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There is an old folks' home at the end of the world, a modest-sized white clapboard building perched at the top of a hill overlooking the sea. A single scraggly rose bush still grows by the front porch. The rose bush is an item of discord: every month or so, Percimandias the Timeless and Enyo the Undying get to arguing over whether the bush ought to be fed with aspirin water or the blood of unicorns.
It's a moot point, of course: they have no aspirin, and the last unicorn -- along with the last maiden who could lure it -- died centuries ago. But they enjoy the argument, and each secretly suspects that the other is right. All they know for sure is that the flowers were more vibrant yesterday, smelled more lovely. They could be right; there are a lot of yesterdays in an old folks' home.
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John P. Murphy is an engineer and writer living in New England. His short fiction has appeared in venues including Nature Magazine and the Drabblecast. His web siteincludes his blog, upcoming appearances, and links to his online fiction.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:I thought about immortality, and realized that even if only a handful of people had it, eventually they would be everyone. I remembered the character Ed the Undyingat-the-old-folks-home from the online game Kingdom of Loathing, and then a friend of mine's father-in-law who retired from business only to start fights in his homeowners' association, and it all kinda clicked.
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