Flash Fiction Friday: Weirdest Morning Ever

Today's flash fiction is one where I wish I had more than 500 words. It's one I can almost guarantee you will end up being added to before being included in my next short story collection. I have a full fledged idea, but I could really only introduce the story within the 500 word limit without "info dumping."

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this slice of life with a twist.

It was a foggy morning in October when the goose started to lay golden eggs. Rebecca didn’t think anything of the unusually heavy egg when she gathered it. It was dawn. She was still half asleep, and they had lots of breeds of geese, chickens, and ducks on their farm. She’d seen eggs in all sorts of colors and sizes in her eleven years.
 
Mama was busy hanging the wash out on the line, so Rebecca started breakfast when she got back inside. She washed the eggs she’d picked up while the skillet warmed on the stove. By the time she finished, the skillet was almost ready.
 
Rebecca picked up the odd egg and rapped it on the edge of a bowl. Gold met porcelain, and gold won. The bowl shattered, creating a mess and starling Rebecca half to death.
 
The screen door around back slammed shut, and footsteps thudded up the hall. Mama came running into the kitchen looking windblown and worried. Rebecca just stood looking down at the broken bowl and the weird egg in her hand.
 
“What happened?” Mama asked. She breathed a little heavy after running inside. When Rebecca didn’t respond, Mama crossed the room and waived a hand in front of Rebecca’s face while calling her name.
 
Rebecca blinked and shook herself. She looked up at Mama and squeaked, “I’m sorry!”
 
The smell of butter burning filled the room. Mama grimaced and grabbed one of the potholders before moving the skillet to a cool eye and turning off the burner.
 
 “I was trying to start breakfast, and it broke the bowl!” Rebecca stammered. She held the weird egg out to Mama. “I don’t know… How’d it do that?”
 
“An egg broke the bowl?”
 
Mama didn’t sound like she believed her, but her forehead scrunched up as she looked at the egg for the first time. Rebecca didn’t know what to do but nod as she handed it over. Mama’s eyes got big, and she muttered something under her breath as she turned it over and over in her hands.
 
Mama tapped the egg against the counter. It made a ringing thud, but the egg didn’t crack. She did it again, harder this time. There was a loud thump, but again, the egg didn’t crack.
 
“It can’t be,” Mama mumbled to herself. She turned to Rebecca. “Did you find any more like these?” she asked.
 
“No, Mama.”
 
“Why don’t you go fetch the broom?” Mama said after a moment of thought. “We’ll get this cleaned up and make breakfast. You’ve got to get to school.”
 
Rebecca nodded and did as she was told. She didn’t learn much that day, preoccupied as she was with what’d happened at breakfast. As soon as the last bell rang, Rebecca ran all the way home.
 
Mama was in a tizzy when she got there. She’d heated the weird egg over a fire, and it’d started melting!

---

As I hinted at earlier, it's just a funny little slice of life with a twist. Let me know below if you'd like to know what kind of shenanigans the family gets into with their gold egg laying goose.

Each story in this series is 500 words or less and is prompted by a first line taken either from a random first line generator like this one or reader suggestions like last week's. I much prefer working from reader suggestions over generators, but to do that, I need to hear from you.

If you have a prompt you'd like to see done, comment below, send it to my Tumblr asks, Tweet it at me, or leave a comment on any of the audio stories from this series. I'll screen shot it, write it, and post it for you.

You can also find the audio version of this story over on my YouTube channel.