Headless
by David Sydney
Flies thrive on dirt and grime. Even so, they do attempt to clean themselves, brushing their heads and bodies. In the process, a fly can decapitate itself at times. Headless flies can then go on to live for several days – if it can be called living.
“Look at that, Ed.”
“What?”
“That fly.”
“Where?”
Frank pointed to the countertop between his plate of eggs-over and Ed’s own bowl of oatmeal. They were at the counter of AL’S DINER.
“There… That thing moving around.”
Ed squinted. He had not seen his optometrist for several years.
“Hey, that’s not a fly.”
“Of course it is, Ed.”
“It’s only half a fly.”
Flies have a decentralized nervous system. That is why, even without their heads, they can walk around for several days, and even have sex.
With his centralized nervous system, Ed couldn’t do that.
No humans, of course – no vertebrates – could do that.
Sometimes, getting through an entire bowl of Al’s oatmeal was an accomplishment – and required more than an attached head.
“Look at that thing moving around.”
Without its head, the fly’s movement was fairly aimless.
“You didn’t pull its head off, did you, Frank?”
“No… What’d you take me for?”
“I don’t know. I just was asking.”
“When I see a fly, I’m going to do more than pull its head off.”
“You don’t have to get upset with me. I was just asking.”
Somehow, Ed didn’t feel like eating much more of his oatmeal.
“How are the eggs, Frank?”
“The way Al usually makes them.”
“A little rubbery?”
“Yeah.”
Between them, the fly stumbled futilely.
“I wonder where its head is?”
“Did you check your oatmeal?”
How about that. There was a fly in the oatmeal, as Ed, with his spoon, inspected the lumpy contents. But it’s head was attached.
David Sydney is a physician. He has had pieces in Little Old Lady Comedy, 101 Words, Microfiction Monday, 50 Give or Take, Friday Flash Fiction, Grey Sparrow Journal, Bright Flash Literary Review, Disturb the Universe, Pocket Fiction, R U Joking, Entropy Squared, and Rue Scribe.
