In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “What a Twist!.”
Tell us a story — fiction or non-fiction — with a twist we can’t see coming.
I will not say this is fiction or non-fiction, let’s face it truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. It’s possibly an urban myth, but it’s still a great story, names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Johnny was late 20’s, possibly even early 30’s and lived at home with his parents, Mr & Mrs Smith. Johnny has Aspergers Syndrome (a form of autism), this made him a little bit socially awkward, among other things. He was completely obsessed with Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit, he would read the books and watch the movies over and over. He would go down the the local nature reserve and and look for Hobbits, a relatively safe hobby as far as Mr and Mrs Smith were concerned. Johnny would go down at least once a week and his parents would ask him “how did you go” and Johnny would always reply “nothing”. Then one day they came home to find Johnny sitting on the front step, so agitated and excited, they had never seen him this way before. He was up and running toward them before they could even stop the car. Clearly something was up! “I found one, I found one!” Johnny was screaming at them and pointing at the side gate, urging them on, “quick, come see” and started running toward the gate. Mr and Mrs Smith quickly followed suit and went with Johnny to the back garden shed. They could hear a raucous from inside and wondered what on earth was in there.
When Johnny threw open the door, inside was indeed a Hobbit, trussed up and locked in the garden shed! On closer inspection it was not a Hobbit, but a dwarf. Johnny had never seen a dwarf and had assumed the poor guy randomly wandering the park that morning was a real life Hobbit. Mr and Mrs Smith just stood there for a minute looking at the dwarf, not really even registering what was going on for a minute or two. They just stood there in stunned dis belief. This poor man looked up at them and started trying to make noise and kick things around (he was gagged and tied up). Eventually, Mr Smith came out of his fog and quickly un-gagged and and untied this man, apologized the whole time. The Dwarf was furious and once untied, immediately started yelling and called the police to say he had been kidnapped and held prisoner against his will. Mrs Smith just stood there in shock. Poor Mr Smith was trying to calm this gentleman down and explain the situation, Johnny had not meant any harm.
When the police finally turned up, Mr and Mrs Smith( who had finally collected her thoughts by this time) explained to them about Johnny, his social awkwardness, his obsession with Hobbits and the fact that he had never seen a dwarf before. The Police, obviously trying not to laugh about the whole incident, were taking down every word and trying to convince the dwarf not to press charges. It was very tense and stressful time, of which Johnny could not cope with and had left the scene, amongst all the yelling and screaming. Eventually the poor man calmed down and agreed not to press charges. It was agreed by all parties (except Johnny) that Hobbit hunting was no longer allowed. So that anyone could walk through the park and not be kidnapped.
– Julz
Julie Powell - Photographer & Graphic Artist 