Monday, March 25, 2013

Trifecta Challenge: I Should Be So Lucky




Here's my piece for Trifecta Week 70 using the third definition of Lucky

LUCKY (adjective)

1: having good luck
2: happening by chance : fortuitous
3: producing or resulting in good by chance : favorable

I Should Be So Lucky 

That morning their mother tried to shake Celeste and Sheena awake but they were locked in a deep restless sleep.

Weird and incomprehensible words streamed from their mouths.

Hammer-time

Harem  pants

Shell suits

Rainbow legwarmers

Celeste sat up and screamed.

"What is it?" her mother asked.

"We went back to the nineteen eighties."

"But how could you?" said their mother. "That's totally impossible."

Sheena sat up and stared at her sister.

"I don't understand. What was that?"

"Oh God! All we wanted was to find out about fashion."

"We shouldn't have been so curious."

"I feel violated."

"So much spandex."

"All those shoulder pads."

"It's just a nightmare," said their mother, as she watched their pale, sweaty faces contort in agony. "It's going to be okay."

The night before, Sheena and Celeste had belted themselves into the time machine located at the back of their closet, behind piles of identical breathing suits in shades of beige and grey.

The question that burned into their brains night and day was,What was fashion? That was what the sisters were dying to find out.

Yet the machine they had built would not travel back from the present 2257 to pre-2050, to the time when people lived on Earth, until global warming made the ice caps melt and the rivers rise, until pollution was so thick it burnt the insides of  their lungs and they had no choice but to move to Mars or die.

As the time machine juddered into life Sheena noticed that her pet rat, Bleepers, had gnawed through some of the wires. The time dial was spinning like it never had before. The sisters shrieked with excitement as they watched it race back in time:  2045, 2025, 2000 ....

Oh my God! It was their lucky day. Yes indeed, maybe Bleepers would change their fortunes. 

"Thank you Bleepers!" Sheena shrieked, slamming her fist on the dashboard. "We're heading to 1982! This is it Celeste.We're going to find out what fashion really means! Woohoo!"

 

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny, as always

Renee said...

Poor things! I lived the '80's. This was hilarious! Great use of the prompt.

tedstrutz said...

I love this story! And you sent me racing back thru time... I met MC once in Chicago, and he was wearing harem pants. The back of their limo was littered with KFC buckets. He was pretty cool.

Nenna said...

This was great! Though why anybody would want to find out firsthand about harem pants and rainbow legwarmers, I'll never know. 80's "fashion" should stay way back in history!

Valerie Boersma said...

I thought this was hilarious too! And 80's fashion? I wore black suede high heel boots with a leopard scarf tied around one ankle. Enough said;)

This was great!!

Expat mum said...

OMG - I was in my element in the 80's (or so I thought.) The blusher budget alone would have bankrolled a small country.

Anonymous said...

OH, hope they're up for leggings and off the shoulder Flashdance shirts, eye makeup around the bridge of the nose, and... oh, it's all so depressing to remember those days.

Too bad they couldn't hit the Haight in the late 60s!! Fun, fun, fun, and inventive, to boot. Amy, your fellow Trifectan this week...

Anonymous said...

PS I love the name of your blog!!

Ann Bennett said...

what a cute story. The funny thing about fashion is when they are the style, it is so cool to wear them. Fortunately, most of us don't have the money or time to stay too gussied up and ruin every dang pictures as something to chuckle about. lol, fun read.

MommyHeadache said...

Expat Mum...I never really went too far in the 80s - I didn't have a home perm or big hair. I just wondered what a time traveller might have made of the decade that taste forgot!! My kids think the 80s are supercool - which is so wierd.

Draug said...

Being born in the late '80's, I was young enough to avoid the fashion crazes (: Cute piece.

kymm said...

Haha. Fashion statement and ecological manifesto in one. Fun!
One thing, though. You obviously haven't heard of the seventies.

Unknown said...

Can I come I think I left my dignity back in 1982. www.damn-edge.blogspot.ca

Anonymous said...

I kinda miss my rainbow legwarmers...

This is a fun little story!

Atreyee said...

How cute!Loved this idea of time travel through dreams(or nightmares) just to see what "fashion" is!But I would rather experience all sorts of weird "fashion" than wear the identical suits day after day-it would be so boring!lol!

lumdog2012 said...

I love this. Quite a twist. Thinking you were going to make fun of the 80s and it turned into a treat. As weird as any period may seem in hindsight, it is always cool to the people who lived it. Glad you wrote about this.

Anonymous said...

Time travel - such is our fascination with past and future, that the idea always is intriguing.. Enjoyed the piece :)

Sandra Crook said...

Hey don't knock it! :) I lived through that and I've got the shoulder pads to prove it. Nicely done.

MommyHeadache said...

Sandra Crook...ha ha I lived through it too and thought I looked so cool but when I look back at photos I do wonder what possessed me to wear so many day-glo colors!

Kathryn said...

found you on the Aloha hop. now following your blog and pinterest (was already following on twitter). would love follows back :).

http://cumminslife.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

This is so funny! I am a 1980's gal and I loved it - this helped take me back and have a good old reminisce. Great to see you on Prose for Thought - thank you for linking and hope to see you again :) x