Love, Lithographs, and Lichtenstein
For Raymond G. Taylor's "Oh Jeff flash fiction challenge"
"Oh, Jeff... I love you too... but..."
Jeff read in an undertone the message from his beloved Freya, feeling the eyes of his team fixed on him. The story still felt too melodramatic, even for him. For a long time he had pondered what her last words in her beautiful corporeal form had meant. All efforts to contact Lichtenstein before his death had been in vain.
Lichtenstein was the last to see her alive and knew how the telephone call between Jeff and Freya ended. Jeff didn't, thanks to the cruel mistress that is fate. The phone went dead before he heard the last words of his beloved.
Thanks to a lot of favours owed to him and the almighty dollar, he had finally found a source that had access to an unreleased lithograph with the rest of Freya's words.
With baited breath, he carefully unzipped the casing and...
"Cut!" called the director, as stagehands darted in to reset the props and lighting.
"Jeff" retired to his trailer, muttering, “What even is this? A melodramatic mystery about a lithograph? I didn’t spend four years at Juilliard for this crap.”
*
Thanks for reading!
Author's Notes: Yeeeeeeeeeah. Another entry for Ray's awesome challenge, details of which can be found by following the link below. I have also included links to my other entries and my most recent poem, for you to look at if you want to!
The challenge page:
My other entries:
A new, inspiring poem:
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
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Comments (9)
Damnit! Still no answer. Well done, buddy.
This is great! The challenge reminds me of a book of short stories called, ‘Expressway’ where writers are asked to write their stories around the painting of the same name. Very cool, as is your work!
You’re on fire with these!!
Hahahahahahahahahaha this was a good one Sir Paul! 🍩🥐
Did not expect the twist! Well played, Paul!
I feel crestfallen right there with him
Damn clever!📽
I feel for the poor guy. years of honing your craft to end up doing this crap. Nice
This is such a clever meta twist! The story’s melodrama builds up beautifully, only to hilariously unravel with the director’s "Cut!" The juxtaposition of Jeff’s intense emotions with his disdain for the script is pure gold. A sharp, witty take—bravo! :)