Custard to dust

in Freewriters6 months ago

They knew, when their daughter left home for a dormitory room i Heidelberg, that she was the one that had used most of the hot water, the electricity and the food in the fridge. When their son also moved they could see that they almost didn't use any energy, any food or any strange things fabricated in China.

As they got used to living without their children they had a short reawakening where they went to the movies, to fancy cocktail bars and had sex in nature. But then they returned to the quiet life, working their day jobs, reading a bit in the evening as they had become bored with television.

The money on their account grew and grew even though they gave their children as much as they would accept. So one day they both stopped working.

On that day they were sitting outside their house looking into infinity, looking into a blue sky. There was no wind. The hands of the woman turned into white dust. When she noticed he was already turned into a pile of the same material.

When the children found them they put the white dust in a flowerpot.

But nothing would grow from it.

Sort:  

As if the pursuit of money, and goods that take money, enabled them to take form in the three dimensions known by some as reality. They had body upgrades when they disconnected from money, and could no longer take form in the same reality. Even their powder could not support taking form there.

Very interesting story!!!

Thanks for the beautiful interpretation... I hadn't made up my mind what it meant, or could mean. Just had this idea.

I love your fiction. And your drawings of course.

We all go to dust eventually, regardless of how much money we had. I'm at an age where one child may have left home for good and the other is only here part time. We help them both out as life is expensive these days.

I'd be disappointed (well unaware) if nothing grew from my remains.

life is expensive these days.

Like nicely obedient slaves, we can't imagine life without money,and all the supposed benefits the (iamginary) stuff brings to our lives. @Katharsisdrill has written a story in which life (as we have been sold it) ends when this attachment to money dissipates. He may not have intended to write about money, but it's very much part of his story. I think it's especially interesting that nothing would grow from the powder.

Money is part of life, like it or not. Whether you fall for the consumerist dream is up to you, but I have little interest in so-called 'luxury' products.

We can take this story as we want and I see the author got interpretations he did not expect. It is just a story and we don't have to take it to mean anything beyond that.

We don't have to believe that katharsisdrill is an oracle, speaking truths that only he can speak? lol just pulling your leg here. I love the way he thinks though. He goes places I am happy to go along with him to.

the consumerist dream

that's an interesting statement. Are we dreaming all this up?

I love the rides he takes us on. They are often surreal so I have no idea what they could mean.

I was thinking more of the dreams that we are sold by companies and politicians. They are just people doing their thing. Their intentions can vary and may not always be malicious.

The part about not growing is definitely where it all happens in the text. We do apply a lot of meaning to living in itself. Also interesting that both you and @owasco noticed the part about the money. It is important I see that, but at first I didn't put too much meaning into it myself.

A poignant and beautifully written piece. It captures the bittersweet journey of empty nesters, the fleeting nature of life's pleasures, and the ultimate return to dust. A thought provoking reflection on time, change, and the essence of existence.

Thanks, mate!