The Tell Tale Indulgence

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the line: "I don't get it."

The Tell Tale Indulgence

Randy looked up at the night sky and said, "What am I supposed to see."

"Look closer," said his wife, Cheryl.

"What am I supposed to be looking at? The stars, the moon, what?"

"If you'd listen to the news, you'd know what you were looking at - you idiot," Cheryl said; only just thinking that last part.

He spent nearly all of his time working through the development of the endless math equations needed to advance String Theory just one more baby step down the road towards the Theory of Everything. He had little time for her, much less the news. He avoided television all together with one small indulgence.

For the better part of twenty years, she'd worked hard at playing the role of dutiful wife. She'd endured his aloofness, the lack of attention and even his questionable hygene. The hardest part had been something else. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on – but she was close.

"I still don't get it. I see the moon and the stars. That's it," he said.

"That's not the moon. There is no moon. There never was a moon."

"I don't get it." He said; still clearly puzzled.

"It's artificial. Apparently we've known about this for years. Only recently has the government decided it was time to let the rest of us know about it," she said.

"That seems highly improbably," Randy said. "It can't be hollow. Its mass is so huge it causes tidal fluctuations."

"They managed to find a way in..." she began.

Before she could complete the sentence, Randy held up his hand and said, "This will have to wait. It's time for Toothless Redneck Raccoon Hunters on the Discovery Channel."

At that moment, Cheryl knew the source of her contempt. Her brilliant, mathematician husband ... was retarded.

Word Count 300