{"id":4741,"date":"2020-10-15T14:02:04","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T13:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuartpoetry.art\/?p=4741"},"modified":"2020-10-15T14:02:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T13:02:48","slug":"silver-teapot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/15\/silver-teapot\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Teapot"},"content":{"rendered":"
I saw the incident as I was cleaning up after the video gamers had left<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I was the third cleaner<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But divorced from the others as I was on the far side of the auditorium<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The virus destroyed the first cleaner by the fire door<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And the second one as he walked down the steps with waste bags in hand<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Viruses often escape after video game conferences but this was exceptional as two had escaped.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But they had not noticed me as I was in the shadows<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I destroyed the first virus with a surprisingly accurate shot<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It dissolved into powder on impact<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But my cover had been broken so I hid in a china teapot that I had purchased earlier<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I say teapot but this was no ordinary teapot as it was cased in a outer skin made of tin<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It dated from the 1950s<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
There were no video games in the 1950s and viruses did not exist<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But outside of my small china teapot there was a virus and it was hunting me down<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I was thinking fast wondering if viruses had a conception of teapots<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Would it seem odd to the virus that an insulated teapot had been left on a games table<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In a straight draw I knew that I would lose as the virus was much faster than me<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
There was also another problem as the virus was increasing in size due to the electricity in the air<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It was moving towards me slowly and was taking a great interest in the teapot<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I knew that I only had one shot if I lifted the lid and surprise was my only advantage<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As it had been when I destroyed the first virus<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I wondered at the weight of the china lid and hoped that it would inhibit my shot<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And then it happened I jumped from the teapot and fired my gun but my chamber was empty<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The virus did not return my fire but began to encircle me<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I knew then that it intended to dematerialise my body slowly and painfully<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
My gun dropped to the floor as I awaited my fate<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
There was no escape<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And then the virus exploded before my eyes<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It had taken a direct hit and had dissolved into a pile of blue dust<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I looked to see where the shot had come from and saw my supervisor standing on the stage<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
She was wearing a light blue nylon overall and was smoking which was against house rules<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The immediate danger was over although we were both aware that there might be other viruses lingering between the tables<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So we both cleaned and ensured that we remained fully armed and alert at all times<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I am glad to report that nothing happened and we finished our shift without further disturbance<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The supervisor asked me if I could walk her home as the whole episode had shaken her up<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Later as I sat in my small flat I reflected on the evening after deciding to place my insulated teapot permanently on display<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw the incident as I was cleaning up after the video gamers had left I was the third cleaner But divorced from the others as I was on the far side of the auditorium The virus destroyed the first cleaner by the fire door And the second one as he walked down the steps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}