Warning: This post contains [im]mature subject matter.
She has a name, of course. It’s just that I have never been able to pronounce it. I was the alien in her world. At first she seemed irritated that I could never say it correctly. But that quickly turned to amusement at my continued attempts to wrap my tongue around the unfamiliar sounds. Eventually she suggested a more familiar, if generic, term of endearment. She also offered more… sensuous delights for me to wrap my tongue around — the multi-colored stripes on her skin, her five breasts each with three nipples, and her tentacles.
Being from different planets, our anatomies did not permit our coupling to be consummated; it really amounted to little more than mutual masturbation. She nearly strangled me when I told her she gave the best tentacle-job I’ve ever had. Lucky for me, our senses of humor were more compatible than our bodies. Still, we spent uncounted hours with our respective appendages wrapped around each other. The most glorious hours of my life. It’s a wonder I ever got any work done.
When I told her one day that a colleague had suggested that she was in fact trying to keep me from my work she screeched and bared her fangs at me. How is it that I never even knew she had fangs? I reached out to her and promptly had my hand slapped away. You have never been slapped until you’ve been slapped with a tentacle. Stings like you would not believe. She said I was just looking for an excuse to end our affair. And then she was gone. Refused to see me or speak to me. Is it ironic that she left me because she thought I wanted to leave her? I don’t know. We don’t get irony on my planet.
Maybe my buddy was right that she was trying to keep me from my work. Everyone on my team had been propositioned by one or more of our hosts. None of them succumbed the way I did. And all of them were ahead of schedule. With massive amounts of free time suddenly on my hands and no desire to venture outside my duty station I threw myself into my work. And finished first on my team, thank you very much.
So now I’m bound for home. I still can’t pronounce her name and there’s a bitter aftertaste when I try. As I prepare to enter stasis though, she’s all I can think about. Was she just trying to interfere with my work? Did I mean nothing to her? I’ll never know. I only know these words keep echoing in my brain with the only name I ever called her, “I miss you, Baby.”
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Fun, Tim! And there’s so much still left to my imagination.
Is this where you were, trying to finish your final exams? I hope you get over her soon. With all those tentacles and fangs it never would have worked…
Thanks, Laura. Of course, just because it’s in first person doesn’t [necessarily] mean that it’s autobiographical. But you’re right, this was a doomed relationship. ~Tim
Aw, that was kind of bittersweet but hinted at something more sinister. I must confess that I would hate being called Baby, though. Good read.
Thanks, Valerie. I promise to only refer to you by your given name. ~Tim
Love the open ending of not knowing what her true purpose was. Maybe it was true love that he ruined after all, or maybe not. Either way, good story!
Thanks, Eric. I like stories that keep us thinking after we have finished reading them. ~Tim
I like the open ending, too. Very good story, Tim.
Thanks, Gracie. ~Tim
I get the sense that his work will have some dire consequences. Nice piece.
Thanks, Matt. You may be right. What was he working on anyway? ~Tim
Yep, I’ve heard that these dissimilar species, intergalactic relationships never work out. Thanks for the chuckle, Tim!
You’re welcome, Alan. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. ~Tim
cuddling with our respective limbs entwined….the whole phrasing of that image cracks me up.
Thanks, Lime. I’m always glad when I can crack you up. ~Tim
Laughed out loud at this one. This works well because the story is traditional romance but the characters and voice are hysterical. Plus I give brownie points for tentacles. Great story.
Thanks, GP. I think it’s the first time I wrote tentacles into one of my flashes. It helped that I was holding my tongue firmly in my cheek through the whole thing. ~Tim
This is pretty great. A classic sci fi tale without the usual gory ending. I prefer the humour. Nicely done.
Thanks, Jen. I prefer humorous to gory too. ~Tim