Prince of Idiots

By Mary Fewko

A late night talk show host is losing ratings. He decides to interview an inmate on death row for multiple homicides. The live interview is a success, bringing his show back to the forefront but the interview has left the host feeling irregular, annoyed, and with a new fear of sleeping...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Fewko
• Release date: May 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311007742

Mary Fewko

I truly hope you all enjoy your time spent with my work! Thanks for visiting my Smashwords page!"Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for." -RAY BRADBURYALL RIGHTS RESERVED for any published poetry or short stories by Mary Fewko.

Book preview

PRINCE OF IDIOTS

a short story

written by Mary Fewko

This story is a work of fiction. The characters and events in this story are fictitious. Similarities to real people, alive or dead, are coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Mary Fewko

SMASHWORDS Edition 2016

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Special thanks

to

Rosanne Sturn

&

Kris Schramm

Sometime in February,

I was always told 'hate' was a strong word, but I never felt it was strong enough. It all came from annoyance, from resentment, the presence of idiots and the embezzlers of tenderness...

There is a massive tower crane moving smooth, with a construction worker hanging from the hook. A few cellphones were duct taped to the jib, broadcasting the soaring suicide. A few therapist offices have taped posters reading, 'HANG IN THERE.'

A few firefighters are walking down the downtown streets; they're not wearing helmets. Smoke is whirling out of their mouths and ears and their noses and their eyes... one of the firefighters is blowing someone a kiss, someone leaning out of a burning building...

I feel this late in my life that love is a Trojan Horse, an evil kind of bug only set to undermine the personal freedom of a very, very stressed man...

Ivan,

The Avella Parfait Unit

The producers for the hit late-night talk show Fair Goodnite! were gathered in a cramped conference room. Though Fair Goodnite! hadn't been a hit in quite a long time. The paltry ratings lately had brought a desperate reaction among the TV channel's once beloved midnight spectacle. But many were living by the proverb; desperate diseases must have desperate remedies. The word 'desperate' was becoming pleonastic...

MING: What happened to shockability?

SAMANTHA: Good question. Or, wait, is that oratorical?

MING: No, I'm wondering personally. There was a time when Johnny could bring on subversive writers and underground dancers and the ratings would be solid. Tonight we got a guy with Bigfoot and we still have empty seats in the audience.

DAPHNE: I think the Internet might have something to do with it.

MING: Elaborate, Daphne.

DAPHNE: Well, it's become a kind of shock absorber. That inevitable medium or device for digesting the dreadful jolts and unaccountable vibrations that everyday life seems to cling to.

PINO: I think it's more a matter of taste now, thanks to the Internet.

SAMANTHA: But our guests are as diverse as ever!

PINO: But it's still one host telling jokes from the same staff writers on the same stage at the same time, I mean, there are more people registering at forums about the 'Furry' culture than the amount of people watching any sitcoms our channel premieres.

MING: You think we should start culling more jokes for the opening?

PINO: No, no it's got nothing to do with culling jokes. The staff writers we got are phenomenal. Television itself is being culled.

Suddenly a Thai food deliveryman showed up, I'm looking for a Mr. Wyo? Delivery is here. You're paying with a card, right?

MING: Oh, that's me. Yeah, a card.

PINO: I can safely say, now that the Thai guy left, I got approval from the people upstairs.

ALL IN UNISON: Shut the fuck up!

PINO: So real. A man named Ivan.