These Are My JOTtings...

Flash Fiction: "Who Could Keep Him?"

Here is a flash fiction piece that I published on another writers website five years ago. I hope you find it to be intriguing and thought-provoking.

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"You found the bones? Impossible!"

"Don't blame me! I didn't want to find them!"

"That's just great! What are we going to do!"

"Don't ask me! I run my feet, but you run your mouth!"

"Stop it! First, we've...got...to...calm...down..."

"He said that he would meet us, 'After.' Those were his exact words."

"Are you crazy?! He died! I made sure to watch from a safe distance!"

"Calm down, Dude! You're getting upset, again."

"Right...Thanks..."

"How could he possibly die? He had to be the most physically fit man I have ever met."

"You got that right! Remember the time that angry mob had him backed up to that precipice?"

"How could I forget?"

"He walked right through the middle of the whole crowd without any apparent resistance."

"You got me..."

"I have never seen anybody else stand up to our leaders the way he did."

"I chuckled under my breath every time that he did."

"He had a body same as you and me, but I'll swear at times his backbone seemed like reinforced concrete."

"He made short work of my doubts, too. He was the real deal,...or...so...I thought."

"Stop it! Just stop it right now, John! If you 'go all to pieces,' what hope is there for me?! You have always been my ballast, especially when he wasn't around. This has got to be the time,...if ever!"

"...But, Peter, I saw the bones! The white linen wraps were right where we placed him!"

"That cannot be! Do you hear me?!! He promised to meet me after the Sabbath!"

"Calm down, Peter! I don't like this any better than you do, but I touched the linen wraps! Someone was still inside. The skin was tight over the bones."

"Did you unwrap the face?"

"I couldn't! I was scared to death!"

"Then, that is exactly what I will do, before I believe a word of it!"

"Maybe we looked into the wrong grave!"

"Exactly! If Christ be not risen from the dead, then we are of all men most miserable!"

by Jay O'Toole
on June 6th, 2012