Yesteryear Fiction

SAILING WITH EARDROP FISH
By Mark Slade


  We built the boat, Archie and I, out of one thousand tiny Eardrop fish. Each one we called to the shore with Archie's Uncle Gilbert's giant conch shell. The queen of the Ocean appeared, asking what we would do with the fish. Archie told her of the splendid boat we would build to sail the ocean of a million keys. She made us promise to never harm the fish intentionally. We agreed, and she held her ringed fingers in the air so the glimmer from the sun could hypnotize the Eardrop fish. She told us to lead the fish where we wanted them to be placed by whistling happy tunes. Afterward, my lips were sore and the happy tunes leveled off in favor of mindless noise. No matter, as long as our intentions were happy, they obeyed.

     We sailed the Ocean of Keys to many far away places, all the adventures engulfed in sporadic haze.

      I awoke, looked at the clock. It read 3:25 A.M. I sat up in my bed, took a sip from a glass of water. I felt something hard jabbing me in my hip. I reached into my pajama pocket and pulled out a golden skeleton key, shimmering in the moonlight.


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MARK SLADE LIVES IN WILLIAMSBURG, VA WITH HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER. HE RUNS THE STORY PODCASTS DARK DREAMS AND BLACKOUT CITY.