Toying With Gravity
08/03/21 17:13
Gareth put down his coffee and smiled his wide grin before ploughing back into the conversation. ‘Gravity is the weakest of weak forces. I mean it holds us to the ground, but that is something the size of Planet Earth pulling us with all its might. And if you want to pick up your leg, even when feeling a little below the weather, you can fight and beat gravity. Do you even feel gravity pulling it back?’
‘It’s weak, yeah. But it’s constant and that leg of yours is gonna lose the fight in the end. Anyway, we were talking about last night’s television weren’t we?’ Sean said.
Selma shrugged. She’d heard it all before.
Gareth drummed his fingers against his mug. His brows suggested he had thoughts to let free.
‘Did you even watch the telly last night?’ Sean asked. ‘That last episode left us on a right twist and a cliffhanger.’
Selma snorted so that tea almost came out of her nostrils. ‘Don’t talk about it if he hasn’t seen it. Spoilers are the devil’s work.’ She wiped the tea from her nose with her sleeve. ‘Gareth, if you didn’t watch it, what were you doing?’
Selma and Sean saw Gareth’s gravity defying eyebrows pass to and beyond his hairline; a clear sign a decision had been made.
‘Right, you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone. Not a pinky promise, a full on "on the life of my parents" promise.’
His always less than serious face looked surprisingly serious. Selma thought it made him look relatively normal.
Ultimately they promised on various family members lives, and a couple of pets to be sure.
‘Great. Well you know the gravity problem I’ve been working on. I’ve solved it.’
With other people this may sound like an interesting essay or philosophical treatise, but not with Gareth. They’d seen him cross a tomato plant with Japanese Knotweed last year to produce giant super fast growing tomatoes that were already available in shops. And many an allotment had been taken over by this student experiment. So hearing Gareth talk about the ‘gravity problem’ was, at the very least, a bit intriguing.
‘Do you want to see something cool? All the kids will want them.’
Gareth proceeded to pull out a pair of trainers out of his rucksack - a pair with homemade amendments. ‘They’re not finished yet. We’ll need a logo to make them look cooler. But for now I’ve just drawn on a go-faster stripe with a Sharpie.’
Sean looked at Selma and was glad to see she looked as non-plussed as he felt.
Ten minutes later Selma was a flying around the room in the boots trying carefully not to hit her head on the light fittings, whilst keeping away from the window in case she was spotted. But she so wanted to open the window and fly outside too.
It took some patience for Sean to get his turn, but he duly did.
‘Gareth, you are a fucking genius. I don’t care about your projected millions from your Knotweed Tomato hybrid monstrosity: these are going to make you the richest man on the planet.’
Selma squealed with excitement and clapped. ‘Or off the planet. Musky baby, eat your heart out!’
Gareth nodded. ‘I know. But you haven’t seen the best bit yet.’
‘What the hell can be better than anti gravity boots and flying everywhere?’
Reaching back into the rucksack Gareth pulled out a tote bag, which had a picture of his monster tomatoes on it.
‘This.’ He said, sliding out a plastic gun. ‘The gravity gun!’
‘The G-Gun! Cool.’ Said Sean. ‘How does it work?’
‘I’ll show you tonight. You’re right, it is way cool.’
That evening the three of them played with the gun on the peatland behind the motorway fence. Great swathes of peat were strafed by Sean and Selma with the sky partly speckled by organic matter that was never supposed to leave the planet going for a brief flyby. The highlight was when Gareth shot some glacial boulders behind the old quarry and both Selma and Patch, her bemused dog, floated on them some 15ft in the air.
Sean asked how he’d developed this in just a weekend.
‘It’s taken me decades this.’ Said the fifteen year old, pulling out what looked like a wristwatch. ‘This is my time travel device, could sell well too.’
Gareth swivelled a couple of bezels around then clicked a button on the side. "Shit!" he exclaimed. Then he was gone - and never seen again.
______
WC: 750
#MidWeekFlash - 03.03.21
‘It’s weak, yeah. But it’s constant and that leg of yours is gonna lose the fight in the end. Anyway, we were talking about last night’s television weren’t we?’ Sean said.
Selma shrugged. She’d heard it all before.
Gareth drummed his fingers against his mug. His brows suggested he had thoughts to let free.
‘Did you even watch the telly last night?’ Sean asked. ‘That last episode left us on a right twist and a cliffhanger.’
Selma snorted so that tea almost came out of her nostrils. ‘Don’t talk about it if he hasn’t seen it. Spoilers are the devil’s work.’ She wiped the tea from her nose with her sleeve. ‘Gareth, if you didn’t watch it, what were you doing?’
Selma and Sean saw Gareth’s gravity defying eyebrows pass to and beyond his hairline; a clear sign a decision had been made.
‘Right, you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone. Not a pinky promise, a full on "on the life of my parents" promise.’
His always less than serious face looked surprisingly serious. Selma thought it made him look relatively normal.
Ultimately they promised on various family members lives, and a couple of pets to be sure.
‘Great. Well you know the gravity problem I’ve been working on. I’ve solved it.’
With other people this may sound like an interesting essay or philosophical treatise, but not with Gareth. They’d seen him cross a tomato plant with Japanese Knotweed last year to produce giant super fast growing tomatoes that were already available in shops. And many an allotment had been taken over by this student experiment. So hearing Gareth talk about the ‘gravity problem’ was, at the very least, a bit intriguing.
‘Do you want to see something cool? All the kids will want them.’
Gareth proceeded to pull out a pair of trainers out of his rucksack - a pair with homemade amendments. ‘They’re not finished yet. We’ll need a logo to make them look cooler. But for now I’ve just drawn on a go-faster stripe with a Sharpie.’
Sean looked at Selma and was glad to see she looked as non-plussed as he felt.
Ten minutes later Selma was a flying around the room in the boots trying carefully not to hit her head on the light fittings, whilst keeping away from the window in case she was spotted. But she so wanted to open the window and fly outside too.
It took some patience for Sean to get his turn, but he duly did.
‘Gareth, you are a fucking genius. I don’t care about your projected millions from your Knotweed Tomato hybrid monstrosity: these are going to make you the richest man on the planet.’
Selma squealed with excitement and clapped. ‘Or off the planet. Musky baby, eat your heart out!’
Gareth nodded. ‘I know. But you haven’t seen the best bit yet.’
‘What the hell can be better than anti gravity boots and flying everywhere?’
Reaching back into the rucksack Gareth pulled out a tote bag, which had a picture of his monster tomatoes on it.
‘This.’ He said, sliding out a plastic gun. ‘The gravity gun!’
‘The G-Gun! Cool.’ Said Sean. ‘How does it work?’
‘I’ll show you tonight. You’re right, it is way cool.’
That evening the three of them played with the gun on the peatland behind the motorway fence. Great swathes of peat were strafed by Sean and Selma with the sky partly speckled by organic matter that was never supposed to leave the planet going for a brief flyby. The highlight was when Gareth shot some glacial boulders behind the old quarry and both Selma and Patch, her bemused dog, floated on them some 15ft in the air.
Sean asked how he’d developed this in just a weekend.
‘It’s taken me decades this.’ Said the fifteen year old, pulling out what looked like a wristwatch. ‘This is my time travel device, could sell well too.’
Gareth swivelled a couple of bezels around then clicked a button on the side. "Shit!" he exclaimed. Then he was gone - and never seen again.
______
WC: 750
#MidWeekFlash - 03.03.21