“Bill, you’ve stretched the boundaries of science with your bare hands. Teleporting a mouse to Australia is freaky smart, but teleporting us to the Taj Mahal? You’re mad!” Jessica fumed. “If you beam Scotty up, you’ve gotta bring Scotty down. I’m staying home.”
Yet, it was too late. Bill had already pressed the button.
Still wearing her pink fluffy slides, Jessica gingerly opened her eyes. Either the teleporter had a wild sense of humour, or no sense of direction. This decrepid hotel was NOT the Taj Mahal, and Bill mumbled something about Guatamala.
That was Bill’s last experiment.
——-
While ostensibly about the perils of teleporting, that scenario illustrates that age old tension in couples where one is more this, and the other is more than that. One is a risk taker, while the other’s a home body. How do we negotiate these differences? There lies the challenge and quite frankly, I think Bill’s in deep water.
xx Rowena
This has been another contribution to Friday Fictioneers hosted by by Rochelle Wishoff Fields. This week’s image from JS Brand captures I’d encourage you to read some of the other contributions and see just how many different takes can emerge from the same photo.
Word Count 98 words.
Beyond the Flow 
Well, it worked, just not perfectly.
I guess if they wanted to get away from it all… And I’m sure it is easier to get a room at Henri’s Hotel than the Taj Mahal 😉
I really think Bill might be onto something
Lovely sc-fi tale 🙂
I can understand why it’s the last experiment 🙂 🙂
Teleporting is my dream. It has its advantages if the science goes right!
Haha – really enjoyed this Rowena!
I dunno… palm trees, beach, sun. Might be a better destination that the Taj Mahal!!
Awfully hard on Bill, I would be quite impressed and Guatemala can’t be that bad for a holiday 🙂
A lovely piece of humorous writing. I particularly liked “If you beam Scotty up, you’ve gotta bring Scotty down.”
I take your point about the way this parable illustrates the tension between risk-taker and homebird. I think Bill’s stepped rather a long way over the mark here, don’t you?!
I foresee Bill in so much pain! heheh! Great story!
Ha ha – Bill’s in big trouble! Great little story.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
Lovely story, Rowena.🙂
Bill needs to take another look at the instruction manual! Excellent Rowena.
Thanks very much, Keith.
Thanks very much, Moon.
Yeah, Bill blew it. He’ll be living in the doghouse for a while, I think 🙂
Ha, ha! This made me smile. I get such a strong sense of their personalities in so few words.
🙂 A fantastic tale.
I think she should give him full marks for achieving teleportation – a no mean feat!
Yes. Well said, Dahlia. His achievement got lost among the teething issues. Many thanks, Rowena
Thank you.
Thanks, Sarah. It’s interesting how that can happen in these flash fiction efforts. They accidentally ended up being quite similar to my parents. Or, maybe it wasn’t an accident.
xx Rowena.
Yes, I agree. She doesn’t strike me as the adventurous type.
Thank you for reading my post and directing me to read this story. It’s delightful. Love the tension–hard to miss. 🙂
How can I subscribe here? I’m not a fan of Reader. 😦
But on the more positive note, Jessica did come out intact. Not half Bill and half Jessica, that might pose a few problems. Nice one.
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