Gudetama lounged in a VIP room above the Dance floor of the club. At least he was out in public, so his manager should be pleased.
"Uh, Gude- Gudetama, sir? Uh, could you, um, please...?" His manager handed him a pen to sign the girl's notebook.
After she left, his manager tried again. "Gudi, your fans would be thrilled if you'd just dance for one song. Just one?"
"Leave me alone."
Giving up for the moment, the manager ordered more drinks. A drunk Gudi might be extra-depressed, but he was also more acquiescent.
A few Bloody Marys later and he was able to escort Gudi down to the Dance floor. Not without a fight, but he managed it.
The wildly famous and popular egg was jiggling all over among happy dancers. His manager knew he'd overdone it on the booze, but at least the fans were happy. It was important to keep the fans happy. True to his word, when the song ended, the manager went back onto the Dance floor to retrieve Gudetama. Too much dancing and he'd lose his status as the symbol for rampant Depression throughout Asia.
He got over to Gudi and propped him up as he urged him through the crowd. "I'm fried," whispered Gudetama loudly as he allowed his manager to maneuver him to the doors.
"The fans are happy," he added as they stepped out into the cold night and crossed the sidewalk to the waiting limo. Gudi was reaching to sign autographs, but after one sloppy interaction, his manager pushed him into the back seat, following him in to pull the door tight shut. "Happy fans means you have a bright future."
It was the wrong thing to say. Gudetama wasn't created for bright futures or positivity of any kind.
"The future? Ugh... I can't even..." and with that, he passed out in the back seat of the limo, trusting his manager to get him home and to bed.
Thanks for visiting my #AtoZChallenge! All month I'll be writing flash fiction, with the theme "Audience Participation".
My "At the Dance Club" story came from the prompt "The Egg" provided by TWW of The Road to Being a Published Writer, in a comment left on my C post, here.
Now
it's your turn, lovely audience member. Do you have a writing prompt to
suggest? Don't worry about choosing a letter of the alphabet, just
leave me a word, a thought, a place, a concept... anything! and I'll add
it to the list.
Well that was weird, but very entertaining - a dancing egg!
ReplyDeletehttps://iainkellywriting.com/2021/04/05/the-state-trilogy-a-z-guide-d/
I love Gudetama. I have a series of Gudetama stickers in my WeChat app. Wish he was available for facebook.
DeleteI really enjoyed this! Fun and silly while dealing with a serious subject. The illustrations added a lot. :)
ReplyDeleteHe is so silly! There's a sticker of him doing yoga, or sliding off toast, anything you can think really. He's just depressed the whole time.
DeleteI loved it, thank you for doing my prompt. It was so weird, and so much fun as well.
ReplyDeleteHe's the first "egg" I think of. A real Japanese character, and symbol for Asian depression. Glad you liked it!
DeleteThat was a strange little story. I guess he gets to do it all again tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI don't think his manager would force him out in public every night. Depressed people need to be alone a while, too.
DeleteOh! Just re-read the story. You mean the manager gets to deal with depression all over again tomorrow. Yes. Yes he does.
DeleteI love this little egg. And, even more, I love the story of how it became a famous symbol in Japan.
ReplyDeleteYou did great with it. I would have never thought of expanding his world outside the tiny memes we normally see him in.
Thank you!
DeleteBecause he's mostly unknown in the western world, people don't really get the massive stigma that comes with showing depression in Asian countries. Memes and emojis are a useful tool for that!