"No restraints! No restraints!”
The Mother was frantic. The Son was having a conniption. The UFO was touching down as expected, but the aliens aboard had disembarked with what looked like handcuffs dangling from their paws, or claws, or whatever those odd appendages at the ends of their “arms” were. The appendages reminded The Son of the sporks he had to use in school, which were too deep to get food out of and safely into his mouth. No other kid seemed to have problems with the sporks, but Benjamin simply could not use them; his mouth was too small.
One day, not long before this one, he’d gone ballistic on a lunch lady, rudely screaming “Does my mouth look big enough for this utensil?!!” She sent him to the principal’s office, where The Son was told to buck up, and to use the sporks or else. From that day forth, The Mother had to send an extra shirt to school with The Son so that he wouldn’t be bullied by everyone, teachers included and perhaps especially, because of the dribble of lunch that invariably landed on his shirt front when he tried to eat with a spork.
The poor kid had had quite enough, and begged The Mother for a transfer to another school. The only choices left were off planet. The Son jumped at that chance. Maybe he’d get sent to a planet that didn’t even have sporks.
But the aliens had sporks where hands should have been, which freaked The Son out. The Mother did what The Mother always did – she decided her hunch was the best hunch, and that little Benjamin would be better off being homeschooled.
This is my entry to @mariannewest's daily freewrite challenge. Today's prompt is no restraint.
I don't know how you got from the "no restraint" prompt to UFOs, sporks, and homeschooling, but I loved it. Really imaginative.
Thanks! I don't know either. It just happened. I know you know.
Yep. I think she should've taken little Benji outta school the first time that happened. Too many kids are forced to put up with bullying, disregard and misbehavior in the system. ;) I love how whacky this is.
Freewrites can be very whacky, definitely. That's what is so much fun about them. Do you freewrite?
I used to. I don't think I would've gotten into writing at all, if it wasn't for @mariannewest. It's very freeing, I know. Great way to get out the worms in your head, definitely. :)
You're such a great writer! I feel the same way about marianne. I hadn't thought I could write at all until I started freewriting. I think I was overthinking before I learned how to freewrite, or rather before I unlearned the sluggish way I used to write, thinking too much.
This was a great story, and so hilarious! Sporks on another planet? Sporks in the lunchroom? Home school is the answer!
Having just read the "I'm not gonna catch it" freewrite, I'm struck by your talent for expressing a theme of nonconformity in so many ways and in so few words.
#WordEconomy is the goal of fiction writers, and most struggle to achieve it, while the poets who also write fiction leave me breathless....
Your story reminds me of the horrific Plastic Utensils solution at a private school our kids attended. Too many high schoolers were throwing way their metal spoons and forks, so the school took them away and offered only disposable plasticware instead. Were the kids dumping their silverware on purpose, or through carelessness?
How environmentally irresponsible can these adults be ...
What can I say? I'm becoming a bit of a rebel in my retirement. If not now, when?
The silverware problem is very real, and could have been solved very simply with garbage can lids with magnets that catch the silverware as it is being thrown away. That's big problem in restaurants too. No one does it on purpose.