A light horror story by I.M. Gerhi
There are nothing social about a book club outing when you are left alone, locked up in an aquarium
What do you do when you are locked in? Do you panic or do you make the best of the situation?
When Alma Limebury gets locked into the aquarium she is stuck making friends with the only other person around. The only problem is that Alma is not a very sociable person at the best of times. In Stupid Fishes Alma finds out if she really is able to cope when she has just herself to rely on?
At the moment Stupid Fishes is only available as part of the short story collection Night Light Tales.
Read a sample:
Trish, the president of the Lobster-Quadrille Book Club, hooked Alma Limebury by the arm and dragged her closer. They were seven elderly ladies standing in a tight circle.
Alma leaned in involuntarily with the rest to hear above the droning mass of people surrounding them.
“Let’s call it a day, shall we?” said Trish.
Alma sighed deeply. “Thank heaven. I can’t take a moment more of this.”
Alma understood the necessity of their yearly book club outing. But a family day at the aquarium? It was a horror. Droves of pushing and shoving family units—with wheezing, spitting, crying members—packed into confined spaces.
“This was fun, wasn’t it?” said Trish. “Getting out into the real world.”
The group nodded in agreement, sunny smiles plastered on their faces.
Trish mirrored their smiles and nods. “We sit for a whole year just talking about books. It’s nice to get out for a change.”
This was utter torture, thought Alma. Yes, they just sat around and talked about books all year. That was the whole point of a book club, wasn’t it? But no, they had to take an outing to experience something for real.
“We must do this again soon,” said Trish.
Alma shook her head. Oh, please—I don’t ever want to do this again. If I want to look at real fish, I’ll take a short walk off a plank into a deep ocean.
“Still sore that we voted you out, Alma?”
“Yes, I am. If we really have to do an outing, then—”
“Right,” said Trish, turning back to the group. “That’s it then. We meet next week at Lynn’s. Does everybody have the book?”
The plastered smiles nodded.
“Well, I—” Alma began.
“Is everybody sorted for transport? Off we go then.”
“Sod it,” muttered Alma as the ladies of the Lobster-Quadrille Book Club disappeared toward the aquarium entrance.
…end of sample
Stupid Fishes © I.M. Gerhi
Stupid Fishes has been published in:
