fictionandessays

Alphabet Soup

 by Mel O’Drama

March 24, 2008

(orig. publishing date)

Three friends are having lunch at a local diner. All three order a sandwich and soup. The soup of the day is alphabet. All have their soup first. On his second spoonful, Carl notices the letters have formed the word ‘Strom’. He says, “This must be an omen”. He has been working for the last three weeks on getting Strom Industrials as a client. He gets a call on his cell phone. It’s from the office. The contract has just be finalized.

 Leo dips into his soup, and the letters for the word ‘winner’ is displayed on his spoon. Leo always buys lotto tickets. He pulls out his tickets from his wallet. John grabs the morning “Sentinel” He hands Leo the lotto listing. Going through the numbers, one ticket has 4 correct number, worth close to a thousand bucks.

All being excited now, they anxiously wait for John’s message. He dips into the soup and comes up with his word. Carl looks at it, and quietly says, “Bummer”. The word is ….. ‘death’. All heave a sigh of depression. John dumps the word back into the bowl. He stirs up the soup, and scoops up another spoonful. This time the word is ….. ‘soon’.

Within five seconds, a man burst into the diner, brandishing a snub nosed gun. He aims at the man sitting next to John, while saying, “You’ve screwed me for the last time”. The targeted man lunges off his stool at the gunman. The gunman fires, missing his target, but hitting John in the chest. John clutches his chest while collapsing to the floor. His dying words were, “I’ll never order alphabet soup again”.

© 2008 by James M. Britvich All Rights Reserved