A for Ask Me Anything
April’s here and with it the A to Z challenge! Here’s Day 1. I didn’t think too much and I’m not overpromising my month. Enjoy All Fools Day!
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![A[1]](https://i0.wp.com/ramyapandyan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/a1.jpg?w=1300&ssl=1)
Ask me anything, he says.
She thinks about how to translate that in her head, into the language of her. Does he mean “I know it all”? Mr.Know-it-all. Nobody likes him that much. But she always had a hankering for knowledge. For an information-glutton such as she, he would represent an eternal, endless cornucopia. But know-it-alls come with other expensive traits. Like ego. And the ability to forget entirely about the person at the other end of a phone call. That there is another person. That a conversation takes two, even if one never says a word.
She stops her thought-car, reverses and turns down another alley. Maybe he means, “I’m an open book”. Is anyone ever really one? Even books only ever open to two pages at a time. The others have to be flipped through, unstuck or deciphered from between dogearring, silverfishing, print fading, spine-breaking and food splashes. This says so much more about her than it does about him. One more turn, only a few degrees right this time. Are people who call themselves open book liars then? They imply holistic openness. But the truth is, even open book people decide which pages they want you to see, and those pages are usually masks.
She sighs.
“Are you there?” he asks.
She replies, “Yes, sorry. Can you tell me how to activate the new billing plan on my account?”
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Follow the April 2015 AtoZ HERE.
Well done! It’s funny how one phrase can make our mind ponder such deep thoughts. I laughed at the end!
@legreene515: 😀 I’m glad to know that. Do come back for more. I post fiction frequently.
Ha! I was totally surprised by the ending! Loved it. 🙂
ali cross
#1663
@ali cross: I’m very glad to hear it! Do come back for more! 🙂
Great piece of flash fiction. Great line, “Are people who call themselves open book liars then? They imply holistic openness. But the truth is, even open book people decide which pages they want you to see, and those pages are usually masks.” And thanks for participatingi n A to Z!
@Stephen Tremp: Thank you for visiting and for the encouragement!
I LOVED this! Esp the part where she ponders over open book people and how “even open book people decide which pages they want you to see, and those pages are usually masks”. That line, especially, was a punch in the gut…and I feel it makes that last moment, where she retreats back to stuff that (IMO) barely matters to her, a lot more poignant.
@Anu Elizabeth Roche: *hugs* What would I do without your support?
Wow! I loved this–the ending was completely unexpected and made the whole thing change in a second. Very nice.
@sarahwathen: Thank you! That’s much, much needed motivation. I’m not going to quit on the challenge now. 🙂
Oh, please don’t! Yours is one of the best I’ve read today.