Friday 31 July 2015

Brain Freeze

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This free short story is brought to you by the author of Maggie's Milkman and Extraordinary Rendition. 

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The little girl sat on the bench looking at her ice-lolly with a mixture of excitement and confusion. Just moments ago she'd hurriedly unwrapped the lolly and stuffed it in her mouth, but now her head throbbed in a way that she'd never experienced before. It was a dull pain, her whole head seemed to be aching, she wanted to grab her head and squeeze the pain out of it. She was about 3 years old; her hair in tight bunches on the side of her head, she had a confused look on her face. She looked at the lolly in her hand, the delicious chocolate covering the wonderful strawberry sorbet - had it really caused this pain? She greedily shoved the lolly into her mouth again and sucked it. The pain was nearly unbearable; she pulled it out screwing her eyes tight shut while clutching her forehead with her little hand. She tentatively opened her eyes and looked at the lolly quizzically; how could something so delicious, so lovely, cause such pain? She waved it like a magic wand inspecting it from all angles looking for clues. Blue fluffy clouds drifted across the sky and the sunshine warmed her face, the ache in her brain slowly subsided. 
Now she was faced with a dilemma; should she have another go at the lolly and risk the pain or should she throw it away? She'd wanted that lolly all day, badgered her mum, badgered her gran, and finally got her granddad to come up with the goods, but now she wasn't so sure. She was disappointed, baffled by the change. She shook her head, like she'd seen her mother do when her mum was disappointed with her dad. Then she thrust the lolly into her mouth as if momentarily forgetting the pain it was causing her, the chocolate was warmer, the sorbet was melting, the taste spread across her tongue, it was the best thing she'd ever put in her mouth and her head was fine, no ache, no pain. A smile spread across her face, normality had been restored. 

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5 comments:

  1. I am much older than this little girl but I love lollies and I would do the same :-)

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    Replies
    1. I do too but at least we know what is happening :-)

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  2. Mae West said 'I'll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.'
    If the headache appears again, she should throw the lolly away with no regrets

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  3. The sweetest story:-) this one was sweet too: http://garethsshortstoryblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/sweet-part.html

    :-)

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  4. it was written only a year ago. a year and a month

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