THE FACE
Word Count: 362
It was Saturday and if it didn’t come in the mail that day then he’d have to wait until Monday. The possibility nearly made him cry. He ran out and checked the front porch every fifteen minutes. He tried to take his mind off it. He couldn’t; the anticipation of his new face was overwhelming all else.
“I still don’t know why you wasted good money on a face,” his wife said. “We’re retired, on a limited income, and you’re past mid-life crisis. Or should be.”
He didn’t answer, just shuffled back into the den where he could see the street from the window. He tried to read. He flipped on the TV and flipped it back off, afraid that he wouldn’t hear the mail truck. He reread what he’d just read and still didn’t know what he’d read. Finally, finally he heard the rumbling that signaled the postman. He watched him get out of his truck with a rather large box and come up the stairs. He drew back, hid behind the curtain, suddenly embarrassed. He peeked out as he heard the truck come back to life and move on.
He carried it carefully upstairs, ignoring the exaggerated sigh as he passed the kitchen. He closed the door to the bedroom, pulled out his pocketknife and slit open the box.
It took him several minutes before he got the nerve to touch it. It stared up at him from its nest of bubble-wrap and baby blue tissue paper. It was handsome, more so than he ever hoped for. It had a nose that was perfectly straight and fashionably narrow and noble. It had eyes deepset and as baby a blue as the tissue paper. And a square jawline. How he’d always wanted a square jawline!
Like everything else, the instructions were poorly translated and ultimately confusing. It didn’t help that his hands shook. He took a deep breath, carefully spread the glue–the glue that would allow only two minutes for manipulation before it set permanently into place. He looked into the mirror one last time, then brought the new face up over the old.
“Thelma!” he screamed. “Thelma!”
Oh, My! what an imagination! You foreshadow something that is possible, perhaps the newest craze. Incredibly entertaining with a twinge of futuristic happenings. S.
And who hasn’t wrung their hands in anticipation of that wonderful arrival in the mail, only to be crushed by disappointment that it just didn’t quite meet expectation.
Thanks! This one is probably prime for a hypertext piece as there were so many other directions I was considering when he opened that box. Hypertext would allow for ALL those paths, instead of the quick ending I gave it.
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