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jakrebs
James Krebs
United States, NY, Albany

Words: 249
Access: Public
Comments: 7

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The Afghan

On April 31st 2007, The Annual Conference of Mythical Creatures met in a recently created crop circle within the hallowed grounds of Area 51. A myriad of grainy, blurry photographs, taken by legions of fanatical crackpots, attest to this meeting.

The meeting was brought to order by the fourteen foot long Winged Monkey Man of India. First on the agenda: a contest of who could prove themselves to be the most unrealistic and preposterous being “alive.”

Nessie dragged herself to the podium. She said, “Now theoretically I’m supposed to be a plesiosaur, yet I live in a cold-water lake which doesn’t have nearly enough aquatic life to support one creature of my size, much less a population large enough to ensure a viable gene pool for adequate reproduction over thousands of years.”

Murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd. Nessie actually began to disappear before their eyes, so compelling was her argument. Then Bigfoot lumbered up to the podium and pushed her aside, vexed at being “overlooked” year after year. He stammered incoherently for fifteen minutes. Public speaking was not his forte. However, he ended on his best point, shouting, “Where be all da bones?!”

The Afghan, who spoke next, was persuasive. He emphasized that Afghanistan’s history was one of warring tribal groups with little national identity, hence there really were no “Afghans.”

Then, just as the creatures were about to proclaim the Afghan the winner, another figure approached the podium.

It was the Iraqi looking very smug.

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Comments  
mickeyp Comment by: mickeyp - 2008-07-09 18:51
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An original little allegory, highly creative. When I got to the Afghan I think my face actually brightened in the wonderful shock of the piece. It's like a dissonance that makes the harmony all the more gripping. Glad I stopped by.
Koinonia Comment by: Koinonia - 2008-06-25 02:22
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I also like the idea of a gathering of mythical creatures, I may have to borrow the idea :P. I'm having a bit of a dilemma about your use of the word 'insure'. My automatic thought was that it should be 'ensure' but now I've thought it over so many times I can't even remember which means what. So maybe you should just look at it and then tell me what's going on!
citydweller Comment by: citydweller - 2007-11-15 08:04
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Very funny. I'm a big Nessie fan myself.

Great last line.
waxseal Comment by: waxseal - 2007-11-13 10:16
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Good one - really good one :-)
Nora Comment by: Nora Online- 2007-11-11 12:58
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This line alone made my day:

Public speaking was not his forte. However, he ended on his best point, shouting, “Where be all da bones?!”

You slipped some heavy material into what I thought was a funny, whimsical piece. Like LadyMoon, I'm chewing on the ending.

(Bigfoot IS real, by the way)
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