Flash Prompt #12 2017: Norm's Terrible Week

   The freezing lake-water enveloped Norm as he buoyed back to the surface. It was all wrong, being here on late-autumn morning. But diving in cold water in the middle of the mountains helped clear his head. Two nights ago, he and his buddies got kicked out of a bar for raucous behavior (basically “singing” the Batman tune over and over again without the word “Batman”. Annoyed the hell out of the other customers). And two nights ago, they lost the most important game of their careers.

   A new employee at the stadium had just waxed the court with a bizarre slippery substance that glowed in the dark. But this came after nine of the other players slipped and became injured. No one dared to ask why the floor was covered in goo (in fact, they really didn’t want to know), but it made them move to another court, a totally unfamiliar territory. Thus, Norm and his friends and the remaining team members, disoriented and unsure, lost the game… to a bunch of pint-sized sprites from a lame winless team! It still baffled him.

   Up here, in the clear cool mountains, was the rugged man’s haven; a man cave with no walls. Just air, and breath, and life. He heaved a sigh and swam over to a small islet in the middle of the lake and promptly sat on a rotting log. The log buzzed inside. Shit! A wasp flew out of the log and hung menacingly in the air before more wasps gathered up behind it.

   Norm squeezed his eyes shut before sprinting back into the water, wasps in his wake. Nothing, ever, would make this week okay.