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On changeover day, the agency representative found god sitting on a hillside, watching a herd of brachiosaurs plod through the lush green valley, far below.
“All set, big fella?” she asked.
god looked up and smiled, but his eyes were deep pools of sadness. “My last day,” he said with a sigh. “You know, i’ll really miss this place. When i first arrived it was a desolate chunk of rock; a lost cause, they said. Now look at it.”
She followed his gaze along the valley, over the emerald treetops and out to where the cliffs stuttered into the sea, shimmering gold in the afternoon sun.
“The new guy’s certainly got some interesting ideas,” said the representative. “Opposable thumbs are the future, apparently.”
“Opposable thumbs?” god raised an eyebrow. “i hope He knows what He’s doing.”
A pterodactyl swept by, surfing volcanic thermals on leather wings.
god smoothed his beard. “i — ” he began. he cleared his throat. “i hope He doesn’t make too many changes. i was getting everything just the way i wanted.”
She smiled, her head to one side. “Everybody has to retire sometime.” Dismay crept across god’s face. She added, “I’m sure He won’t do anything drastic.”
god nodded, slowly.
“Well,” the representative said after a while, “what’ll you do with all your free time?”
he looked up into the sky. “Ooh… travel, i guess. Do the ‘sights’, you know? Maybe see how the others are getting on.”
A chorus of seismic bellows erupted as one of the brachiosaurs spotted a lurking predator.
“Um…” she said, “what is it with you and the lizards, anyway?”
“Dunno.” god poked at a pebble with the toe of his sandal. “i just thought they were cool.”
She checked her watch and sat down beside him. Together, they waited for the sun to set.
Dan Purdue lives near Birmingham, England and has been writing fiction for five years or so. His stories have appeared online in various places, including Spread the Word and The Guardian website, and in print in “The Wonderful World of Worders” and “Health Matters”.
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32 Responses to “CHANGEOVER DAY • by Dan Purdue”
Comments
« Podcast EDF016: THE BREACH • written Gay Degani • read by Robert C. Eccles | Home | WHAT NAME DO I GIVE HER? • by Kevin Shamel »
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:40 am
I love it!
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:17 am
What a unique and special story. Love it.
Deborah B
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:45 am
Nice job.
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:52 am
Very different and very cool!
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:16 am
This was a cute little flash.
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:18 am
Whacky and wonderful!
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:05 am
As a story, this was just okay. I would have given it a higher rating, but I thought the gimmick with the lack of capitalization of God and I was a serious distraction.
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:23 am
Great story – unusual and inventive. I would like to read more from this writer.
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:26 am
The writing was great, but, it’s not my type of story. 4 stars, nevertheless.
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:37 am
Enjoyed this one. Dinosaurs are seriously underrepresented in EDF and this will help correct the balance. Having worked a little in vacation real estate, I got a kick out of the title.
–John
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:15 am
My hat goes off to you, Dan, for this perspective. Short, but quite entertaining.
Just curious why “i” wasn’t capitalized as “I”. Petty, I know.
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:27 am
Loved it. The lower case lettering confused me until I saw the capital ‘H’ in ‘He’. Interesting way of separating the New from the old. Bravo.
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:39 am
A wonderful Monday morning read. Loved the originality. Five stars.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:54 am
“Dunno.” god poked at a pebble with the toe of his sandal. “i just thought they were cool.”
That line alone was worth a four.
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Brilliant story, very original thinking. I shall be investigating more of this author’s work. 5 Stars
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I really liked this, it was funny and just silly enough. Also, dinosaurs.
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:13 pm
?I think a few readers have missed the point about the lower case ‘god’ and ‘i’…
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:49 pm
I didn’t miss the point. I picked up on the capital H for He as well. The gimmick was a distraction for me, that’s all I’m saying. I would of probably rated it much higher without the gimmick.
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Great story, really visual. Love the kicking the pebble part too.
I don’t think the decision to use He/i/god/God is a gimmick, it adds to the story, gives it an extra something.
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Thanks for the comments, everyone, much appreciated. I thought the god/God issue might attract a few opinions. It’s supposed to be playful, but I fully understand it could get annoying pretty quickly (one of the reasons I kept this as short as it is). I could have written this without messing about with the capitals, obviously, but it felt right for this story, and I think it’s best to stick with your instincts. Most of the time, at least.
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Ooo, this one’s getting saved to my FaveFiction folder! Five stars. (And the lowercase is perfect)
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:25 pm
I appreciated the lack of capitalization; it was a clue about how to ‘take’ the story. It really worked for me.
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:48 pm
What a unique little story we have here. I did enjoy it, though the lack of capitalization on ‘God’ [at the beginning of a sentence] and ‘I’ was incredibly distracting – for those who can’t NOT pause when they see an error.
Still gave you a high rating, it was a great story.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:08 am
I adore the image of the exiting god as a sentimental kid, wistfully putting his Legos away at the end of the night because another day is coming. Your god, for me, brings back fond memories of Alanis, Dogma… cute just *feels* right sometimes, when he isn’t in a smiting mood.
Not my style of story in the slightest, and yet I really got a kick out of this. You captured something unique here; well done.
March 23rd, 2010 at 4:03 am
Very nice. Neat story.
This might amuse you:
http://www.fond4beetles.com/prologue.html
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:01 am
I really like this one. The capitalization clarified your meanings to me. Very nicely done.
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:57 am
Nice little look at the the takeovers between gods. Sort of reminde me of corporate takeovers. Very funny. Heh heh.
March 24th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I really enjoyed reading this story, very funny and a clever idea I think. I would like to have read more.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:31 am
Fantastic.
Think I know what he means about the lizards too.
G
April 1st, 2010 at 7:19 am
An interesting and restrained way to comment about the succession of ethos’ in human historical time as well.
April 4th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Capital humour. The imagery played perfect to the dialogue. Oh God, little do you know…Ha!
May 17th, 2010 at 12:02 am
[...] EDF024: Changeover Day written by Dan Purdue read by Paul Clarke “Changeover Day” was originally published in EDF on March 22, [...]