Tuesday, August 09, 2005


George was methodical. He unpacked the grocery bag, item by item, and stacked the wares on the table. The cappuccino, the green beans, the mineral water, and everything else. It looked OK. His eyes darted back and forth running inventory on the products he was about to put away. He always performed this check, comparing his shopping list with the receipt and with the wares, to ascertain the sterling symmetry of his trip to the supermarket. That's when it struck him. A lady's head mingled among the items he'd purchased. It had eyes, a nose, supple red lips, and the pupils were trained right on him, tracking him as he paced nervously up and down the before the table. This threw his entire ordered system out the window. Wherever did the head come from? Once again he compared his documentation with the actual items. The paprika, the apricot jam, the milk, and everything else belonged. But not the head. No matter how he crunched the numbers, the head was always left over. He was in a state of immense agitation at the breakdown of his meticulousness, as he spied the suggestion of delicate, skin-colored fingers wiggling around below the head's chin. He let out a sudden shriek, jumping slightly in the air. He'd heard about ladyfingers, those sweet, finger-sized sponge cakes you served with coffee. He had selected a pastry to go with the cappuccino. Might they have been ladyfingers? He hurriedly packed his shopping into the cupboard. The head was relegated to the refrigerator, behind a melon, face turned inwards, away from the door. He did not want to see the eyes staring at him when he searched for a snack. George returned to the supermarket to post a notice on their bulletin board about a missing head. But he never went shopping there again.

Story #264

14 comments:

Doug The Una said...

Me too. Well done, Indie.

Indeterminacy said...

Ariel: I'm a sucker for a crying woman.

Doug: Thanks. This is partly autobiographical. When I was around 8-10 years old there was this aunt we visited a lot and she always offered ladyfingers. I lied to eat them but the name always creeped me out. Guess I was watching too much Twilight Zone. In Germany they have chocolates called "Katzenzunge (Cat Tongues), shaped like delicate little cat tongues.

fin said...

amazing---i loved it.

The Mushroom said...

He went to the market and he got head. What's so unusual about that?

ROTFL!

Indeterminacy said...

Em: You have a good eye. One of the other photos I downloaded from that user had a url for a Belgian disco. So I suppose that's the photo's origin. I'm happy when someone new finds their way to these stories. Or maybe you've been reading for a while. If not there are lots of stories in the archives, more than anybody could ever want to read ;-)

Fin: Not really amazing, this sort of thing happens every day, doesn't it?

Mush: I wonder if this is the head from the security guard story a few days ago. Things are really starting to get mixed up here.

The Mushroom said...

Indie: Could be. That's the only thing that woman was missing... or as far as we can tell from here. :-D

Jamie Dawn said...

If he had paid for the head, I wonder how much it would have cost? I'm thinking he got a real bargain.
And, I'm all for bargains. But a free head? There's something very fishy about that.

Mikki Marshall said...

loved it...but i'm seriously suspicious that dear george will now be framed for homicide when the local detectives come knocking...he was set up!

Indeterminacy said...

Jamie: Beats me where it came from. Maybe out of one of these stories: Story #17 or Story #27. Or maybe it's the head that got lost in Story #260?

Still Life: A life in prison might be better than having to confront that refrigerator again.

Indeterminacy said...

Damn. I didn't have time to put together a story last night. I'll have to post later today, by 6 PM EST, again. :-(

Tom & Icy said...

Go to the head of the class, great story as usual.

Indeterminacy said...

Head of the class? I was usually the one standing in the corner or getting paddled. Maybe I had ADS.

Indeterminacy said...

Having just the head to deal with does solve the problem of reciprocation.

mckay said...

i miss nutella. you can't get that in california.