-- Escla
Humans love music. They love to make it, they love to have it. It punctuates their lives, helps them focus, lifts their mood, and even lulls them to sleep. It permeates their cultures and can even entertain multitudes.
It can also be highly invasive, annoying, and a form of psychological warfare, and Humans know this. Especially Human Jo, who has been captured by enemy forces and is now one among many bargaining chips in the escalating conflict. The enemy had thought things through. The walls were inedible, the ventilation shafts small, no protruding joining elements and no seams were present within the cell walls. Even the bathing facilities were impossible to sabotage. Health was monitored via a series of subtle scanners and the Human was under watch at all times.
Meals were regular, and nutritious if not flavourful. In fact, the enemy had made only one mistake. They let Human Jo have cutlery.
Prrrrip tick clap slap tikka tikka tak... The rhythm was not a match to any known music. Or at least, any music known to the captors. It grazed close to a few popular ditties, but veered away again into close-but-no-it-isn't unfamiliarity. As an artistic endeavour, it was amazing what a Human could do with two sporks and a lot of spare time on their hands.
As an endurance exercise... it took a sum total of four minutes for Juman Jo to get on any given captor-guard's nerves. It was the loud and random POP of a specific maneuver that did it. They flinched, visibly, every single time. Of course Human Jo noticed this and tried to do the POP more often. However, unbeknownst to her captors, Jo actually had all the musical skill of a concussed whelk. Which only added to the randomness of the POPs and the near-misses of a recognisable tune.
Then... there was the humming.
Tuneless and as arrhythmic as the sporks, there were moments when it came perilously close to matching something known, and moments where it came within reaching distance of beauty, but those moments were fleeting and random. However, those moments were completely spoiled by the fact that the tune was always out of sync with the percussion.
In the end, they paid the allies to take Human Jo back. It was one of their surrender terms.
Upon her return, her designated Companion asked, "When did you learn how to play the spoons?"
"I didn't," said Jo. "You don't have to know how to play anything if the goal is to be annoying."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / VIPDesignUSA]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [69 remaining prompts!]
