265 In Bed: a One-Act Play of Fortune and Misfortune

Characters:

• Marie and her date, Tyler; it was only their second date.
• Teresa and her fiancé, Anton.
• Carly and me (Mitch), her husband.

Cuisine: Chinese.

There we six sat, sated, each with their fortune cookie. Marie opened hers first. Her date, Tyler, smiled—all in good fun.

You are very creative and daring.

"In bed!" we all chanted. Marie blushed.

My wife, Carly, read next:

Winning doesn't always mean being first.

"In bed!" everyone repeated and laughed.

Carly shot me that selfish-lover look. Now I blushed. "So true, Mitch," she agreed. "But then, there are other things..." and her girlfriends oohed, because they were well aware of those other things. I cringed.

Teresa opened hers. Anton, her fiancé, became uneasy.

It always seems impossible until it is done.

"In bed!" we said yet again.

"Right," laughed Anton. "Right now—let's get it done!" Teresa didn't laugh.

"Not tonight, smooth-talker."

Anton couldn't place her tone; he didn't laugh, so when the rest of us did, we stopped. It was well known they attended counseling before their wedding. Teresa had a bad temper.

Tyler, Marie's date—only her second with him—opened his.

You're off to great places, today is your day. ...

"Tonight?" asked Anton, winking at Tyler. Marie shot him a look of disapproval.

"In bed?" the rest of us said tentatively. Tyler hid his face, along with his enthusiasm for his fondest wish.

Anton's cookie, opened, announced,

You always pass failure on the way to success.

"Definitely in bed," he responded. He glanced at Marie when he did, and she promptly kicked him under the table. He and Marie had a history. No one was supposed to notice the kick, especially Tyler. But Teresa did.

Now it was my turn.

You will die a horrible death tonight.

"In bed?" Carly asked. "Hope I'm not there."

"Alright," I complained, "who did this? It isn't funny."

"No, it isn't," Carly agreed.

"I think that was a misfortune cookie, Mitch," Anton said. "Downer."

The check was dutifully addressed, with tip, and I don't think more than five words were spoken before we had left.

Somehow the fortune cookies had been shuffled mistakenly, which took the real victim completely by surprise...

...in bed.

____________

Inspired by "fortune cookies" (https://vocal.media/poets/fortune-cookies-0ocp0iov), by L.C. Schäfer.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Saturday, September 21, Day 265 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Accompaniment photos was AI derived, but the misfortune was not. That's how the fortune cookie crumbles.

STAGE DIRECTIONS were written as prose. [EXIT, STAGE RIGHT]

THIS CHALLENGE PORTENDS OE, 366 FORTUNES AT A TIME.

There are currently three fortunate, proportionate, obstinate Vocal Thespians still orally fortune-telling and breakin' a leg in the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer (Bed warmer)

• Rachel Deeming (Bed stormer)

• Gerard DiLeo (Bedwetter)