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My dead diary - zombies and alcohol

Posted by rjnewlyn on November 21, 2011 - 01:32
from the ABC set 200 words

Tuesday. Make it outside at last. Not much has changed; Tottenham Court Road as drab as ever and there’s obviously been fighting recently – no idea what the problem is. I help out this battered zombie lying in the gutter, brush him down and take him for a drink. He perks up but can’t tell me much about what happened – apparently was just ambling along, the way zombies do, minding his own business, when five Holborn crypt-ghouls came round a corner and laid into him. One of his mates turns up with the same story so that’s another round of drinks and before I know it we’ve settled in for the night and I’m having to put up with all their jokes about missing body parts. It’s well known that Clerkenwell zombies can drink anyone under the table and I leave the place staggering worse than them. Back at the museum, Trimalchio is waiting in the reception trying to chat up the pale lady, so one thing leads to another and I wake the next evening with vague memories of wild Assyrian dancing and a sense of having achieved very little. Still, at least you don’t get hangovers when you’re dead.

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Comments

fatboy74 | November 21, 2011 - 11:47

Loving this - feels very different to your last three and you're making me want to believe in an afterlife. :-)

shep5377 | November 21, 2011 - 13:01

Enjoyed this, now going to go and read the others!

Alex

Silver Spun Sand | November 21, 2011 - 16:17

My dad used to work in Clerkenwell Road...many moons ago now, but that's another story, as they say.

Yours continues to be more than entertaining. And I hadn't thought about the hangover bonus in the afterlife. That's gotta be a winner;-)

Tina

MistakenMagic | November 22, 2011 - 17:19

"...and before I know it we’ve settled in for the night and I’m having to put up with all their jokes about missing body parts. It’s well known that Clerkenwell zombies can drink anyone under the table.."

- these bits made me laugh out loud! Really love this new set, Rob. Keep 'em coming :-)

Magic xxx

lavadis | November 22, 2011 - 18:25

Great fun!

rjnewlyn | November 22, 2011 - 20:22

Thanks very much indeed Fatboy, Alex, Tina, Magic and Lavadis. And thanks very much cherry robot.

Fatboy - yes, trying something different here. I'm glad you liked it. There's still a feeling of settling in but I think it's something I feel comfortable with at the moment.

Tina - yes, I suppose it has to be a benefit although involves a little suspension of disbelief about physiology (but who needs physiology - I had to learn it for 2 years once and have had more than enough).

Rob

rjnewlyn | November 22, 2011 - 22:00

Thanks Blighters. Yes, they walk among us ...

Rob

kirincnj | November 27, 2011 - 02:25

i really like this series; it could've easily gone off the rails in lesser hands, but you've struck a very nice balance with them.

rjnewlyn | November 28, 2011 - 00:24

Thanks very much Kirincnj. They may go off the rails yet - that's what makes life interesting ...

Rob

Beeme | December 7, 2011 - 20:15

Just great Rob, made me laugh. Can't add much more other than I really enjoyed too!

Beeme x

rjnewlyn | December 8, 2011 - 01:21

Thanks Beeme - glad it worked. It was fun to write as well.

Rob

Sooz006 | May 12, 2012 - 21:40

Can I have the no hangovers thing as an absolute promise?
I can tell that these are fun to write. It really comes across. I have a character that I absolutely love playing with (not Jennifer) one of his chapters goes so much faster and smoother than any of the others.
And now I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place and go to the beginning and read them all in order instead of backwards. Still loving them.

Sooz006 | May 12, 2012 - 21:56

Oh, I'm all caught up, backwards, forwards and sideways and I'm disappointed. Please, sir, can I have some more.

rjnewlyn | May 12, 2012 - 21:58

Thanks very much Sooz! Well, I can't see why they should have hangovers but, as you can tell, the components of reality aren't very closely thought through here. For this series, I've been trying to avoid too much plot progression, so am hoping that it doesn't matter too much what order the episodes are read in. I'm in the middle of novel-writing and can't deal with more than one at once ...

Rob

rjnewlyn | May 12, 2012 - 22:04

Next episode is in draft form. Should be up tomorrow.