Flash Friday Fiction: Monk-eying Around

Bell Tower of Guadalest, Costa Blanca, Spain. CC photo by Anguskirk.
Bell Tower of Guadalest, Costa Blanca, Spain. CC photo by Anguskirk.

Monk-eying Around – 158 words

“You’re fired!”

“Why? Because I was woolgathering and missed ringing the vesper bells by seven minutes?”

“Yes. We have zero tolerance for daydreaming.”

“But, Father, I was LITERALLY gathering wool. Brother Giovanni said we need more if he’s to have enough for weaving our winter robes.”

“That’s no excuse.”

“You’ve got bats in your belfry.”

Pardon me?”

“I’m serious – there are bats up there. I’ve figured out a way to get rid of them.”

The abbot sighed. Brother Francesco had wreaked havoc yesterday when he’d accidentally knocked a fellow monk into the cesspit. Not to mention the time he’d nearly burned down the abbey by forgetting to extinguish the candles after midnight mass. Maybe the best place for him was up in a tower. Alone. Where he couldn’t get into anymore trouble.

“Fine. But end the ‘original compositions,’ will you? They give one such a headache.”

Francesco grinned. “Exactly. How do you think the bats feel?”

——————————————————————————————

I had to go humorous this week, since the first phrase that popped into my head after noting we had to include something about a fire was “You’re fired!” Perhaps that was not the meaning Rebekah Postupak, fearless leader of Flash Friday Fiction and selector of the weekly image and word prompts, was going for, but it amused me, because I’ve taken to exclaiming “You’re fired!” to anyone and everyone around me who makes silly or outrageous decisions. What can I say? It cracks my kids up when I announce that the driver that just cut me off in the left lane “is fired,” or when I fire daddy for attempting to catch raspberries in his mouth but dropping them on the floor instead.

The second phrase that leapt to mind was “bats in the belfry,” so I just took off from there. What do you think? Does my story ring true, or is it off-key?

Hop on over to Flash Friday Fiction to pen your own take on this photo, or to read the other fabulous submissions.

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