desert

“Sushi, come get your fresh sushi!” called Pritricia as she stood at her stall watching for a customer. Her long uncut nails drummed the tabletop as she looked out for her one and only customer. The man in pink had come every day since she opened the stall. He never spoke, not a comment on her bright purple hair or even the sixth finger on her left hand. He didn’t stay long and he never ate anything although he did purchase sushi, it remained untouched for the duration of his stay.  And there he was, his bright pink form stood out from the rest of the marketplace like an elephant in a herd of field mice. He sat down at the counter and slowly raised a pale hand to pint at the menu, teriyaki chicken. That was strange, he usually had tuna. Oh well, thought Pritricia money is money. He sat there for a while just staring down at his meal, his face concealed behind his customary sunglasses, bowler hat and bandana all of course in pink. Then all of a sudden, much to Pritricia’s surprise he spoke “You have been chosen”. Pritricia was so shocked she dropped the pan she had been holding causing it to shatter at her feet. “Excuse me?” she stuttered. “He has chosen you to suffer” “Suffer what?” “The pain of a thousand souls” If this is some kind of joke”, Pritricia warned. “It is time”, he said. And then all of a sudden he pulled out, seemingly from nowhere a brightly glowing pumpkin. “Now take this!” he ordered. Pritricia was so captivated by the pumpkin that she obediently took it. She was then overcome by a sudden urge to go home. And so she grabbed the pumpkin and headed away.  As Pritricia was cycling home on her 26’’ mountain bike she passed a group of children playing a game of footy in the bright summer sun. It was a cloudless day and Pritricia thought how great life was, as she thought this she looked across at the glowing pumpkin.  Pritricia pulled into her driveway and got off her bike; she picked up the pumpkin and took it into the house with her. She placed it on the kitchen bench and then moved into the living room to complete the daily worshipping ceremony. Pritricia had completed the ceremony ever since she could remember. She praised it like a god. She prayed to it, she left offerings to it, she did all kinds of gobbledegook for it. Now this wouldn’t be all that bad apart from the fact that “it” was a pineapple. But nevertheless she knelt down, and began bowing and muttering to it. After a bout half an hour she got up and went to go prepare her dinner, pumpkin stew. On the way she passed a teapot, but this was no ordinary teapot. This was Mr. Teapot.  Mr. Teapot was Pritricia’s best friend, he had lived with her ever since the day she had brought him at the marketplace. It had been a chilly winter’s morning, the icy wind causing less attraction to the market. Pritricia had been wondering through the stalls heading to the sushi shop when she saw a elegantly made banana pattern teapot. She just had to have it and so she bought it for the remarkably low price of 68.73 cents.  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Pritricia approached the pumpkin, ready to prepare it for eating, it was still glowing and she grabbed a carving knife to slice it up. She lowered the knife and it grew even brighter. Suddenly there was a crash from the living room. Pritricia dropped the knife and hurried to find out the source of the noise. As she did she tripped and landed face first on the floor. She turned to see what she had tripped on and to her horror she saw the pineapple. Well to be precise, half a pineapple. Someone or something had chopped it in half. At that moment Pritricia realised that it was very dark. She scrambled to the window and looked out, there were black clouds in the sky and countless raindrops were pelting down like they were being fired from a gun. And even as she watched the sky rumbled and a bolt of lightning pierced the blackness. Pritricia returned to the kitchen to make herself a nice hot soup to keep herself warm. But as she entered the room, Pritricia realised that something was very wrong, the pumpkin was gone. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Pritricia stared at the spot where the pumpkin had once been, she blinked as though not quite believing that it could be gone. All of a sudden Pritricia felt something scurry onto her foot; she slowly lowered her gaze to see… a grotesque black rabid rat! Pritricia screamed till her lungs felt like they were bursting. And then she shook her foot rapidly, desperately trying to rid herself of the rat. Once it was off it squealed and ran into a crack in the wall. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Pritricia couldn’t take much more of this madness, she ran up the stairs all the way to the attic, but at the top she tripped. She fell face first into the attic. She turned to see what she’d tripped on and to her surprise she saw a rolled up rug. Or was it? Suddenly it turned and looked straight at her. A snake! It darted forward preparing to strike. Pritricia quickly shuffled backwards through the doorway and slammed the door. Not a moment too soon, Pritricia heard the snake’s fangs sink into the wooden door. This is crazy, thought Pritricia, what was going on? Suddenly she realised something, it was light in the attic, but the attic had no electricity. There was a window but if the storm was still going then there couldn’t be any sunlight. Slowly she turned around, to see the dreaded pumpkin. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">It was glowing brighter than ever, but stranger still it was hovering in the air. Could this be the cause of all the strange things that had been happening? Pritricia approached it cautiously and as she did her foot crushed something underneath. She lifted her foot to see to her absolute terror the remains of Mr. Teapot. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A great ball of sadness welled up inside Pritricia, almost immediately it was replaced by anger. And then she charged, she grabbed the pumpkin and charged towards the window, and then still clutching the pumpkin she leaped out the window towards the ground. As she fell her only thought was how she hated the pumpkin. And then she hit the ground with an almighty THUD!!! The pumpkin was splattered and Pritricia was killed. And as the skies began to clear a single seed rolled away into the shadows…