SARAH
I can’t seem to stop listening
to this song by Djo, i.e. Joe Kreely, i.e. Steve
from “Stranger Things.” I can hear him
singing it in my mind.
(humming)
“Enter troubador. Remember 24.”
DOC:
Hmmm. And does this ‘HE’ in your
mind ask you to remember anything else–to do anything else?
SARAH
No. It’s nowhere said but
everywhere implied. “Play it again.”
Is it serious, Doc? Am I going to die?
DOC
(grimly)
We’re all going to die. It’s just
a matter of when.
(mood lightening)
Don’t worry, miss. You’ll be just fine.
You’ve just caught an ear-worm.
SARAH
That’s disgusting. It’s like that
thing that crawled into Chekhov’s
ear in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn.”
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
DOCTOR
(grimly)
We all do at some point.
It’s just a matter of time.
(mood lighting)
Alexa, play the live version of
“End of Beginning.”
The beginning notes twinkle in from an unseen speaker. . .
DOCTOR
(leaning forward, earnest)
I’ll be honest. This song’s a frickin’
banger. You’re just going to have
to listen it out, until you’ve nearly–
but not quite and not really–gotten
it out of your head. Then you’ll only
have to listen to it on repeat fortnightly.
SARAH
So you were being metaphorical about the ear-worm?
DOCTOR
(grimly)
I wish I was. I’ve prescribed
you a strong antibiotic. The
thing is to knock it out before it
can spawn.
DOCTOR and SARAH
(in “unison)
“You take the man out of the city not the city out the man. You take the man out of the city not the city out the man.”
–Sarah Torribio
See more flash fiction by Sarah Torribio HERE
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