Two headed horse tails
Webs of The Past
When kingdoms come and go
If cobwebs trapped kingdoms, then juicy would be the spiders who laid silk.
Those were the words my grandpa kept uttering those last weeks of his life. Who gave him that mantra? I haven’t found it recorded anywhere else. And grandpa was no mystic.
Those weren’t his last words though.
“It took me all my life to die, Goppy. And I’ll be there, after, don’t worry. I’ll always have an eye on you. You know why? Because I don’t trust you. Not to take care of grandma’s grave and not with our family house. Don’t you dare to sell it!”
English wasn’t Grandpa’s first language; language in general wasn’t his first skill — that’s why he called me silly things like Goppy.
He didn’t trust me because of one small deed. I’d snuck into his library and stolen a book. He didn’t even read them. They were gifts from some teacher.
“Not from some teacher, Goppy, from my master,” grandpa murmured in his sleep. How strange. As if he had read my mind.
His voice louder, and eyes opened, Grandpa continued, “you need to put it back, Goppy. The Book of the Spiders must return to safety. Cobwebs can trap kingdoms.”
My elder grew battier?? The absconded book was for building model bridges. Since he was dying, I told him so.
“What’d ya think railtracks were for, asked the twinkling oldstar? Men are kingdom-building spiders,” he coughed. I retrieved the book. He clutched it.
“Bless me, grandfather, don’t curse me.”
I saw relief in Grandpa’s eyes. “You’re worthy, Goppy,” the dying man whispered. “May your web spin wide.”
And with that, he died.
When his eyes started bulging, I wasn’t even surprised. Two spiders broke the membranes and looked at me.
“We’ll help you lay silk all over the world.”
This story was co-written by Fox (the artist) and Smillew (top writer in satire).
It was our thirteenth tale! Here are the previous ones:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7| Part 8| Part 9| Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13| Part 14| Part 15| Part 16| Part 17| Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20
We call the concept the Two Headed Horse Tails.
As Fox (poet and digital art expert) describes it, Two Headed Horse Tails can be a tug of war. Two people (one of them could be YOU) are trying to get a tale into the corral, sometimes even against each other’s will.
Here are the rules (follow them or break them):
- 300 words total.
- Someone starts and writes 50 words. Then the other takes the lead and writes 50 more. Till the 300 count is reached.
- You can switch back and forth as to who starts the piece. (or not! We do.)
What about finding yourself another horse writer and giving it a try? (Do try this at home!)
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