Welcome to Friday Fictioneers! Rochelle Wisoff-Fields leads our international band of fictioneers by providing a photo prompt to inspire us each week. Writers from around the world post 100-word stories, based on the prompt. You can see them all here, and you can post your own story, too!
Many thanks to Erin Leary for this week’s photo.
This week my favorite slackers, Kip and Dredge, found some back issues of Science and Discover magazines while dumpster diving. Fortunately, there are lots of cool pictures in these publications, which helped the guys get through all the science-y stuff.
Photo Copyright: Erin Leary
Kip and Dredge Get Down with Science
by Jan Brown
“Hey, Dredge! It says here they found a mushroom on Mars!”
“Read the article, dumbass. It’s just a rock.”
“Well, this other article says they found meth on Mars!”
“I think you mean methane.”
“They say it could have come from Martian bugs.”
“What kinda bugs are on Mars? I thought it was all frozen.”
“I dunno, but they must be HUGE. Look at the size of the hole they made!”
“That’s a crater, dumbass. Anyway, it’s not living things that make methane. It’s their poop.”
“Where do bugs poop?”
“On Mars, apparently.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There has actually been a frivolous, but amusing, lawsuit filed against NASA for “covering up” the existence of the alleged mushroom. See the links below for more info about some of the Curiosity rover’s discoveries.
Curiosity Detects Methane Spike
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mezzojan 
Always good to get Kip and Dredge’s insights. It’s been a while since we heard from them.
Carma
Yes, they’re so insightful 🙂
Makes me want to rent ET. First thing I thought of.
Haha! ET is fortunate he ran into Elliot on earth, rather than Kip and Dredge 🙂
Thank you for reading and commenting!
Enjoyed it 🙂
Good old Kip and Dredge. They certainly have entertainment value. Long may they dive.
Yes, long may they dive! I wonder what they’ll be like as old men…two guys with white hair combed over their balding heads, searching the dumpster behind the nursing home….
Apparently!
Dawn, thank you for reading and commenting. Hope you have a great weekend!
P.S. I am loving your blog posts on hubcap art!
Thanks, I’m so glad.
Jan, great conversation.
Thank you, Alicia!
Hope you are having a great weekend 🙂
Thanks for explaining all that science-y stuff! School should have been more fun.
Thank you, Patti!
It’s a good job those two brains are working in collaboration. Heaven knows what would happen otherwise. Nice one Jan.
Yes, in Kip and Dredge’s case, two half-brains almost equal one functional life…but not quite!
I like these lads! With slightly toned-down language they could host an educational show for youngsters 🙂
You may have an idea for a future story! Working title: “Kip and Dredge drop some knowledge on public access cable”
Dear Jan,
Kip is a rocket scientist. Love the dialogue.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you, Rochelle!
Dear Jan,
And that’s why I’m going to go to Mars if I get half a chance. To leave Kip and Dredge to Earth. Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
Mahalo, Doug! But I hope we never have to leave Earth to the care of Kip and Dredge. Oh, right. We are.
Lovely. And I rarely say that about a story that features ‘dumbass’ twice. You had me laughing!
Thank you, Erin! And thanks for forgiving my double dumbassery 🙂
I’m smiling.
I’m glad the story made you smile 🙂
Thank you for reading and commenting!
Well I’ve learned someting today! Brilliant.
Thank you, Keith!
Meth on mars! Oh, no! I heard they now say that 1/5 the planet of Mars may have been covered with water. Just thought I’d throw out the science I’ve learned recently. 🙂 Very funny, Jan. Great, authentic dialogue.
Thanks, Amy!
I wonder if, someday, our planet will be frozen and the people on Venus will send a rover to Earth, looking for signs of past life. I wonder how far down they’ll have to dig to piece together our crazy history, and what they’ll think when they find it….
Good bit of light hearted banter Jan
Thank you, Weltchy! I love to write about Kip and Dredge 🙂
Oh I have missed your slackers.. and thank you so much for the great insight in the coverup they are doing… 🙂
Hahaha! I missed them too 😃😳😁😛
Jan, just the thing for the last story I read tonight. It made me laugh, always a good thing.
janet
I’m glad it made you laugh!
My kind of conversation. Loved it.
from one of your dumb ass readers 😉
Hahaha! I’d say you are more of a smart ass 😜
Loved that comeback…
Do you know why they don’t send donkeys to school?
No…. I’m almost afraid to ask, but…why don’t they send donkeys to school?
Because no one likes a smart ass.
Groan 😜
groans are good…
If I didn’t know better, this could have been a piece by Perry, Jan! It has that same quick, funny, edginess of it. Bringing real-life news, to a fun piece of fiction.
Thank you, Dawn! That’s high praise…but don’t tell Perry I said that 😜😉😃
Fascinating. I like you characters. They make a good double act. 🙂