The Soul of Wit

起きたらまだ恐竜がいた。

　　A Latin American literature course once introduced me to the imaginary wonders flash fiction could induce with Augosto Monterroso's tale, "Upon awakening, the dinosaur was still there." (Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí).

    That's not the title. That's the entire story. Readers are free to imagine the rest of the scenario by themselves, and, hoo boy is it fun. Time travel? Flintstones? Genetic engineering revival of extinct species à la Jurassic Park? Who would wake up next to a dinosaur? Seriously, who? Not only that, the response from the central figure isn't surprise or fear but merely, "oh, still here, eh?" So much to think about.

   American literature has a famous, albeit decidedly more tragic, take on flash fiction often erroneously attributed to Hemingway, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn". 6 words that tell a great deal.

   Why talk of flash fiction? Well, today in my torts class I came across a line that sounded like a great flash fiction piece. The text is taken from a description of a case that I will not discuss here. Let your imagination fill in the gaps.


   "When the attendant turned on the electricity to start the ride, the mental patients began to converge on the plaintiff."*




*Text taken from Mark F. Grady's discussion of the case of Satcher v. James H. Drew Shows, Inc. in his casebook on torts.