Horizon: the start of another year of writephoto flash fiction inspired by KL Caley at New2Writing.com.
This one came to me as I was cuddling Pippin, prior to phoning my brother on Saturday morning. I think I was still under the influence of Stephen Sondheim when I chose the format. I was also cogitating my word of the year for IWSG on Wednesday — come and see what I decided on.
Horizon
Scene: a new year party on a balcony, with a large, tastefully lit room behind, and a swimming pool below. The view changes often, sometimes a land based view of distant green dunes suggesting sea on the other side, sometimes a view from a ship at sea. Then there are views of the curvature of the earth from the atmosphere, and of the curvature of other planets from who knows where.
FRED: So is ‘horizon’ a place or a concept, that’s what I’d like to know.
GEORGE: Hesitation, I think.
FRED: That’s a question, not hesitation. (looks at one of the other players, who shrugs)
GEORGE: My turn, then. A horizon is always moving. Whenever you travel, in any direction or by any means, it is always just the edge of what you can see—what?
PETE: Repetition.
GEORGE: I didn’t…
PETE: Any – any direction or any means.
DOLORES: Afraid he’s right, George.
GEORGE: D’oh…
PETE: the question has to be whether horizons actually exist in space. While the curvature of a planet provides a horizon of sorts, if one is flying in a spaceship without windows, the horizon is out of sight…what now?
DOLORES: The horizon is either inside the ship, or visible on the screen.
PETE: In deep space there is no horizon on the screen.
GEORGE: But as you travel, it gets further away, surely?
DOLORES: The horizon would always be the furthest point you can see, so it stays the same distance away, just what’s on the horizon changes.
FRED: But that’s my point entirely. Unless you have something on the horizon to judge it by, how do you know when it changes?
LARS: Did you interrupt Pete for deviation, hesitation or the other thing?
FRED: I didn’t interrupt, I think it was Dolores.
DOLORES: Um, it wasn’t repetition, I think it was deviation.
PETE: Hesitation, you said Um.
LARS: She hadn’t had her challenge accepted. But I reckon it’s still yours, Pete.
PETE: As I was saying, the horizon is out of sight…
ALL (in chorus): Repetition!
PETE: I demand arbitration!
JEMIMA: I’m the arbiter, and I know the score. And what’s on the horizon is the new year: get ready, everyone….five, four, three, two, one…
ALL (shouting): Happy New Year!!
Scene dissolves into a great deal of hugging and kissing, with champagne being spilt or drunk. Then someone starts a conga line, and the partygoers dance out into the street, joining up with others as they go over the horizon into the next year.
© J M Pett 2023
Ha ha, great fun! But I’m not sure you can compete as arbiter with the late, great Nicholas Parsons. Happy new year anyway!
I snuck it in as a quote from Chess, the musical. I’ve doen a lot of musicals in the past week (on cd, tape and download!)
I do like this Jemima a game of just a minute! I hope they didn’t fall in the swimming pool as they did the conga. 💜💜
Love the merging of the worlds. It was fun to figure out the game and the rules as we went, too.
Yes, sorry. It’s so much part of English culture that I didn’t realise till after I’d posted the link. Speak for one minute on a given subject without hesitation, deviation or repetition. Successful challengers take over. The winner is the one speaking as the whistle goes at the end of the minute. It probably started on Radio 4 in the 70s!
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Haha! This is such a fun post, Jemima. I loved it. Very clever and a completely different use of the image. Thank you so much for joining in with #writephoto. KL <3