Friday, October 12, 2012

The Pythons

On the count of three...you have seven minutes to tell us why you deserve to rule the Universe by solving our final problem: pythons, which, due to the extinction of their predators, have been suffocating our children.
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I wrote this for the Trifexra Week 37 Writing Challenge, where we were required to write a 33 word composition which builds on the phrase, "on the count of three".
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Ironically, elements of this story are true.

Your comments are welcome.

33 comments:

  1. This reminds me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 42!

    PS: You have an extra "our" in there.

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    1. Thanks Draug. I take the Hitchhiker's comment as a high compliment. And thanks for the catch on the extra "our", which put me in a panic, given the 33 word requirment, except I remembered I wanted to add a "the" in my first draft and deleted it due to the word count. Haha!

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    2. I agree, I was thinking 42 ;)

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  2. Haye snakes, but love the story. Thanks for stopping by.

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    1. Thanks Debra. I hate snakes too, especially ones which smother children!

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  3. my first thought was hitch hikers guide as well. :-)

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  4. It is quirky, just like hitch hikers guide, so I can see that too.

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  5. Really nice and well written. Reminds me also about Discworld books because I've been reading those more Pratchett than Adams lately.

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    1. Did you mean awww as in "sweet" or awww as in "awwww-ful"? Either way, thank you Zoe.

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  7. OK, so I know Pythons can smother children. And I don't doubt that their predators are becoming extinct.... but ... and I could google this, but I'm afraid to ... which parts are coming true? (please google don't eat my comment, please google don't eat my comment {clicks heels together three times})

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    1. I was hoping someone would ask. Ok, exotic pythons are multiplying in the Everglades to the point that many indigenous mammals are in danger of disappearing, at least, in the Everglades. Truly a serious problem. Within the word limit, I found it more convenient to say that the python's predators are extinct. Call it literary license. In reality, since they were imported to Florida, pythons have few, if any, predators, thus they are propagating at an exponential rate. Now about the children. I read a news story about a major ignorant dumbass (these are the kindest words I can muster) who left his baby in the same room as his pet python. I will not say the rest of this story but you can guess what happened. The rest of my tale is pure fabrication beard on my slightly demented connection of extraneous, but related bits of information. Whew!

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    2. Bad typing on my i phone and auto correct alert:
      As = with
      Beard=based

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  8. I hate thinking about those pythons on the loose! How horrible that they are thriving! What are people thinking having them as pets? Yet another reason I don't think I would like living in Florida except vicariously through HGTV!!

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    1. It's not like the pythons are coming up through the toilets here in swampy Florida....oh my God, get the plunger Marge!! Thanks Linda! ;)

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  9. Well, this is creepy! Snakes freak me out a little, so the idea of conditions be so that they could multiply freely is disturbing to say the least. I heard about that story you mentioned in the comments about the baby and python. Very sad.

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    1. If it makes you feel any better, once, I walked through some woods in France and found myself in a clearing which was covered with snakes!

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    2. And thank you for commenting Janna.

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  10. Pythons are lovely creatures, but they certainly don't belong in our neck of the woods. I enjoyed the whimsical feel of this!

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  11. the bluntness of it made me feel as though there really were only seven minutes to save the universe from the python plague, well done.

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  12. Very creepy little tale... And thanks for the extra info in the comments. Made it even creepier. (I'm actually thinking of why I deserve to rule the Universe.)

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  13. Wow. Well done. I absolutely love it when a trifecta is tied to something about which I can learn.

    As for the guy who left his baby in the same room as his snake, that sort of thing makes me *crazy*. At one point, it made me crazy with my husband's family who, at the time I was having babies, had an Akita (dog) that was not well taken care of and quite unstable, and would pose my small children with it when I wasn't around. I knew the dog well, had taken it in for months at a time, and knew they were deluded.

    My children at 9, 8 and 5, still don't go over there unsupervised.

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    1. People who put kids in jeapardy need to be locked up. Thank you for your comments Karen.

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  14. I liked the quirkiness of this. Remind me never to hang put in the Everglades! I read your response to Jessie!

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    1. Thanks Gina. Yeah, I was worried about the quirkiness, but it seemed to fit the subject matter.

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