Myshuno! 2014 Prompt: "'Don't look back'" (230 words)
The prompt for this story was “‘Don’t look back,’” submitted by mzyra. This story fits into Chapter 28 of Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge. There are no spoilers.
Rating: G
Dramatis Personae
Casilda Shankel, about eleven
Glen Shankel, her father
Setting
Casilda’s room. Casilda is lying on her stomach on the bed reading; she does not look up either as her father enters or during the following.
GLEN: What’s your name?
CASILDA: Casilda Marie Shankel.
GLEN: What’s your birthday?
CASILDA: October 20, 2013.
GLEN: What’s your mother’s name?
CASILDA: Lisa Shankel, no middle name.
GLEN: What’s your father’s name?
CASILDA: Glen Shankel, no middle name, maiden name Cameron.
GLEN: Where were you born?
CASILDA: Sandersville.
GLEN: What’s your blood type?
CASILDA: A negative.
GLEN: Are you allergic to any medications?
CASILDA: I’m allergic to amoxicillin.
GLEN: What happens when you take it?
CASILDA: I get a rash and my legs and knees ache.
GLEN: What’s your phone number?
CASILDA: 273-555-0742.
GLEN: What’s your address?
CASILDA: 155 Savoy Yard.
GLEN: What do you do if the house catches on fire?
CASILDA: Run around in a circle and yell “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh! Firefirefirefirefire!”
GLEN: What do you say to stop Gort from destroying the planet?
CASILDA: “Klaatu barada nikto.”
GLEN: What’s the most important thing to remember if you have to go fetch the love of your life from the underworld?
CASILDA: Don’t look back.
GLEN: What if you don’t hear anything behind you?
CASILDA: No. Don’t look back.
GLEN: How many fingers am I holding up?
CASILDA: Four. The thumb doesn’t count.
GLEN: Excellent job. Well done. (hands Casilda five simoleons) Where’s your brother?
Note: My father used to really do this type of thing when I was a kid, although the going rate was a dollar for all questions correct and I think he stopped when I was about twelve. To this day, if you ask me the right questions (allergies, names, birthplaces, what do you do if your clothes catch on fire, etc.) I can answer you without thinking. I could probably answer you if I had been hit over the head and got amnesia, as long as you asked me the right way. Which was probably the whole point of the exercise, really.
“Klaatu barada nikto” is the phrase that the alien Klaatu teaches his human friend to say to stop his robot, Gort, from destroying the planet if anything happens to Klaatu in the 1950s movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. This is also a phrase that my father made sure I knew. He tried to teach me the musical notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind that let you tell the aliens you come in peace, but failed.
Rating: G
Dramatis Personae
Casilda Shankel, about eleven
Glen Shankel, her father
Setting
Casilda’s room. Casilda is lying on her stomach on the bed reading; she does not look up either as her father enters or during the following.
GLEN: What’s your name?
CASILDA: Casilda Marie Shankel.
GLEN: What’s your birthday?
CASILDA: October 20, 2013.
GLEN: What’s your mother’s name?
CASILDA: Lisa Shankel, no middle name.
GLEN: What’s your father’s name?
CASILDA: Glen Shankel, no middle name, maiden name Cameron.
GLEN: Where were you born?
CASILDA: Sandersville.
GLEN: What’s your blood type?
CASILDA: A negative.
GLEN: Are you allergic to any medications?
CASILDA: I’m allergic to amoxicillin.
GLEN: What happens when you take it?
CASILDA: I get a rash and my legs and knees ache.
GLEN: What’s your phone number?
CASILDA: 273-555-0742.
GLEN: What’s your address?
CASILDA: 155 Savoy Yard.
GLEN: What do you do if the house catches on fire?
CASILDA: Run around in a circle and yell “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh! Firefirefirefirefire!”
GLEN: What do you say to stop Gort from destroying the planet?
CASILDA: “Klaatu barada nikto.”
GLEN: What’s the most important thing to remember if you have to go fetch the love of your life from the underworld?
CASILDA: Don’t look back.
GLEN: What if you don’t hear anything behind you?
CASILDA: No. Don’t look back.
GLEN: How many fingers am I holding up?
CASILDA: Four. The thumb doesn’t count.
GLEN: Excellent job. Well done. (hands Casilda five simoleons) Where’s your brother?
Note: My father used to really do this type of thing when I was a kid, although the going rate was a dollar for all questions correct and I think he stopped when I was about twelve. To this day, if you ask me the right questions (allergies, names, birthplaces, what do you do if your clothes catch on fire, etc.) I can answer you without thinking. I could probably answer you if I had been hit over the head and got amnesia, as long as you asked me the right way. Which was probably the whole point of the exercise, really.
“Klaatu barada nikto” is the phrase that the alien Klaatu teaches his human friend to say to stop his robot, Gort, from destroying the planet if anything happens to Klaatu in the 1950s movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. This is also a phrase that my father made sure I knew. He tried to teach me the musical notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind that let you tell the aliens you come in peace, but failed.