Wednesday's Three Word Wednesday

The words over at Three Word Wednesday are bleak, hiccup and queer.

Time Machine

I return from the university to find my parents have converted my room into a massive time machine.
Orange power cords run everywhere, to every wall socket and snake down the hallway and disappear down the steps.
Two gunmetal gray pods sit in the center of the room and from inside each, greenish lights pulsate like a living, breathing thing. Everything hums with an eerie, metallic tone.
My furniture has been pushed haphazard against walls and I notice they’ve managed to tear nearly in half my vintage Betty Page poster.
I’m incensed.
I stomp down to the kitchen to protest and discover my parents huddled over rolls of blueprints and schematics.
Dad’s clumsily writing a column of numbers down a legal pad, checking them against a slide rule. Mother has my father’s rough and hairy hands resting on his shoulders.
He’s dressed in mother’s favorite floral sundress, tufts of chest hair sprouting from the swell of my mother’s buxom bosom. Mother’s dressed in a black wool pants, dad’s Oxford shirt (tie loosened at the neck like he likes it) and every so often, she glides his nervous hand across her face, smoothing his bushy mustache under her delicate, upturned nose.
And I notice why he’s having such a hard time writing. His hands are slight, graceful and boney – their my mother’s – and he’s gripping a mechanical pencil in her French-manicured fingers. He’s trying to scrawl with his left, mother’s dominate hand. He’s a righty.
The queerness of the scene leaves me lightheaded, nauseous.
“What in the living hell?” I manage to squeak in protest.
They both look up, startled, and seem a bit guilty.
“There have been hiccups, no doubt about it,” she says, in dad’s rich baritone. “But it’s always bleakest before the dawn, dear. We’re working through all the transmogrifications.”

Comments

anthonynorth said…
That was some trip. Enjoyed it.
Daily Panic said…
this made me laugh! the time machine made me think of this steampunk crazy thing in your room and if that wasn't unsettling enough, then seeing the parents "hiccup" is just icing on the cake. I never thought of time travel mixing up molecules and swaping them around. Why didn't that ever happen on Star Trek? Or did it and I missed that episode?
very creative. I like it.
Crybbe666 said…
Wonderfully inventive!! That's all I can come up with. The finale was great!!!
David Masters said…
This is hilarious. I got terribly confused by Dad both writing and Mother resting his hands on her shoulders - so I re-read it a few times. It all made sense when I continued.

I like how it's the protagonist room that has been converted into a time machine, and that's what he notices first before he sees how his parents have changed.
mark said…
What a hoot!

Sort of like a transporter run amok!

I really liked this. It became clearer as we got further into the narrative...
Tumblewords: said…
The best laid plans - I hope they get it squared around - I'm in need of one. (or two) Fun read!
Timothy P. Remp said…
Awesome job. I love the word 'transmogrification'
George S Batty said…
great fun for all, got a real chuckle from this ome
Larry said…
cute and a little more strange mine but I did enjoy it I liked the way your father had your mothers fingers and the same with you mothers hands and the loosened tie. This stuff is really begining to be fun with all the different websites i visit and read .. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment. I appreciate them.

larry
Jeeves said…
well. thats interesting journey.
Dee Martin said…
haha, now I'm thinking about who I would like to be "transmogrified" with...Pamela Anderson? LOL Great fun, love this one Thom.
peggy said…
I felt my mouth smile right away with the description of the time machine. By the pay-off, I was grinning. And now, as I type this comment, I'm laughing at the imagery.

Fun story, Thom. Thanks for today's laugh.
sorry for being so late on this!!!

but finally i stole time from work :D

and loved every word. was fun!

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