the tickets; we followed the crowd into the convention center. I knew it wasn’t the argument, per se, that kept us apart all those years. Sure, she overreacted, but my stupid pride was what really sabotaged our friendship. Actually, it was more than a friendship. More like an unspoken understanding that we would eventually marry, have two children, a dog, a Minivan, and a house in the suburbs. The frenzied emotion all around me took me back twenty years. It was like watching a rerun of a bad movie in my head. I couldn’t turn it off. There I stood with a hammer in my hand.

“Stop it, Seth,” Janis said. “Surely you’re not going to smash that grasshopper.”

“The next one that spits on this picnic table is a goner. A person only gets one high- school graduation party.”

“Quit playing around. Just because you have a diploma, and repaired the table, doesn’t give you the right to kill an innocent creature.”

“That sounds like some typical girl malarkey.”

“Is that so? How long have we known each other?”

“Ever since I pulled your ponytail in kindergarten, and I’ve never known you to be squeamish . . . Is everything all right?”

“I don’t know, Seth. I went against my parent’s wishes when I decided on Ohio State. It hurt their feelings, even though they’re going along with everything. They know the only reason I didn’t choose their alma mater was so I could be with you, and, well, I don’t know. Everything is changing so fast. It’s like Mr. Harris said yesterday in his commencement address. ‘The decisions we make now will affect us forever’—that got me thinking. I’ve been following you around ever since you pulled my ponytail. I don’t guess I’ve missed more than one or two of your football games since junior high. My family changed their plans plenty of times to make that happen. What have you ever changed for me?”

I couldn’t believe what I’m hearing. I was flabbergasted and huffed off leaving her alone at the table. I had no idea what was happening. Maybe I had taken Janis for granted. I assumed everything was copacetic. I couldn’t remember her ever asking me for anything of importance, and she always went along with whatever I wanted. I marched back to the table. “After I got my football scholarship, it only made sense for you to choose Ohio State. What’s going on? I thought you were happy.”

“We’re adults now, Seth. High school is over. We have more important things to discuss than which party we’re going to after the game, or your lucky shoe. Sure, I let you make those decisions. Adult life is going to be different. You’ll have to respect my ideas and make compromises. If we’re really going to be married someday, you can’t think my beliefs are malarkey.”

“It’s a damn bug! What has gotten in to you? We’re not getting married tomorrow, are we?”

“I don’t know,” Janis said. Her defiant expression highlighted her bright green eyes, flawless white skin and brown, wavy hair. “I guess I was waiting for you to decide if we would ever talk about it. But I can tell you this much. It’s not going to happen. I’m not marrying a person who thinks it’s all right to kill living things for no reason. I’m outta here.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Janis shot back, “If a bumble bee was about to sting me. I would kill it, if there wasn’t any other way. But that's different. It’s a matter of how a person views the world: the sanctity of life, one’s intentions, motives, and acceptance of the universe. How everything all fits together. Don’t you see?”

“You get all that from a bug?”

As she stood up, a tobacco-spitting grasshopper landed on the table between us. I swung the long-handled hammer and smashed the ugly creature to smithereens. Janis tilted her head and caught my eye. Her expression was strange. One I’d never seen.

Janis screamed, “I thought I knew you! I never really wanted to go to Ohio State anyway. Have someone bring me my CD’s. I’ll see what I have of yours and get it ready. Don’t come yourself. I don’t want to see you again.”

“Janis, if you mess this up, there won’t be any way to put it back together. You know how I am after I’ve made up my mind. Remember when I finished the championship game with a broken wrist?”

“Football stories. Is that all you have to say to me?”

“It was a silly insect.”

“No,” Janis said. “It’s way more that that. I don’t know what I expected from a football star that everyone treats differently. I just thought we were different.”


The rerun of the bad movie finally ended in my head. The usher guided us along; Janis and I found our seats just as the ringmaster began his announcements.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Greatest Animal Show on Earth! Direct your attention to my left.” A spotlight instantly hit the mark. “Please welcome Ramón the Great and his Amazing Leaping Canines.”

“I couldn’t believe it was you on the phone,” Janis said, hesitantly. She hadn’t made a peep since we entered the convention center. “I followed you career at Ohio State.”

“It was mediocre,” I said. “College football was a whole different ball game. It paid my way through school, though, and lifted a big burden off my parents, too. I know I’ve already said this, but I’m really glad you came. It means a lot to me. I was such an idiot for not returning your calls or letters. Janis, I ruined everything. I’m so sorry. When I found out you were teaching science at our old high school, I was ecstatic . . . anyway, I never forgot how much you loved the circus. Remember that time your dad took us in the fifth grade?”

“I sure do. Listen, Seth, don’t let this beat you up. I was young. My heart and mind were filled with questions to which I had no answers. You didn’t force anything on me. You weren’t the only one responsible for our relationship. We both played our part. When it came time to leave home, go to college, and face what might happen to us, I was frightened and heaped all my uncertainties on you. It wasn’t fair. For that, I apologize. That was twenty years ago. Let’s enjoy the show.”

“You’re right, of course. You always were smarter than this dumb jock. Back then, I was nothing but a clown.”

“You certainly have a different perspective now.”

“Janis, you don’t know the half of it.”

The Ringmaster took off his top hat, smartly flipped in the air, and then returned to its rightful place. “Ladies, gentlemen, and children of all ages, you’ve seen a parade of magnificent animals so far, but now, I have a very special treat. Please prepare yourselves for our new troupe—The Amazing Healing Gypsies!”

The spotlight hit the center ring and a band of colorful characters casually strolled out playing instruments: fiddles, mandolins, flutes, recorders, and tambourines of all variety. Several gypsies began setting up what appeared to be a storefront and a set of humongous scales. Soon, they were in the midst of a dramatic play. The music changed from flighty to melancholy as the action demanded.

An old man pleaded his case before the Kings of the Gypsies. Evidently, his crime was being lazy and not providing for his family. He emptied his pockets into one side of the scales, representing the good he had done since coming to his senses. The King ordered the tears of those who had been hurt by the lazy man be poured into the other side of the scale. An assistant quickly emptied a vessel. The balance was very close, but in the man’s favor. The King proclaimed forgiveness, and the lazy man and his family were joyfully reunited. The music took on a happy beat.

Next, a porcelain-skinned, green-eyed damsel peeked through of the storefront window and cried out in a sweet voice. “Oh King of the Gypsies. Let justice be done. My lover is misguided and betrayed the universal rule that all living creatures should be honored and protected.”

The handsome lad lowered his head in shame and emptied his meager offering into the scale. The assistant poured the damsel’s tears into the other side, and the scale quickly tipped against the young lad. The music turned melancholy, as in a funeral procession. The King pulled out a knife—to the collective gasp and “oh no’s” of the children in the audience. A muscle-bound gypsy forced the condemned lad to dress up as a clown, with a big red nose and oversized shoes. Suddenly a gypsy in a grasshopper costume, with a huge, floppy hammer, appeared in the storefront doorway. The hilarious-looking creature proceeded to spit tobacco juice and chase the young lad around the ring. Each time the grasshopper playfully hit the lad on the head the children laughed and the crowd clapped enthusiastically.

Janis burst out laughing and grabbed my hand. “So, this is why you brought me to the circus. When you make up your mind you go all the way. Ya know, I never did ask you what you did nowadays.”

“I’m part owner of the circus.”

“You got to be kidding me.”

“No way—I also produce The Amazing Healing Gypsies.”


(1605 words)