Archery Painting was a one stop shop. They were able to provide a wide range of mysterious services. One day they could help you arrange a protest out on Good Hill over the misuse of green paint in the town square. The town decided to install a wishing well in the square after the green paint protest calmed down. A month later Archery Painting helped make Royal Grapefruit the most popular flavor of chewing gum on the eastern seaboard. The many and strange favors they handed out slowly changed the course of the small New England town they resided in. The sidewalks were nicer. The street lights never went out. Snow days grew fewer and farther in between. No nasty storms came to visit the tiny town of Resonance. The residents thought nothing of it. They were overjoyed to live in a town where nothing went wrong and neighbors never squabbled. The town might have enjoyed another hundred years of peace and prosperity, if only little Bobby hadn’t made his wish in the wishing well. He wished to be an overnight sensation. He wanted his name up in lights. As his fifteen minutes of fame grew into twenty, then an hour, the town was drained. First the street lights started to flicker. Then the curbs started to tumble down. The mayor didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d been elected for twenty years straight and suddenly he had neighbors punching neighbors. For Sale signs popped up all over town like dandelions in the spring. If one was taken down, two more popped up in its place. The Mayor watched Resonance’s most famous son sing his heart out on the national stage. Then he’d deal with broken down buses and leaky ceilings at the elementary school. After a few months of this the mayor had had enough. He stopped by Archery Painting and spoke to the old wizard behind the counter. He explained what was happening and the old wizard shrugged.
“Bobby burned out the wishing well. Now it wishes ill. There’s not much that can be done about it until Bobby’s wish runs out.”
The mayor smiled and nodded. “I see what you mean. I’ll take care of it.”
The old wizard just shook his head. There was one more foul deed the wishing ill had sent out into the hearts of Resonance. The mayor died of a heart attack that night before he could plot the downfall of Bobby. Bobby stayed in the spotlight for another month before his luck ran out. Resonance welcomed him home with open arms. He sang his one hit wonders at the town festival and slowly the town pulled itself back together. A new mayor was elected. The wizard pulled the new mayor aside and explained about the old wishing well. It was promptly pulled out and a bird fountain put in its place. Things never quite went back to the glory days but Resonance was able to prosper once again.
The prompts for today’s short story:
good hill
overnight sensation
protest
archery painting
resonance
royal grapefruit
Copyright 2019 Klaudia Grady