General Non-Fiction posted April 21, 2022


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Hammocking

A perfect day

by SimianSavant



It was a perfect day for hammocking.

Merry lounged about. How nice it was to have this fine hammock all to herself. Her stupid annoying sister was nowhere to be seen.

Merry wasn't much for napping in hammocks. They were much more interesting for athletic pursuits, honing her sense of balance, and posing for Instagram followers. Her fan base was still small, but also steady and loyal. Careers had been forged from less.

Swinging to the left, then to the right, Merry built up her momentum. How high could the hammock go? She made it to 120 degrees, then 150. Next was the half-pipe. Merry had not been snowboarding before, but one might imagine the arc of the hammock emulating it perfectly. What might it take, to go a full 360 swing? She never found out.

A lesser athlete would have called it a slip. No, Merry deliberately redirected her momentum right at the peak of her swing to gracefully exit the hammock, dropping nine feet to land perfectly astride the blue swing below. It was a perfect day for swinging.

A swivel bearing in the swing allowed it to rotate perpetually without twisting the rope, increasing possibilities for more balancing practice and (for geometry nerds) spiral movement along the circumference of a sphere, from a single point at the bottom of the swing to wide circles as her height increased. It was one heck of an ab workout. Merry closed her eyes and concentrated, thankful for this moment, free of her dumb sister Akana --

The smooth movement of the swing was redirected along an implausible vector. Adrenaline surging through her body, Merry's magnificent muscle memory kicked into gear, as she held on with one hand while expertly rotating her body back into the wildly gyrating swing. It took every ounce of her strength, yet looked effortless. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the antagonist's smirk. Akana. OF COURSE.

Akana made a goofy face and started spinning Merry around like crazy. Getting dizzy was fun. Merry smacked Akana playfully, her initial rage replaced with bouts of amusement. She leveled her body parallel with the ground and tucked in her head and legs, trying to spin as quickly as possible. Staring at the ground made her even more dizzy. Before she could puke, Akana grabbed the swing again from the top. They orbited around like two ambling planets trapped in each other's gravity. This was the best idea yet. They pawed at each other, each trying to get in a good whack, but the opposing centrifugal forces prevented either from being able to land a blow with any weight behind it. Merry tried to contact her feet with the ground to get away from her sister, finally succeeding, thanks to the power of friction.

Finally, Akana helped her to ramp up her swing. The radius and height grew and grew, the potential energy increasing, until finally Akana let her go like a spinning top. Merry swung around, her hands outward, in a violent swath of destruction. The G-forces were just insane. BOOM, she whacked the glass enclosure where all the Atlanta tourists were watching. They shrieked and scattered like flies.

The two gorilla sisters tumbled on the ground in laughter, as their latest Instagram hit went viral.



True Family Story writing prompt entry
Writing Prompt
TRUE STORY
word count 500-550
Story must include true-to-life biological sister(s) ages 5 or older conceived
by same father and mother
No vulgar words, profanity, sex, or satire


FROM THE AUTHOR:

This is a true, video-documented story involving true sisters, and is not a work of satire.

The "gorilla hammock" displayed above with attribution is available for sale, but not shown here for commercial purposes.
Pays one point and 2 member cents.


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