The Cereal Wish | Part 5
Fast & Short is a flash fiction collaboration between eight Literate Ape writers. Each was tasked with authoring one piece of flash fiction that would be combined to create a single short story. The writers’ flash fiction needed to serve two purposes: 1. Stand alone as a unique piece of flash fiction and 2. Serve as a vehicle for building a larger story and driving that story forward. Over the next two weeks, Literate Ape will publish all eight flash fiction stories individually with a link to the growing compilation. We hope you enjoy this literary experiment.
—DH2 , co-editors
By Sheri Reda
I WAKE UP LYING FLAT OUT IN THE ENTRY HALL CLOSET we never use because we are too lazy to open the door. I’m lying on boxes of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios I had wished into being. There are even some extras to make a pillow for my head. Melted chocolate is streaming out of the boxes like cookie blood. I can hear Maggie snuffling at the doorway.
So—I am not at Cheers anymore? I’d been so confined, it was brilliant to escape into TV Land. I forgot the ’80s were not exactly inclusive.
“Your Cheer’s wish is null,” says my genie. She has materialized over my head and can apparently read my mind. “Third Law of Votum Operandi. Violently imposed changes of consciousness null the reality of human wishes.”
I brighten, lift my head, moan, retreat. “So... I still have two wishes left?”
“Nope.”
Okay, I tell myself. Okay, but I do have one wish left.
“And no matter what I wish, you will act like the devil in Bedazzled? You will mess it up somehow?”
A sly smile. “I can’t tell you that.”
Yeah, well, I can do sly along with the best of them, I think. Or the second best, anyway. I just need a minute.
But I don’t have a minute. Sarah has just walked to the door. “What’s up, Maggie?” she coos. “Jerkweed left you at home? I’ll take you out, sweetheart… what the hell is this stream of chocolate?” she’s exclaiming.
I’m alarmed and yell, “Stop!”
“What? She exclaims. “What the hell is going on here?
“She turns the door knob and I groan, “Sarah, please. Just stop. I wish you would just listen to me for a minute—”
“Granted!” says the genie. The doorknob stops turning. Maggie stops barking and begins whining. I hear the thump of a solid object toppling over. The place is silent. I’m alone.