"Help! For the love of Danu, please help me! I don't want to die!"
Emil jerked at the words, his shock over ridden by his inborn need to find the source of the voice. Naked mole rats were naturally inquisitive and very territorial. The sewers were his territory and he knew there should have been no one down here in need of help. Of course, he had suspected that something odd was going on.
He'd installed major magic detectors down here a few years back after a string of curse-laden dead bodies reacted badly to the expensive Neverland micro bacteria he'd imported to break down the unusual waste that Talbot's Peak tended to generate. After the third batch of bacteria went haywire and blew out the motor in the agitating tank, it became obvious that precautions needed to be taken. Those alarms had started sounding about an hour ago, which was why he was down here in the first place.
Without taking his eyes off the slurry making its way into the agitator tank, Emil flicked a switch, raising the fine mesh straining screen. He couldn't leave it up indefinitely because it trapped anything bigger than a grain of sand, but it would also prevent whoever or whatever had triggered the alarm from getting into the tank.
It took a moment to spot the slowly squiggling wad of turds swimming up to him--mole rats didn't have the greatest eyesight--but once he did spot it, he grabbed the fishing net that hung on the wall next to the strainer's controls and scooped the turd out.
Emil Tudbuttle had seen a lot in his years as the waste facilities and Sanitation Department supervisor for Talbot’s Peak, but a talking pile of green poo was odd, even for this town…
**********
Today's flash fiction is a bit on the short side, maily because that whole section was too long to post at once and this was the best place I could find to stop and start it. In hind sight, I should have added it to last week's post, but oh well. Next week's will be plenty long.
To make up the difference in post lengths, I'm going to share with you a blog post from one of my favorite book review sites, "Smart Bitches, Trashy Books." This post reminds me strongly of what probably happens behind closed doors at one of the Talbot's Peak Book Society meetings. If you like reading transcripts of people making fun of 1980s romance novel covers, you'll love this!
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/cover-snark-front-or-back
And now, the obligatory man candy. No, I'm not actually obligated to share my candy, but Mom said that people like it when you share your candy. Just make sure you don't lick them and then put them back. ;)
4 comments:
That is fine, fine man candy! And a needed contrast to green talking poo trying to save itself... ~grins~
You seem to know quite a lot about the inner workings of wastewater treatment plants (looks at Rebecca askance).
Does this have anything to do with the "still wasters"?
I can't wait to see how this comes out!
(Oh, stop looking at me like that. You hand to know that was coming.)
"Had" to know. Damn slip of the tongue finger (you know, the one you stick out).
Nope. I actually didn't see that coming. But it was pretty good!
I must confess to having no real idea how sewer plants work. That scene was total pantser.
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