Separating, someone told me to write about balloons and someone else told me to write about penguins. Here is the two suggestions hideous bastard child.

I had fun with this week's :)

As always, there's plenty more great flash fiction to be found on twitter under the #fridayflash hashtag.

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Maxwell the Magnificent

Maxwell the Magnificent tried not to visibly wince as he twisted the balloon into shape. He hated the screech of rubber on rubber. One more twist and then he handed it to the little girl with a flourish.

"Voila, my dear, your penguin."

"That's not a penguin!" Sally yelled, "It looks exactly the same as the dog you made for Madison."

It was true that his repertoire of balloon animal shapes was awfully limited. Entertaining kids at birthday parties really wasn't his field.

"And that balloon is red. Penguins aren't red. They're black and white," said a little boy.

Penguins also shove each other into the ocean to check for sea lions. How realistic do you want it, kid?

Annabelle, his girlfriend and Lovely Assistant must have seen Maxwell's face clouding over. She hurried over and said, "Maxwell you must be thirsty. It's scorching out this afternoon. Why don't you go grab some punch?"

Maxwell bowed to the children and walked over to the snack table.

"Did you say a penguin?" Annabelle asked, then squatted down and said in a stage whisper, "Maxwell is actually scared of penguins. Let me see if I can make you one though."

The children giggled.

Maxwell poured some punch into a plastic cup, looked around, muttered under his breath and then stirred it up with his pinkie finger. He drained the cup in three quick gulps, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"That's the stuff."

"If this gig doesn't work out, do you know what's left for you, Max? McDonald's, or office temping if you're lucky." Annabelle was at his side.

"The children love me," he said.

"Uh-huh. You become a burger-flipper and you're going to smell like grease all the time. And if that happens you and I are through. A girl's got her limits."

Maxwell looked around; the children were occupied with a game of Pin The Tail On The Pegasus.

"I didn't did do six years of wizardry school so I could make balloon animals for brats."

"You do any magic stronger than spiking your drink and you're facing jail time, Max. I'm not the one who immolated the Prime Minister's favourite horse. And favourite dressage coach. Your suspension is up in six months. Just bring it and bear it, please."

"Fine. But in six months I'm going to —"

They were interrupted by shrieks and screams. The pair turned and saw two of the goblin waiters tussling. They rolled around, biting and clawing at each other. Several of the children burst into tears as they knocked over the table that Sally's enormous birthday cake had been on.

"Shoddy charm spell, I guess," said Annabelle.

"That's what you get for hiring non-union,” said Max, "I could intervene but —"

He shrugged.

Annabelle poured herself some punch.

"Can you spice this up for me?"

11 responses to "Maxwell the Magnificent "

Laura Eno wrote: Friday, 28 Aug 2009 18:34 Hah! Quite a mix of prompts, but you pulled it off! Thanks for the chuckle. :)

Laur wrote: Friday, 28 Aug 2009 20:24 Favourite dressage coach?!?! hahahaha omg Dana I love that that made the list!

netta wrote: Friday, 28 Aug 2009 20:38 Nicely done! I love working with prompts, and you did a great job.

PJ @doublelattemama wrote: Friday, 28 Aug 2009 20:54 I love it - I agree, writing with prompts is great fun. But the story ties together neatly.

2mara wrote: Saturday, 29 Aug 2009 00:22 Thoroughly enjoyed it, but I am pissed that you whipped it out in no time flat. *grumble*challenge*grumble*meddlingkids*grumble* ~2

dan powell wrote: Saturday, 29 Aug 2009 04:33 Good fun this. Like the use of sound with the balloons to place the reader in the scene. Annabelle seems to have to put up with a lot.

chris chartrand wrote: Saturday, 29 Aug 2009 11:15 I would kill for the power to spike my own drinks. Sounds like a fun world.

ganymeder wrote: Saturday, 29 Aug 2009 13:30 Oh, I loved it! It was so cute, and sort of delightfully naughty at the end. :D

J. M. Strother wrote: Sunday, 30 Aug 2009 16:23 I loved it. Light and funny. I laughed out loud at this line: "Penguins also shove each other into the ocean to check for sea lions. How realistic do you want it, kid?" Got a real sense of his antipathy for kids, which made me wonder why he would do a gig like this. Then the complete surprise - it's real magic, and he's on "parole". Great stuff, that. ~jon

Karen wrote: Sunday, 30 Aug 2009 22:24 YAY! MAGIC! This was pure genious.

Debs wrote: Friday, 11 Sep 2009 20:09 I wins with the Balloons! I like "Pin The Tail On The Pegasus." I chuckled much.

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