Friday Fictioneers – Entanglement

~ neilmacdon
mystery-chair-ted-strutz
PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Most guys would have sent a card and a dozen red roses. Not Herbert. He dumped two kitchen chairs into the pond, one at either end.

“Herb,” I say, “there are two chairs in the pond.”

“Yeah. Happy Valentines.”

I just look at him

He grins. “When two particles are entangled, darling, you get spooky action at a distance. Even when we’re apart.”

Herb is a quantum physicist. He doesn’t see the world like other people.  But, like most people, his socks are never entangled and he loses one member of the pair.

Entanglement is fragile and breaks down easily.

 

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here.

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76 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Entanglement”

  5. Well done, Neil. There’s a lot of subtlety in this.
    I love the idea of the guy with the misguided Valentine’s idea. How often does that happen and yes, much better to stick with flowers and chocolates.
    I am quite often surprised at the couples who’ve stayed together despite the high divorce rate and having very quirky personalities. It’s quite baffling.
    Hope you have a great week.
    xx Rowena

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  13. If she wasn’t sure before Valentine’s Day… she is much closer now. Sometimes, it is best to stick with the “standards”… mind you, this could have worked had she also been a quantum physicist!

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  16. his socks are never entangled and he loses one member of the pair – Somehow I feel as if one member of the pair is on the way out. A delightful take on the prompt. (My father was an engineer. He maneuvered through life like this. I think that if he hadn’t had a deeply romantic side, my mom would have left him.)

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  20. As the song goes, “When an irresistible force such as you, meets an immoveable object such as me, … something’s go to give.”

    He gave something, all right … and flushed it right down!

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  25. I can help feeling a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers would have been better received. Otherwise she might end up quantum tunnelling her way out of his bed and into somebody else’s 🙂

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  31. Oh, Neil, I used to date science geeks like Herbert. You have got him down to a tee. They have a strange way of expressing their attachment to the opposite sex. I think that if they do lose their socks, they probably didn’t match in the first place!

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