| General Fiction posted February 27, 2020 |
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150 words: Showing respect at the funeral.
No Laughing Matter
by LisaMay
The sudden loud laughter startles Mavis.
How very inappropriate, she thinks to herself, standing solemnly by her sister Enid’s graveside, with the other mourners behind her. She arrived from London just yesterday, and is tired and distressed. It is important to her that her sister’s burial should be treated with sombre respect, without these ignorant people laughing rudely amongst themselves.
The minister begins again, continuing with his prayer after being interrupted. However, he has to stop once more.
More cackling and chortling – that imbecile laughter is even louder this time.
The cheek of it! No respect. Everything she’d heard was true. Australians are dreadful! No sense of occasion. Where's the respect?
Mavis turns, prim with clenched admonition, to Enid’s husband.
Jacko smiles wistfully and whispers to her, “Enid fed those kookaburras every day on our balcony, so they must’ve come to say goodbye and pay their respects to her.”
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The sudden loud laughter startles Mavis.
How very inappropriate, she thinks to herself, standing solemnly by her sister Enid’s graveside, with the other mourners behind her. She arrived from London just yesterday, and is tired and distressed. It is important to her that her sister’s burial should be treated with sombre respect, without these ignorant people laughing rudely amongst themselves.
The minister begins again, continuing with his prayer after being interrupted. However, he has to stop once more.
More cackling and chortling – that imbecile laughter is even louder this time.
The cheek of it! No respect. Everything she’d heard was true. Australians are dreadful! No sense of occasion. Where's the respect?
Mavis turns, prim with clenched admonition, to Enid’s husband.
Jacko smiles wistfully and whispers to her, “Enid fed those kookaburras every day on our balcony, so they must’ve come to say goodbye and pay their respects to her.”
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Story is 150 words according to wordcounter.com
Author's Note:
I am Australian, so I am allowed to tease Australians for being crass.
Check out what a kookaburra looks and sounds like here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lZt-JLhsg4
A kookaburra is an Australian bird, the largest of the kingfisher family; its 'song' sounds just like crazy laughter.
In some areas, they can become tame enough around humans to be fed minced meat by hand on a backyard balcony or sun deck. Left to their own instincts, they are great hunters and can kill snakes with their feet and strong beaks.
The laughing kookaburra is known as the "bushman's alarm clock" because it has a very loud call, usually performed by a family group at dawn and dusk, that sounds like a variety of trills, chortles, belly laughs, and hoots.
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