#summerwritingsanctuary Day 4
In today's #summerwritingsanctuary, the invitation was Talking Taste.
Talking Taste …
Alien 1: “So I’ve been listening to these Human-Beings again this afternoon. As Exhibit 38910UKLON1284 was leaving the place where they do all that funny stretching on the torture-rack, I overheard them say on the phone that they were so hungry they could eat a Horse …”
Alien 2: “A what?”
Alien 1: “A Horse … you know, those big heavy things that gallop along and sometimes let Human-Beings sit on them? The big animals with metal rings on their feet that go clip-clop on tarmac. The big animals that have big teeth and seem to know when we’re beaming in, and then race off, scared …”
Alien 2: “Oh, those things. Wow. How are they going to eat a Horse? Do Aldi sell them (an all other good reputable supermarkets)? Or do you think they’re going to go hunting now for a live one? Are you keeping watch?”
Alien 1: “No, no. I felt quite queasy at the thought of it. I quite like Horse. They have such soft velveteen muzzles when they let you get up close …”
Alien 2: “Let’s ask Cybarbarellum what they think … Cybarbarellum, do Human-Beings eat Horse? Exhibit 38910UKLON1284 speaks of ‘being hungry enough to eat a Horse’ …”
Cybarbarellum: “Yes. In some parts of Earth, Human-Beings do eat Horse. But not usually in this geographical location … more data is loading … if a Human-Being speaks of “being hungry enough to eat a Horse” then that is called in idiom. i·dee·uhm. One of those weird things Human-Beings do to their language. Horse can eat up to 2 to 2.5% of its own body weight in a day. Calculation incoming. An Arabian Horse weighs 450kg which converts to 11.25kg of food it needs to eat each day.”
Alien 1: “That seems a lot of food to eat each day. No wonder the farmers on Earth work such long hours. Exhibit 38910UKLON1284 speaks of eating only 100g of chicken breast for lunch with a salad … how do they think they can manage to eat a Horse?”
Alien 2: “No, no, no. The i·dee·uhm means they don’t really eat the Horse. Just that they are so hungry they could eat as much as the Horse.”
Alien 1: “Oh, I seeeeeeee. It’s confusing. Why don’t they say what they mean? It would make things much easier for us to follow …”
Alien 2: “Oh, I know. Do you remember Exhibit 48921USHOL3636 being in the news a few years back? They said ‘Nothing tastes as skinny feels?’ and that got Cybarbarellum all tangled up in knots, too.”
Alien 1: (laughing like the martians in the Cadbury’s SMASH adverts) “Yeah, I still don’t understand what that meant; the Human-Beings seemed very upset about it.”
Alien 2: “Human-Beings. So weird. Why don’t they just say what they mean, and mean what they say?”
Ohhhh, it’s so hard to let dialogue flow! Today’s challenge was a tough one for me, talk about streeeeetch. But it was also really good fun as I got going. Love that we set the timer, too, so you write against the clock.
If you are taking part in Beth Kempton’s Summer Writing Sanctuary, I’d love to read what you wrote for Day 4 - please do let me know :)
If you’d like to take part in Beth’s Summer Writing Sanctuary, it’s not too late to join: Summer Writing Sanctuary
My favourite book of Beth’s is Kokoro: Japanese wisdom for a life well lived
Image credit Dorota Kudyba from Pixabay
Oh I loved where this went Callie 😂