The Moon Ball

fictionspawn Aak, , ,

The Moon Ball

Everyone passed by without even looking. He couldn’t even juggle more than four balls, and yet it was what he did best. They kept falling to the ground. Sometimes someone pointed and laughed. Then they kept walking.

Three town guards came by.

Hey! Said the officer in charge. You can’t juggle here!

But…

No buts! Get lost! If I see you juggle those balls in this town again, I’ll take them.

Jerome left with no money. He passed by the market, found some passed fruits and left over bread in the garbage and walked down the river out of town. Disillusion. All he ever wanted was to travel and juggle, and he couldn’t even do it right. He was a failure.

He found a little forest outside of town, and lay down under his blanket. The full moon made it difficult to fall asleep. After a while he heard a sound, the sound of something falling to the ground. He lifted his head. There was a strange white light from the bushes. He got up, walked over. A ball was lying there. A strange, glowing ball. He picked it up. It looked exactly like the moon. He looked up at the sky, just to make sure. The moon was still there.

It was astonishing, like holding the moon in his hand. He threw it in the air. It moved in a strange way, like it was defying gravity. Amazing.

He got his bean sacks out of his bag. Started juggling them with the new ball. They made strange loops and movements in the air. Even his hands seemed to follow the moon ball.

The next day he went into town again. There were more people today, there seemed to be some kind of festival. He stood up in the main square, started juggling. He started out with three balls, two of his old ones and the new one. He threw up another ball. And then the fifth.

He was juggling five balls like he had never juggled before, even with three. He was throwing them behind his back, between his hands, round in circles, up and down, back and forth. People stopped.

Look! A man said.

Wow! Said another.

They were clapping and cheering, people throwing him coins. A lot of coins.

The soldiers from the day before appeared.

I told you you can’t juggle here. The officer turned to his men. Get his stuff and take him to the office!

Hey, let him juggle! One of the women in the crowd said. We want to see!

Yeah! Let him!

King’s orders are… The officer started.

Buuu! Fuck the king!

Yeah! The king sucks! Fuck him!

Hey! You can’t insult the…

An apple came flying from somewhere in the crowd, hit the officer in the face.

A tomato followed. Then a rock. Soon it was raining fruits, rocks and other objects. A riot broke out. The soldiers ran away from the angry mob.

Jerome got out of there. As he left town he could hear the rebellion extend behind the town walls. Further down the road a farmer came by on his ox wagon. Jerome gave him one of his many coins to take him down south.

He was quite sure his luck had changed.

 

The Moon Ball part 2: The King’s Desire

The Moon Ball part 3: Execution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling

http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~ronspubs/13_05_juggling.pdf

The Last Trick of the Illusionist

Published by fictionspawn Aak

Norwegian trilingual writer and illustrator. Contact information in my Gallery.

38 Comments

  2. I like it, it is such a lovely story. I find the Moon fascinating, it’s effect on the tide. I like, also your supporting artwork.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. I think it would be odd without it, I don’t know what would happen, it is a scary thought I am sure it’s surface is reflective from the sun.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

      1. Dragonball and DragonballZ are two related manga (Japanese comic books) adapted to anime (animated cartoons). Especially the former was about a group of (mostly) children searching for the mysterious seven Dragonballs. Once you put them together, you are able to summon the dragon who will then grant you one wish, and that wish can be anything, including wishing someone back from the dead (that only works once). The dragonballs are of alien origin and the pursuit of them is the basis of the adventures of a highly improbable group of characters.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. Thank you for refreshing my memory! I did read one of the comic books many years ago, it’s probably in my mother’s house somewhere, but I can’t say I remember too much. Goku on his cloud and a perverted old turtle guy, and not much more 😀

          Liked by 1 person

        2. The anime had to be heavily edited to be shown on American television, but you can find the originals on services like Hulu. Yes, Master Roshi was a pervert. Hard to believe kids in Japan watch that sort of stuff.

          Liked by 1 person

        3. Kids watch way worse stuff today in these internet times. Parents can try to control them as much as they want, but from a very low age they will find their way anyways, if not at home, somewhere else. Dragonball is probably of the healthiest things they can find.

          Liked by 1 person

  6. Pingback: Moon fiction – adriana122

  7. You have a great bases for an entire novel here, the idea over all is very entertaining. The character who juggles could be a complicated (for e.g. a leading antagonist with a good side) character who ends the kings reign. It could be a political sci fi as strange as that sounds. And the title; Moon Juggler. I could give you more ideas but I won’t do that because its your story and you should brain storm your ideas and grow this story. It is interesting. Don’t forget the show don’t tell rule sometimes, because in stories like this one detail in some areas can be entertaining.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  13. Pingback: The Moon Ball Pt 2 – The King’s Desire – Fictionspawn Monsters

  14. I enjoyed this. You have a nice writing flow. A performance artist struggling to make a living.

    minor suggestion– in sentence two I would take out “even”. It is makes it wordy and is also repetitive with the first sentence.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  15. Pingback: Like a Game of Chess – Fictionspawn Monsters

Leave a comment