SATURDAY 27th MARCH 2021

This is a response to a Flash Fiction prompt from ‘Putting My Feet In the Dirt’, Writing Prompts hosted by ‘M’.
Which can be found by following the link below..

Prompt ~LAUGHING LIKE LUNATICS

March 2021 Writing Prompts

LAUGHING LIKE LUNATICS

by John Yeo

MIke and Steve Jones were laughing like crazy,

  ‘That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, there was Ferdinand, our miserable neighbour, talking to a dandelion in his back garden.’

  A crowd of assorted patrons of, ‘The Dog and Duck’ gathered around the pair, sensing a welcome bit of a laugh. Mike started the tale.

     ‘Our garden was a mess, there had been an incredible North wind overnight that savagely tore through the garden. I leaned on my spade and surveyed the damage, branches and leaves had been ripped from our trees and were lying everywhere.’

  Ferdinand, our grumpy next door neighbour, was working in his garden, clearing up, when Steve winked at me and crept to the adjoining fence.

 I guessed what was going to happen next, in view of his ventriloquist talents, little did I know how brilliantly it would work.

   Steve threw a tiny voice and whispered  ‘Please don’t tread on me!’
  Shaken, as he thought he was totally alone, Ferdinand wheeled around in surprise.

   ‘I’m down here! Next to your incredibly large foot.’
Ferdinand scowled and looked down to find there was nothing there except dandelions, daisies and grass.

   ‘I can’t see you! If you are real and not a figment of my imagination, make yourself visible!’ he growled. 

  At this point we were both doubled up, shaking with laughter desperately trying not to laugh out loud. 

    Steve continued in the tiny voice ‘Look again! I am the good looking one with the purest yellow petals and a heart of gold.’ 

  Ferdinand looked around wildly and made to get away from there fast.

    ‘No! Don’t go please, I would love to talk to you about many things.’ begged the dandelion.

   ‘What do you mean by petals and a yellow heart? Do you mean to say you are a common dandelion? If so, I can’t tell one of you from another, you all look the same to me!’
The tiny dandelion’s voice reflected a note of annoyance as it politely stated.
  ‘Less of the common, big-feet. We have a unique way of survival that excludes individuality and we are rooted here as one. Funny though, I can never differentiate the different clodhoppers that stomp  around and squash our leaves and petals!    

    ‘That’s amazing!’ shouted Ferdinand to the array of dandelions around his feet.

  Then came a sound that was suspiciously like a giggle coming from the vicinity of the fence. Then a chuckle was clearly evident leading to an embarrassing roar of laughter, that led to enormous fits of laughter. 

Ferdinand’s face became bright red as he realised the implication of these odious sounds and remembered his neighbour was a ventriloquist and very skilled at throwing his voice.
We were both curled up laughing uncontrollably like lunatics.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.