Henry’s life was dominated by a sudden whim that had crossed his mind age 14. In 1965 he conceived the dream of becoming the centre of his own planetary system with tiny objects orbiting him.
A single hydrogen atom would do! But Henry needed to isolate himself from everything perturbing his gravity. He eschewed friends and moved to a tent in the woods, but still the earth’s mass tugged at the nearby stuff.
Last Friday, he hurled himself in free-fall from the cliff, releasing a nail clipping. As he dropped, he calculated the clipping would take 21 hours to circumnavigate him.
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.
Neil MacDonald Author 
Reminds of the first flight of the Wright Brothers. Good story, Neil.
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Thanks, Neel
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I would say Henry needs to get a life, but sadly I think that ship has sailed. Great take on the prompt, Neil.
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Thanks, Sandra
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…I’m gonna have to read this a few more times! Good stuff.
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Thanks, Martin
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LOL That is passion for you. Hope he got his wish before he hit the bottom.
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Sadly, no. He’ll hit the bottom in another 4 seconds
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LOL
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This made me laugh out loud. Such a fun story. I’m still laughing … this has made my day.
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My work here is done, then
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Experimentation with self has gifted the world a lot.
Hope Henry has a parachute or a good backup plan/calculation of his experiment 🙂
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Sadly, Henry is a wee bit obsessed and has omitted the parachute
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The peril of knowing a little when you need to know a lot. Henry’s action makes me think of climate change denial…
Nice parable, Neil.
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I’m glad you saw the parable element, Penny. Thanks
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Dear Neil
Poor Henry. I don’t suppose he’ll ever know the answers. splat. Good one.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle
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Yikes. Henry doesn’t seem to have accounted for his own body weight speeding up his path to—um—becoming a pancake?
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I’m afraid so
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A sound theory. It still fascinates me that science has proven the existence of gravity, but has yet to discover how it actually works and what causes it.
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Henry is a seriously disturbed little toon.
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Sadly, yes. And he was with me for so little time
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I’m sure the nail completed about 1/75,000 of a revolution. A good start…
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A miscalculation for sure
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Yes. Unfortunately I don’t think he’ll get a second chance to do it again.
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Not unless I rewrite the rules of mortality in my universe
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Poor Henry was really, as we say, “out of his tree.” But considering his idea of detonating a bomb, maybe this is the best end to the tale. 🙂
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He took one for the team
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Henry’s experiment probably looked good on paper, tat least to him. Good story.
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Thanks, Joshua
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He didn’t really think it through! Too late now though!
Click to read my FriFic!
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I’m afraid so
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Oh well, at least he lived his dream.
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There is that
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🙂
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This is really interesting. A great character piece from inside the mind of a skewed individual. I could see this character being expanded in a longer story – if you feel like rescuing him from death that is 🙂
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you should see the character in the novel i’m working on if you think Henry is skewed
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Ha! Now that’s intriguing 🙂
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Good
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Oh no! Fascinating take on the prompt, Neil. 🙂
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Thanks, Susan
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He’s certainly not alone in believing himself to be centre and master of his own universe. At least Henry’s experiment didn’t involve any other inhabitants of his planet. And I suspect the nail clipping fared somewhat better than its owner!
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I think having to see yourself in the center has lethal consequence… great that he didn’t inflict damage on others than himself (unless he landed on top of someone)
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There’s a lesson for life there, Bjorn
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So, his calculations were off… some other nutjob will find his “work” and “improve” upon it. Someone will get it right. Right? 🙂
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Almost certainly
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That Henry has some curious ideas! Sometimes the line between genius and crazy depends on which side of the line you’re on.
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Henry is a force of nature
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Ha ha ha ha ha. This was so much fun Neil.
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Thanks so much
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Damn that gravity!
That’s always been one of my fantasies, except for the free fall off a cliff part, of course. I think this is why rap stars alway want to have a large posse.
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There’s so much we could do if it wasn’t for that gravity
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What dedication! Great story, but sad end.
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Thanks, Madison
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I sometimes wonder what goes on in your mind – and your blogs always make me see the world differently.
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I wonder about the advisability of jumping off cliffs of course
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Who needs thought experiments when you have living experiments to prove your point. There was a contrariness about this, Neil which I have not seen in your prose for quite some time. I like.
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Thanks, Kelvin
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Oh dear. The pursuit of science can have a deadly consequence. But he was happy at last I think in thise final moments
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And perhaps you can’t say fairer than that
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Idiot. Sorry, that slipped out.
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Too late, way too late
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I’m all for following your passion, but it seems like he didn’t do all the calculations on that one.
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It was sa tad sloppy, I’d have to agee
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ha! Ha! Henry is in line for a Darwin award (http://www.darwinawards.com/), if not a winner then surely an honorable mention.
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My thought exactly
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Very interesting story, a unique idea for the prompt!
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Thanks, Brenda
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Presumably he died happy for the few moments of wish-fulfillment.
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The calculation kept him from thinking about the end of the ride
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That would work for me too. 🙂
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Another example of too much intelligence and no common sense perhaps? Great story 👍
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Thanks, Anna
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I guess Henry will instead get the answer to a philosophical question: what, if anything, exists post-mortem?
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Not a question that has concerned him much up until now
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Ironic, that one that *did* concern him he won’t get the answer (depending on what the nature of the afterlife is), but one that did not concern him he will get an answer to.
Oops!
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Ain’t that life all over!
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Oh my, interesting story of where a mind can go. You set it up well with him going into the woods.
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Thanks, Ted
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Oh dear. I feel sometimes it’s just better to deal with what you have than test out theories that might make things better. I wonder that he didn’t see the flaw in his last plan.
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He didn’t see it, of course, because I didn’t allow him to, The blame is entirely mine
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We learn so much about Henry in this short story. I think most of us know someone like him – delusional, egotistical, and stubborn. Really enjoyed this.
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Thanks, Magarisa
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Henry seems to have forgotten a parachute. His body will travel fast but I’m guessing his mind slowed down even before he reached age 14. Poor, poor Henry. Good writing, Neil. 😀 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne
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The boy loved science just a tad too much. Fun.
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Thanks, Patrick
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Now THAT’S dark humor. Enjoyed the story, but . . . poor Henry!
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Thanks, Jan
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A gripping story. I like the eerily calm tone, describing Henry’s state of mind, in contrast to what he’s actually doing.
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Thanks, and thanks for your insight into the writing
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