THE SCREAMING BOY
Out on the corner there was a little boy just wailing his head off and thrashing a stick around whipping the tar out of an orange traffic cone that was standing on the concrete. His face was red, his eyes was streaming with tears, it was awful. His football jersey all covered in grown up size sweat patches. He thrashed the stick until it snapped and a fibre thread of bark held the broken off end to the main part and then he threw it into a tree and kicked at the cone with his little feet. There was people walking past with their kids and they was covering their eyes so the kids couldn't see it. Nothing we could do about it since it wasn't you know a crime. After some time he dried his tears on his sleeve and ran off. I was going on a walk but I thought to myself: better not
MY MIRACULOUS INVENTION
I invented a device to quickly and effortlessly turn crying into laughter. Just a little tweak, a spin, and the rough glugging of sobs turns into outbursts of mirthful chuckling. That's what the user experiences. Not everyone knows that laughing and crying utilises the same mechanical process within the throat. That's the genius of it. It's all natural. And of course it can also turn laughter into crying. That's even easier.
LAIKA
Eventually they allowed dogs onto the moon with everyone else, to appease the Earth-yearners but also, we might assume, to finally make good on the long-ago promise to Laika. The first shuttles landed loaded with crates. Border collies, schnauzers, Maltese terriers. They were taken to the stadium dome for bids. Eventually the dome settlements were a riot of yaps and racing fur. Eventually a shivering chihuahua was unnoticed in the corner of an airlock when it opened. Eventually Laika had a friend.
Thanks for the discount code but I will not be giving substack my money
Thank u for making me cry about Laika again Prawn