Margarida Brei is the Readers’ Choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. The winning entry is decided by the popular vote and rewarded with a special feature here today. (In case of a tie, the writer who submitted an entry first is the winner per our rules.) Without further ado, here’s the winning story:
Fried
by Margarida Brei
The male film directors were choosing a background for the film “Fried.” In a room full of arrogant, know-alls with IQs the size of postage stamps, but enough vanity if bottled to fuel every vehicle in London, tempers and opinions ran riot.
The film projector showed a surreal scene of burnt dying trees against a backdrop of snow. The contrast of black against white, dead against live had the directors in ecstasy, yet they still argued.
“I say the Martian tourists dramatically exit their space bus here and snap selfies!”
“The Martians are loathsome, not fun loving! Selfies? Really! We choose this scene for the end. The Martians are trapped. Surrounded by a squad of vigilante warriors, they retreat and melt into horrible jellied blobs in the snow.”
“May I remind you that the film is entitled “Fried”, therefore logically the Martians should be fried, hence the burnt trees.”
“It is a PG-13 film, so tone the violence down! No mutilations or horror! The screen to me shouts romance. The hero Martian falls in love with a human who walks mystically out of the billowing snow.”
An authoritarian female voice cut through their arguments like a serrated knife, “Little Boys, did none of you read the script. “Fried” is actually a movie with a built-in cooking show. The Martians learn to fry everything from Mars Bars to fish and chips.”
“Who the hell are you, woman?” one overly puffed up director asked.
“Your boss. You are so fried.”
