Leslie was tilling her garden and heard a thunk. She had hit a rectangle of rotting wood. Pulling it up she gasped at a gas mask staring back at her. Grabbing her trowel she started to unearth the mask. Slowly the top half of a skeleton unveiled.
The bones gleamed white. The top half wore: a red bowler hat with remaining brown curls of hair, a gray suit jacket with a red silk pocket handkerchief, a yellow and white shirt in small plaid, a black tie, and jet cuff links. The skeleton was eccentric, well-mannered and familiar to her.
She sat back on her heels. It occurred to her that his outfit was not in time with the gas mask. It was as if he had been plucked out of time, bleached shiny, starched, gas mask stuck on his face, and plopped in her garden. Who he was and why her garden specifically she wondered.
She continued until she had uncovered all of him. He had no shoes. Leslie thought it was bad taste to bury him with no shoes. She didn’t understand how he was supposed to walk to the pearly gates without hurting his soles. In that situation she would appear in front of St. Peter flustered. Not a good start to being dead.
While mulling over the shoes she riffled through his pockets. There was a yellow plastic comb, a ten dollar note, a map of the London underground, a small box of moldy raisins, a brown porcelain hare, a leather wallet, and a note. The note read in cursive: “bubble bath not the lavender kind she hates the lavender kind or is it that she hates the rose kind?”
Leslie felt lavender the better bubble bath choice. She opened his wallet. There was a selection of credit cards, a gym membership, his driver’s license, and his business card. She took the business card and read:
“Gregory H. Gray
Polymath
Nice to Meet You Leslie
Call me maybe? ”
I wrote this piece for Trifecta: Week Ninety-Four Challenge: Check it out here: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/
September 9, 2013 at 6:19 pm
Whoa!
That was cool! I want to read more.
September 9, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Thanks so much!
September 9, 2013 at 10:00 pm
Yikes, that was creepy and unexpected! For some reason I found it amusing that the body had decomposed to a skeleton but the raisins were just moldy 🙂
September 10, 2013 at 1:33 pm
I think perhaps describing the raisins as moldy was a happy lapse in my timeline judgment!! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my work.
September 10, 2013 at 1:15 pm
she felt lavender the better bubble bath choice – hahaha love it.
I really liked this (the gardener in me?) sweet tale.
September 10, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Thanks so much! Personally I feel life is best described in the details. I am a rose bubble bath person myself!
September 10, 2013 at 2:15 pm
Polymath for sure!
Wondering how he got there.
September 10, 2013 at 9:56 pm
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by! I am planning on continuing Leslie’s story for more Trifecta challenges. So perhaps we will all learn how he got there.
September 11, 2013 at 6:16 am
Sweet!
September 10, 2013 at 7:39 pm
It’s funny and creepy at the same time. She’s so nonchalant about it. What does it all mean? You have captured my attention. Not only with the business card, but what is the significance of the brown porcelain hare? Intriguing. I like it..
September 10, 2013 at 9:55 pm
Thanks so much Steph! I am happy to hear the details had the intended effect.
September 10, 2013 at 9:56 pm
I liked it… had something of a Bradbury vibe. Personally I’m fascinated by the fact that she simply keeps digging it up like she found an old dog toy. 🙂
My one edit: “Slowly the top half of a skeleton unveiled” should probably be “Slowly the top half of a skeleton *was* unveiled.” or “Slowly the top half of a skeleton *appeared*.”
September 10, 2013 at 9:58 pm
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog David! I appreciate the editing advice. So hard to get a piece just prefect in such a short amount of time, but that is also what makes challenges so fun for me.
September 11, 2013 at 5:21 am
I think it wud be unwise to call or date a man who wears no shoes or keeps a yellow comb in his pocket…. love the details.
September 11, 2013 at 6:08 am
True statement! Although would dating wisely be as interesting? Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my story!
September 11, 2013 at 12:24 pm
The part where she finds bones came as a real shock. Nicely done!
September 11, 2013 at 1:11 pm
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog! I so glad you were surprised. I was worried about building suspense in such a short story.
September 11, 2013 at 4:42 pm
This is an interesting piece. Great work.
September 11, 2013 at 4:47 pm
Thanks so much!
September 11, 2013 at 9:30 pm
Love all the twists and turns. Please continue..
September 12, 2013 at 7:47 am
Thanks so much for stopping by! Expect many twists and turns to come.
September 12, 2013 at 1:09 pm
Ha!ha!No shoes-wonder what happened there?Loved the way he was otherwise “dressed”-and that business card-very fishy and oh so creepy:-)
September 12, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Thanks so much for taking the time to read my story! I am glad to hear the creepy aspect is appreciated=)
September 12, 2013 at 1:46 pm
I love creepy and so it was sheer pleasure ;D
September 12, 2013 at 2:40 pm
This is great! It’s so quirky – somehow you made finding a skeleton in the garden not particularly creepy. Maybe it was the red bowler hat. I love how she enumerates each item she finds.
September 12, 2013 at 4:12 pm
Thanks so much! I love details so I am glad to hear someone else feels the same way.
September 12, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Interesting take on the prompt. Thanks for linking up!