Considering how long my "Monster" Sunday Scribbling was, I thought a "tiny story" was in order for this one! Thank you sincerely to everyone who read "Goblin Fruit" -- I didn't expect that many people to take the time! Thank you!
Fortune Cookie: a tiny story
She cracked open her cookie and read her fortune. It said, “I beg you, do not eat me. Plant me and water me and a tree will grow whose branches will reach to the cloud kingdoms, where you will be greeted as a daughter.” And because she was so full of noodles and water chestnuts and tea she didn’t want to eat the cookie anyway. She tucked it into her purse and carried it home and planted it in her garden. She watered it and watched it. All around it day by day dahlias bloomed and tomatoes ripened but no tree grew. The summer nights began to shorten and cool but still, no tree grew. She ordered Chinese food one evening and it was delivered in white cartons and she ate it cross-legged in the grass watching the slow drift of orange leaves over the garden, and at length, she cracked open her fortune cookie. Her fortune read, “Don’t believe everything you read.”
More Sunday Scribblings here.
I have a friend who has been collecting fortunes for years and years. They fill a jar. Unfortunately the jar is hiding after a recent move. I hope she finds it.
ReplyDeleteNot as "magic" as Goblin Fruit, but definitely delightful and fun. And I liked the fortune coming at the end.
ReplyDeleteThat was extremely speedy of you-its not even Sunday yet! Now that you are done so early you have time for Sixty Minute Tuesday Dinner, anthropologieing, AND a nosesoak. (Great teeny story by the way! I've missed them!)
ReplyDeleteAaaaaaahhh! Well watermellons did grow in MY tummy I think.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! What a great piece! Will be back to read more!
ReplyDeleteBye from Thals :)
Haha! This is a really cute little story. I guess we can sometimes waste precious time and energy on 'fruitless' enterprises based on a false hope and end up missing other stuff. Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteHa! Excellent!
ReplyDeleteAnd Goblin Fruit was well worth the time spent!
I love this story...what I love about all of your stories is the sense that magic lurks right outside of our regular field of vision, but it can come out and poke us into mindfulness at any opportunity. It excites me. :)
ReplyDeleteI love how you can fit so much sensual detail, so much beauty, into such a short piece.
I need to work on that myself. ;)
(and I LOVE Goblin Fruit...I want you to add to it!)
HaHa! Great punchline, Laini. I've got to tell this to K.
ReplyDeleteThanks for starting off my day with a laugh!
ha ha ha ha ha haha hah ah ah a!
ReplyDeleteLOVED it. I've been a bit of a bad blogger and this is a perfect way to come back in - I've missed reading your site. Heh heh heh.
P.S. I sent off a letter to you and Jim know who - fingers crossed!! xoox
love this laini.
ReplyDeletejust love it!
as always, the way you look at the world just makes me smile.
noooo! that is just wrong!
ReplyDeleteyour writing is always wonderfully enchanting - long or short.
heee heee
ReplyDeleteI was expecting the goblin fruit tree to sprout...a peach tree perhaps...and the handsome stranger to be waiting for her in the clouds for a sumptuous kiss ;)
shucks!
enjoyed this just the same..
xxx d
The ironic twist!!! I loved it!!! You provided a HappyUP!!! chuckle for me today
ReplyDeleteHA! Good one!
ReplyDeleteLaini, long or short, a story by you is always worth reading.
:)
that made me smile :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great little story. You've inspired me to try to write a little story of my own next SS prompt...To be able to capture a world in so few words is talent indeed.
ReplyDeleteAw... that was just great! And it reminded me of the cruel uncle who told my cousin that planting a lollipop stick would make a lollipop tree grow! Poor little boy, came faithfully to my grandmother's house every day to water his "tree", until some kind adult told him the truth. Is it any wonder he doesn't seem to trust people?
ReplyDeleteLovely and light and pretty
ReplyDeleteimages.
EAting chinese food in the
garden:)
Excellent!
ReplyDeleteYou know what they say about small packages! Great short story!
ReplyDeleteHa! Good one!
ReplyDeleteGood one. I like it.
ReplyDeleteA tiny story that contains worlds, colors, depth and humor! You are a wonder, Laini!
ReplyDeleteNow THAT was a good one! LOL!
ReplyDeleteahhh....
ReplyDeleteyour sweet lil story made me smile.
magical and delightful....
yes, yes, yes, grrl!!!
ReplyDeletelet's start a cross country movement. i'm in NJ, where things are blah. i want to paint my house pink and green with a little black, like a giant flamingo that can be seen by all the passengers on planes coming into/out of Newark Airport.
ps...i loved "the birth of venus."