{"id":861,"date":"2016-07-22T12:43:45","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T12:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zatma.org\/new-wp\/?p=861"},"modified":"2016-07-22T12:43:45","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T12:43:45","slug":"a-flash-of-fiction-about-the-furniture-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=861","title":{"rendered":"A Flash of Fiction about the Furniture People"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yao<\/a><\/p>\n

Yao Xiang Shakya<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The scarf wasn\u2019t enough to cover up David\u2019s hollowed cheek line. It merely reminded him of what he used to prize. Sarah touched her thumb along the tip of each of her fingers when she decided to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not\u2026\u201d she sighed. \u201cNo. That\u2019s not it\u201d<\/p>\n

David, alarmed by Sarah\u2019s stammering to speak, faltered. The beauty, hers, his, waned.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s better to be a chair,\u201d he said rather convincingly. Sarah grimaced. \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d she said accusing him of doing it again.<\/p>\n

He choked before he answered. \u201cI know. I know. You don\u2019t like it when I say the obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst it\u2019s NOT obvious. And secondly, if you knew that, <\/em>we wouldn\u2019t be having this conversation.\u201d Sarah sunk her teeth into a piece of dead skin along her thumb and tore it off.<\/p>\n

David, with his hands in his pockets moved towards Sarah to deliver more of the same. \u201cSay what you will. It\u2019s true. It is <\/em>better to be a chair. Like that one, the one we paid big bucks for\u2026or the couch, or the goddam<\/em> rug.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah shook her head as she mocked wiping something away in-between them. \u201cYou\u2019ll never change. Everyone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

David interrupted. \u201cEveryone? Really? Everyone<\/em>? If you didn\u2019t blow things out of proportion and listen for a change, I wouldn\u2019t have to say shit like it\u2019s better to be a chair<\/em>.\u201d He\u2019d drawn his hands out of his pockets as though he touched something in the space between them. When he turned away to the side he let his head slump towards one shoulder then whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd no matter what you say, I know I am right!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah sighs. She tries again to speak what she came to tell him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not\u2026\u201d she stammers.<\/p>\n

He turned round and looked at her.<\/p>\n

Sarah took in a deep breath and shrugged. Shaking her head from side to side she began again.<\/p>\n

\u201cOk. OK. I\u2019ll bite. Why\u2026Just tell me why you think it is better to be a chair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot until you tell me who told you I\u2019ll never <\/em>change?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chairs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Chairs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Yao Xiang Shakya (2016)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The furniture people want to matter.
\nThey want to be loved.
\nThey want to count.
\nThey want to be useful rather than be free.<\/p>\n

In this FLASH of fiction, Yao Xiang Shakya shows how it looks to be caught up in the dust of the material world. <\/p>\n

ENJOY!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays-by-yao-xiang-shakya","tag-essays"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions\/865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}