www.storymania.com
Storymania Logo

 

 

Short Stories




The Blues And The Greens by Steven Gilbreath A story of waking up from under the electric blanket of modern life. [1,804 words]
Missing - A Short Story by Steven Gilbreath Passing your days by doing only enough to satisfy what is expected can lead to a life n... [1,475 words]
The Man Who Walked Unseen by Michael Harris An account in the exploits of the life of the unseen... [1,457 words]
Salvation by Krige Van Rensburg Salvation is a story that deals with everyday emotions but also the severity thereof in different con... [2,123 words]
Solef by Wolfa Genetically modified monster escapes onto the surface of a harsh alien planet. More sci-fi. Wee. Consi... [1,684 words]
What A Night by Stephanie Ostrov This is a short story I wrote about a fraternity guy and the trouble he is going through with this... [1,260 words]
Victory City 2 by Matthew Little In the future, an enemy from Cool's past decides to turn the civilians of Victory City into his ... [5,645 words]
Veiled Enigmas by Reagan Rothe Vieled Enigmas is a twisting, turning mystery with surprise lurking around every corner. The rea... [4,972 words]
The Trinity by Silas Montgomery The galaxy is in chaos, systems at war with systems, and revolution within systems. The Lord of a p... [2,360 words]
The Spark by Sue (Sooz) Simpson - [557 words]
The Rosary by Sue (Sooz) Simpson May cause offense. [422 words]
The Parallels by Jason Richard Mercer - [1,247 words]
The Marching Man by Norman A Rubin A holocaust survivor driven to madness in search of his family lost in the melee of the second... [2,001 words]
The Beloved Child by Julissa Gayle Raven A short story about vampires. I made up my own rules. Hope you like it, it's probably going... [1,287 words]
The Beloved Child (Chapter 2) by Julissa Gayle Raven Chapter 2 my story. It should open upa world of comprehension to the readers. [1,210 words]
Terrarium Life by Wolfa Surrealistic dystopia. More sci-fi. Needs improvement, of course, but I decided to post so you... [1,684 words]
Solitaire by David B Doc Byron An abused child seeks solace in her own little world. [952 words]
Sally by Sue (Sooz) Simpson - [2,268 words]
Rush Hour by Sue (Sooz) Simpson - [419 words]
Play With Me Please. by Sue (Sooz) Simpson - [322 words]
Octavia's Obsession by Michael Harris This story is about... Octavia's obsession... [2,237 words]
My Other Mother by C Crawford Very short story on my thoughts of adoption. Written in 10 minutes. [619 words]
Money Shot - Chapter 1 by Rob Nhim Old con and bank robber extrordinaire Fred Cantrell just can't resist trouble. Doing th... [1,082 words]
Lookingthrough The Window by Sue (Sooz) Simpson - [401 words]
I Dreamed... by Ami I dreamed this bizarre, surreal scene, and when I woke up, I ran from my bed to write it down. I ... [1,886 words]
Hearts by David B Doc Byron - [264 words]
Glory Days by Kelley Sullivan A short story about a father who loks back to his childhood years of football and now he is watching... [862 words]
Cold Wonder by Julissa Gayle Raven Another short story I wrote on whim. Its written from a man's point of view just to let you know. ... [427 words]
You Have Been Pre Selected... by August Bondi The dream that everyone has about "the one that got away." [673 words]
Wheatley's Last Wish Chapter Two by Drakeman Robert Kincaide - [1,013 words]
Uncle Marty by David B Doc Byron An invalid Uncle pays another visit to his favorite nephew. [1,165 words]
The Long Ride Home by David B Doc Byron An alien from another world gets captured and examined. [574 words]
The Colonel by Dustin Rhodes The tale of a Confederate Officer at the battle of Fredricksburg. [2,729 words]
The Accident On Lane 17 by Steven T Andy Clannons friends Sharon and Maggie are causing chaos during a field trip to a bowl... [4,154 words]
Tears Of Red. by Julissa Gayle Raven Originally a school assignment, but I took it a step farther. All my friends (and that's a lot) ... [3,565 words]
Sister by Cass About a girl who loses the person who she adored the most-her sister, during a war but when her sister r... [1,594 words]
Our Trip To California by Michala McMonagle This is a short story about my family trip to California [431 words]
My Summer Vacation by S Spencer This story is about a child's special vacation with his family. [366 words]
My Inspiration by Amy Mondure Lioncourt About how in the end the smallest things can mend the biggest wounds. [247 words]
Mold My Brain by Ana Soto The following story illustrates how a child needs to be molded in order to become a successful ad... [324 words]
Just Me by Stormy The story of a little girl home from the hospital. You would think her parents would be happy to see he... [888 words]
Gulf by Ed Bruce How the Gulf Stream united two families from different continents, only to find that their family problems... [3,862 words]
Good As Gold by Stormy Getting good grades in high school shouldn't have been a bad thing. [2,359 words]
Gamepoint - A Short Short by David B Doc Byron a fighter narrates a story about his life in the ring. [546 words]
Ekim by Katherine Gehl Donovan A short story about a guy at my school who I am really close to. Or was. [1,061 words]
Day In The Life Of The Clinically Insane by Jessica Ann Zidik For: All of those who thought they knew me. [2,232 words]
Cuban Term Paper Crisis by Kurt Kitasaki A satire on Cuban-American relations. [2,845 words]
Celebrating Life by Rowan Davies A collection of stories through the viewpoints of different people that interlink to show how ... [6,755 words]
Blood Is Thicker Than Water by David B Doc Byron Two vampire siblings learn how to help each other in their time of need. [674 words]
When Its Not Set In Stone by Alla Lapidus A 3-part historical fantasy set at Stonehenge. [8,546 words]
What Are You Thinking About? by Darcy K Metz Has your girlfriend ever asked you that question before? The usual response from a... [1,028 words]
Victory City by Matthew Little Many years after a hero fell to his death, his legacy will continue on in a child to fight a deadl... [5,719 words]
Treats From Heaven by Ashley Cook Lily dies and goes to Heaven. She has to decide between two doors. This is a sort of Alice i... [2,533 words]
The Myriad Slip by Salai G Prit Narcotics, sensuality, cruelty and a flat full of people asleep... the musings of a christmas m... [695 words]
The Mark Of Jack by Sue (Sooz) Simpson The start of something maybe. [1,044 words]
The Jax (Episodes 1-5) by Matthew Little Creatures taking over the human race and only few people know of the impending doom. Us... [4,382 words]
The Fear Within by Musau A former hit man goes back home to reflect on his career, and then he is thrown aback! [1,740 words]
The Butterfield Stagecoach Mystery by D Donely This is actually a story written by my father. It is based on the legends of... [698 words]
The Birth Of My Baby Brother by J Labarre A college student looking back and remembering what it was like to have a new baby... [972 words]
Teeth
Sleeping Silently by D Donely A girl tries to discover who killed her best friend. [3,429 words]
Simple Jack by Norman A Rubin A backward youth had been jailed for the accidental death of his mother he committed by crushing he... [3,144 words]
Signs by Gina Smith - [1,005 words]
Pandora's Bottle by Judith Goff First love, last love... [5,004 words]
One Night In Bangkok by A Johnson A partial chapter of my unfinished novel of the same name, this story relates the protago... [1,670 words]
Of Peppermints And White Knights by Stormy I took my first drink at age 10. [2,179 words]
No One To No Where by Alina Marquez Short story about a woman on a greyhound bus to El Paso. [1,269 words]
My Life And Some Stuff by Jerry Puryear - [740 words]
My Best Friend by S Spencer "My Best Friend" is my twin sister. I share with you the joy and uniqueness of baing a twin and ... [567 words]
My Best Friend Colleen by Mary Belletatto How two people meet and become best friends through college. [1,478 words]
Ivan's Out Of This World Odyssey by Alex M Sam Young boy elf and friends travel to the land of the dragons. In order to retur... [1,941 words]
Image by Beth Foley A short story. [574 words]
I Have A Problem by Christina Soderberg I was addicted to diet pills. [928 words]
High Tension by Norman A Rubin The short story tell of an elderly woman who thinks light bulbs leak. The copy will give the backg... [1,901 words]
Girl Scout Adventures by Sarah This piece was written for my Reading and Literature in Elementary schools class that I a... [729 words]
Dine In... Or Take Out by D Donely This is a short little story I wrote when I was bored. It's about a Detective trying to ... [1,597 words]
Cape May by Bastiani - [612 words]
Agony 2 by Sue (Sooz) Simpson Morew from the irrepresible Aunt Nasty (May be deemed offensive). [1,077 words]
A True Best Friend by Colleen Klose Story about the impact of my sister on my life. [537 words]
A Mermaid's Heart by Teresa R Lucas The tale of a mermaid's love and how it was lost and found. [1,984 words]

Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 [36] 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
TITLE (EDIT)
Teeth
DESCRIPTION
Sometimes, with regard to the imagination, it is frighteningly easy to become a fool. One man here becomes that fool despite the rather obvious clue indicated by at least one aspect of "reality".
[1,344 words]
AUTHOR
Fergus O'Ferguson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I don't write enough stories. I don't have enough time. Mostly I write critical pieces, critical of culture and the lives we lead. I find it hard to be objective about my own writing. But then I find it hard to be objective about anyone elses too.
[October 2002]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (1)
Sunglasses (Short Stories) The Sun can be hot. This might leave you feeling very cold. Sunglasses often help if your eyes are hurting. Might this interest anyone enough to attempt to read it? Perhaps you'd better wear gloves - ... [3,311 words] [Psychology]
Teeth
Fergus O'Ferguson

Teeth.

I was feeling a bit light headed. I suppose it was the beer; well, that and the music. Sometimes that's the way music takes me, I get kind of light headed and giggly. Occasionally people look at me strangely and I know that I am talking too much and probably being a bit manic. It's the combination that does it, good music, beer, drugs, people.

I'm not always like that, as I said it's only sometimes. The music has to feel really good, I need it to feel like it is overtaking my physical functions and somehow controlling what I am doing. It's a bit like surrender, but a nice one, voluntary.

So maybe that was what was going on I'm not all together sure, but despite the drink I felt like some part of the music was lifting me and I was getting a glimmering of that bizarre transcendent sensation that takes place when I start to feel really unified with my instrument - and I don�t mean my penis (or do I?).

Then this bloody bloke came in with a banjo.

You see we were playing in the back room of some back of beyond backwater Scottish pub and every man and his uncle and aunty, his dog and all their dogs and a few other people who were, as far as I could tell, unrelated thrown in for good measure were all crammed in to this smoky little room, drinking and smoking like fools, playing like demons and laughing a lot.

Sometimes I think this is my element, but then I worry that it is actually going to kill me one day or the other, I don't know - who cares? If it's good then it must be good.

Anyway back to this character with the banjo. He looked like some kind of crazy chimpanzee and had the most amazing set of teeth that I have ever seen, they seemed to jut out from his upper jaw like the white cliffs of Dover. I know that this is a cruel thing to say, but as I explained sometimes I get a bit manic and these things occur to me. I frequently get myself into trouble like this. People don't like a gibbering idiot on some weird high saying casual cruel things all over the place and laughing like an arsehole; but I digress.

So here he is with his strange simian face, geological teeth and a dirty baseball cap perched on his head as if he's just stepped out of a character part in some deep-south road movie and what does he do?
He proceeds to play the thing really badly and in some way or another he's interfering with the rhythm in an unthinking careless way and all the lightness goes out of what we are playing. It's like we've all suddenly put on lead over-coats and gone for a swim in a muddy swamp of shit.

But then guess what happens? These two beautiful young women come over and join us, one is playing a flute and the other a guitar. They looked young but you know how it can be in your head. Very nice I thought and I felt like a monster but then it's only natural, isn't it?. I don't know. Maybe they were eighteen or nineteen something like that, maybe they were too young for me but then what's the harm?

So there I was onto a real roll on the fiddle, playing away with my mates and occasionally shaking off the mad banjo player thanks to our attempts at playing into the realms of traditional obscurity.

This is one of the cruel things that happens at these kind of events. If you don't want someone to play with you it can help to spend all your time thinking of tunes to play that they'll never know. Sometimes it works and others it turns out they�ve done their homework and have learnt every obscure unheard of tune in the universe precisely to combat this type of situation.

This is rare.

I think that some people cultivate a deliberately obscure repertoire just so that they are able to silence anything they don't get on with. I've seen it happen; it can't be chance, can it? I know that I have been guilty.

Shit, what kind of a man am I?

So I'm constantly making, or attempting to make, eye contact with these ladies. A smile here, a smile there, it's shameless really but I was feeling a bit "on one" as they say and at times like that shame definitely takes up a rear-guard action, only coming into play when it is too late and you are terminally mortified.

I started to kid myself that things were going rather well, especially with the flute player who was sitting nearest to me and looked like she had just beamed in from some exotic Caribbean island, all tanned skin and deep black curly hair. There was something about her teeth that just didn't register with any clarity upon my excited consciousness, something unbalanced, unusual, off-putting.

Drinking Guinness and smiling like a lunatic, I kept on catching her eye and raising my eyes to the heavens each time the banjo player launched himself into yet another calamitous tune that due to my idiotic heightened state of awareness seemed to take on the proportions of an international incident.

She played some crap tunes and my friends were getting so bored that they didn't even bother to join in, one of them expressed an interest in actually leaving. He was right of course we really ought to have left, but at that point I had totally lost it hormonally speaking.

I was launching into ancient hackneyed over-played tunes as though they held the greatest challenge and fascination, oh yes it's Morrison's jig for me. What a nob.

But bloody hell that banjo player, the man had no shame whatsoever, he literally didn't care, playing on oblivious to each new disaster he perpetrated. I carried on my covert dialogue, tutting and twisting my face as each disaster seemed to require.

After a little while, perhaps an hour or so of grinning inanely, swapping glances and smiling over tunes, she gestured to me to come closer with a wave of her hand. I was grinning and wondering what she was going to say as I inclined myself towards her seat.

"Yeah, what is it?" I asked expectantly, almost certain it was too much to believe that she was about to ask me to return to her hotel because she suddenly needed a man and was quite literally desperate for it. Almost certain because that's the way it is with these things. Even though you know for sure that something is not only unlikely but is in fact more improbable than a newborn volcano suddenly erupting out of your toilet whilst you are sitting on it, you just can't help entertaining the possibility that it might just happen.

You can never know. Anything involving the future must be some kind of fantasy, even a future only five minutes away, even waiting for the bus, it's only a fantasy until it arrives. Some people have less probable fantasies than others, that's all. Mine was pretty improbable; most of them are actually.

So I had asked her what she wanted in, to my mind, the coolest manner known to the human race and there I was static for a long moment which possibly only lasted for a few tenths of a millisecond eagerly awaiting the confirmation of my wildest dream.

All the fantasies I had ever had poured through my mind in a thick creamy liquid form that engulfed my reason and deformed my expectations.

"Don't be nasty to him he's my father," she said with a barely concealed hostility, and nodded towards the bloody banjo player.

One of my friends who was sitting between us burst into fits of laughter.

"Oh dear," I thought. "I've done it again."

 

READER'S REVIEWS (5)
DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.

"Hunh?" -- KungFu Gibbon.
"Okay so we all got the punchline half way through and the plot was a little bit weak, but it was still bloody funny and beautifully told. If I was going to change this at all, It would be to make it less apologetic, have faith in him being an obnoxious bastard and don't apologise for him "Shit what kind of man am I?" ect (EAM) Really got into this and can imagine that fiddle in full flight. " -- Sooz, Dalton-in-Furness, England, Cumbria.
"thank you sooz. I wonder if KungFu will manage to articulate anything beyond a grunt in the near future? We all know about the monkeys and the typewriters tho so I suppose anything is possible..." -- Fergus O'Ferguson.
"Dizzying and intelligently comic. I liked it...and found myself drawing an affection for its character. well done!!!" -- salai.
"Thanks very much salai...interesting name...." -- Fergus O'Ferguson.

TO DELETE UNWANTED REVIEWS CLICK HERE! (SELECT "MANAGE TITLE REVIEWS" ACTION)

Submit Your Review for Teeth
Required fields are marked with (*).
Your e-mail address will not be displayed.

Your Name*     E-mail*

City     State/Province     Country

Your Review (please be constructive!)*


Please Enter Code*:

Submit Your Rating for Teeth

Worst     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     Best

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2002 Fergus O'Ferguson
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
November 2002
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
2162
 

Copyright © 1998-2001 Storymania Technologies Limited. All Rights Reserved.