A Two for One — 3LineTales

~ JM Williams
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Photo by Austin Chan

For this week’s Three Line Tales I came up with two–rather obvious–responses. You guys can tell me which is better. Here’s the first try:

Cadriel leaned heavily on the bar, sipping his IPA from a tulip glass–having been around since the creating of beer, he was a bit of a connoisseur–pondering his existence. He set his cold drink down hard, watching the fog evaporate off the glass, revealing the image of a sword. Recovering from his shock, the angel of death rose from seat and approached the miscreant biker gang conversing loudly in the room’s opposite corner.

That one derives from the religious connotations of  “looking for a sign,” though with a celestial being swapped for the typical human. Here’s the next one:

Luke Skywalker rubbed away a stain on the old, decrepit bar, staring down a shady twi’lek who still had not paid for his drinks. “The sign’s a joke–an old jedi thought I might be the chosen one,” Luke said to another nearby patron, “but I never really bought that rubbish, and the New Republic hasn’t worked out as I was hoping.” Raising a hand towards the deadbeat twi’lek, Luke said, “You want to pay your bill.”

This one follows on the obvious source of the sign’s wording, which derives from the infamous “These are not the droids you are looking for,” line from the original Star Wars. Though, I’m not one for fanfic, so I don’t know how I feel about this story. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to write it. 

So which one do you prefer?

~J.M.

11 thoughts on “A Two for One — 3LineTales”

  1. My thinking for this also relates to the religious connotations of the saying. I prefer the setting and of the first one. But the last one is enjoyable too and more light hearted. Both nicely written as always.

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    1. The first one was my first thought, though I new the sign was an obvious reference to Star Wars. Maybe the upcoming new film featuring a fed-up Luke is what made me feel compelled to write the second one.

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      1. Haha, maybe it’ll be a flashback explaining what he’s been doing all these years–drinking his life away. How’s your series going? Going again?

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