Jerry Unsprung

Pick three of your characters from different stories. They are all invited to be guests on a talk show. They are all sitting in the green room waiting for the show to start. What happens next?..........

Authors note: Dante comes from the Captain Juan, stories, Tanissa from Mistress Moon, and Monica from Scars and Spiderwebs, certainly a very unlikley threesome, so lets see where they go with this...


Monica nervously checked the ends of her long dark hair and peeped through her shaggy fringe at the over stuffed sofa where a petite, exotic creature, whose body floated with such grace it made Monica want to scratch her own eyes out.

“Sorry for the wait ladies, we are just locating our last guest and then I’ll take you onto the set with Mr Springer. Will I send for more coffee?” A gangly lad dressed in the ubiquitous theatre blacks stood uncomfortably at the door. The walky talky at his hip burbled incomprehensibly and he absent mindly pressed the mute button on his head piece.

A slight scrowl from the sofa made him gulp. “Spring water perhaps… madam?”

“What I want, I am not sure you are man enough to give me”. A slow feline smile spread across her face as she languished on the sofa. A bead of sweat trickled down his face as he stared at her perfectly formed breasts, thinly hidden by gossamer and ribbon.

“I’d like a coke”, mumbled Monica, “and a sharp knife” she thought.

“I’ll bring you some Evian straight away.” He panted, completely ignoring Monica and her request.

The silence reverberated in Monicas ears. The walls seemed to move in around her as she began to sweat heavily. She needed to say something, anything.

“Do you have kids?” she blurted, immediately wishing she had kept her tongue and silence. A beautiful woman such as the one across the room would never have carried a baby.

Tanissas face broke into a warm and genuine smile. “I do, a very clever six year old who reminds me of the important things in the world. And you?”

“Yeah, two. A boy and a girl. Little buggers they are, but like you said, they keep you here and keep you going.”

“So you kept your boy? I admire your strength. I wish more women from where I came from could see that it is no shame to bear a boy and to bring him up within the household.”

Before Monica could ask any further questions, the gaffer was back with a bottle of Evian and a glass full of ice and slices of lemon. Two security guards ushered another man into the room.

“Take a seat Dante, I’ll bring you something to drink if you like. I’m glad we found you. These studios are like a maze. A person could get lost for hours here.”

“That won’t be necessary. We won’t be here long in any case.”

“Ok – suit yourself. Jerrys show do tend to get a bit emotional, so I always suggest folk hydrate up before getting out under those lights. I’ll turn the studio cam on for you. The audience has just been seated and are being warmed up by our crew. I’ll be back for you as soon as Jerry gets on stage.”

The lad walked over to the screen hung in the corner and turned it on. Tanissa purred a thank you as he strayed past her sofa on his way out. Her gaze lingered up to the new comer and with her careful analysis, immediately understood that this man was not to be underestimated, nor of the weak caliber she normally saw within the sex.

Dantes tall muscular form stood solidly beside the doorway. His eyes had swept the surrounds, noted the escape routes and possible makeshift weapons and he had positioned himself in the most advantageous place within the confides of the green room, should an unexpected attack take place.

His partially open shirt revealed a strong chest thickly populated with dark curled hair. Nestled in the middle was a leather thong strung round his neck with a simple tiny silver ring which glittered as it caught the light with the movement of his deep breathing.

“So,” began Tanissa carefully, “I can’t imagine why Jerry has invited the three of us to be together on his show. There could not be a single thing that any of us has in common and I doubt either of you have slept with any of the men I have.”

.Dante glared with open contempt at Tanissa.”Your brazenness condemns you to one of the lower hells madam. In such a public place it would have been wise to cover your wanton body against the eyes of men in the audience.”

She slunk over towards him tracing her hand over the hardened muscles in his chest. “Your body has the marks of a warrior. What is it that you do for a living? Whatever it is, I can double it. Your mistress will be overcompensated for the loss of one of her finest guards, I can assure you. You would find me a most agreeable owner”

Dante refused to look at her, staring instead at the screen. “I am a simple man of God, undertaking his work in the way that I am guided.”

Her eyes glittered “It is you now that is brazen, speaking as though men had any standing with the Goddess or the divine.”

Monica let out a hollow laugh. “Well it can’t be our beliefs in a God that brings us together. I don’t believe in that rubbish. Once you are dead you’re dead. Worm meat, nothing more. Our lives are here for misery and suffering.”

“Jerry Jerry Jerry” the growing cries of the crowd could not only be heard from the speakers, but now echoed through the hallways of the studio. Monica put her hands over her ears. “What the hell am I doing this for? Jerrys shows are full of psychos and inbred idiots who sleep around.”

The small screen showed the crew waving their arms in the air in front of the seated crowd. Once they began to throw small gifts randomly the crowds mood whipped into a frenzy.

Tanissa gasped. “Its barbaric – what are those people screaming like that for? Are we to be put into an arena and made to fight for our lives?”

Dante smiles slowly up at her, his snake like eyes steely glare. “Monica is more perceptive than she appears to be. None of us are inbreds.”

They stared at one another intensely as the noise of the crowd excitement mounted.

Monica glared at the other two. “What? I’m the normal one out of all of us. Married, two kids, stay at home mum. That’s it.”

“Interesting scars you have Monica. Takes quite a talent to cut so deeply, bleed and not hit something that will kill you straight away.” Dantes dark eyes bore into hers. Monica looked away and rubbed her arms as though in doing so the marks would disappear.

Another roar from the crowd broke the moment.

One of the crew burst through the door; his horror stricken face unable to form words as he pointed to the screen.

The cheering cries from the set turned into screams of terror. Monica watched fixated at the screen as the blood soaked Jerry stumbled onto the stage clutching at his intestines as they tumbled from his stomach cavity; finally collapsing on one of the sofas.

She turned to make a comment to the other guests but Dante had disappeared like a ghost. Tanissa was slowly licking a spook of molten chocolate from a praline jar which had materialized. Her eyes greedily taking in the dying presenters few gasping moments.