Saturday, 15 June 2024

'Everything Must Go' by Nastasya Parker

Fed up with maintenance issues and clutter, the Owner announced a Clearance Sale.

Climate Change took her time browsing the merchandise. You’d think she wasn’t even there. 

Quick-tempered and preemptively covetous of anyone else’s gains, Disaster followed, along with his sister Disease. She made her vast selection with surprising speed for one so pale and yawning.

Conflict, though never picky, gave the remaining wares a vigorous rattle before sweeping up discounted masses. 

Only the most elite items went unpurchased. The Owner looked on them with distaste. He should have known.    

Climate Change lingered, fanning herself. ‘Tell you what, I’ll take the last lot and redecorate the place for you in exchange. I’m thinking high contrasting tones: some icy blues there, broiling orange-red here.’

The Owner accepted the bargain.

‘You got your eyes on a new place?’ Climate Change asked as she set about her work.

‘I might stay and enjoy the quiet.’ 



Nastasya Parker’s writing has appeared in Bristol Short Story Prize anthologies, The Phare, and Funny Pearls. She is editing her novel giving Eve’s perspective on the creation myth, and blogging about the random stories found in daily life, at http://nastasyaparker.com/.
    

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