Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 1, for Tuesday the first of October 2024.
Part of the Furniture
by Elizabeth Guilt
The sofa was the softest leather I'd ever touched, and I relaxed into its warm embrace. I had never sat anywhere so comfortable.
"Curl up, get cosy," encouraged the sales assistant. "You'll find it needs very little care."
"Uh-huh." I wasn't really listening.
"You won't see any behavioural problems with this model."
"Really?" I was struggling not to doze off.
"The central nervous system is completely minimal."
I sat up hurriedly. "What?"
"The brainstem has been..."
"This thing is alive?"
I leapt to my feet. The cushions slid slowly away, as if they could hardly bear to let me go.
Are you sitting comfortably? Were you sitting comfortably? When I first shared this drabble with some friends, one of them reported that it caused her to jump up and stare suspiciously at the chair she had been sitting on.
And that's just the kind of effect I like my stories to have.