Oncoming Storms - Prompt 158.3 - Moon Shenanigans
Donna sort of...stared at the man as his story came to a conclusion, but not because the story was so terribly unbelievable, no. If only it were! She'd be in business if that was the case, but no, the more she heard, the more she was sure she'd wasted money coming up to...whatever little town she was in, and should have pursued other strange happenings she'd found on that website instead. But no...
"A...burning bush? On the moon?" she asked, resisting the urge to rub the headache out of her temples. It was taking all she had to continue to pretend taking notes as she had at the beginning of the interview. "Isn't that a bit...biblical for the moon? Poor bloke would have had one hell of a walk." Or at least that's what she thought it was. Never could remember all that stuff. It was always a bit boring, really...
"No, no, no," the man said quite vehemently, his grey hair standing up on end as he shook his head. "A little boy." He made a gesture with his hand, miming the height of the table they sat at in the corner of the pub. "And the bush belonged to him. Burnt bogs and everything!"
All right, that made her stop writing. "On...the moon?" she repeated, a bit more incredulous--though the more appropriate description might be "dumbfounded"--than she was a moment before.
The man suddenly threw his arms up, surprising her. "Of course! Where else?" he exclaimed. His eyes shined earnestly, almost with a passion that she just couldn't feel drawn to. The poor man was deluded, though she suspected that he had had a bit too much to drink the night he supposedly saw a person and a bush on the moon. Why a bush, she wondered. Not that the moon couldn't do with a bit of plant life up there, but of all things? Then again, couldn't be more ridiculous than a walking rhinoceros in leathers or something. That was just ridiculous.
She smiled, forcing it to look more polite than she really felt like being at that moment, and replied, "Yes, it makes sense. Well! I think I've got all I came up here for, Mister...?"
"Turner. Jacob Turner."
"Yes, Mister Turner. I, or my assistant, will phone you when we're ready to run the story." That seemed to appease the man, who laughed and clapped his hands together before he finally sat down. She thought the assistant thing was a nice touch. "Just to warn you, it could be a while," she lied, quickly stuffing the notepad and pen into her handbag. Her eyes fell on her mobile phone safely tucked away in one of the pockets, and she suddenly plucked it out of its spot, quickly holding it up to her ear. "Hello? Ah, I see. Right now? Fine, yes, I'll head out there." She'd forgotten just how easy it was to mime a one-sided conversation. She'd lost track of the number of times she'd used the same trick to get out of a boring date.
"I'm sorry, but I've got to go now."
"Wait, what?" he asked, confused. "But I haven't even told you about the red moon yet!"
But by that point, she was already on her feet and about to step away from the table. "We'll, erm, save it for part two of your article. A follow-up!" she said with a smile. "Have a good evening!" And she quickly made a beeline for the door.
Muse: Donna Noble
Word Count: 590