SHORT & WEIRD: RUDIMENTARY STRUCTURES #5

The Basement

Who’s laughing at who?

By the author with AI

We stood in the doorway of our pop-up gallery, a basement in the business district.

I looked at Derek and shrugged.

“It was cheap”, he said.

“What’s that smell?”

“Radon.”

The basement walls were solid bluestone, which emits radon, a radioactive gas that clings to the floor like swamp mist. Invisible and odourless, it still somehow made the air smell differently. It’s bad for your health to spend too much time in it.

We were surrounded by skyscrapers, full of rich business types we were hoping would buy our artworks.

We couldn’t afford an opening, but the sign on the street with Derek’s painting, The Clown was getting enough attention.

Everyone who walked in was the same, wrinkling their nose as they hit the basement air. The works were selling and we were delighted. Except The Clown. It was the best painting in the show but also the most expensive.

Then in he strode. Immaculate suit, expensive haircut, Italian shoes. He walked right up to The Clown.

“This is sensational. The detail.”

He stood there for fifteen minutes, his eyes scanning from every imaginable angle. Then something started to happen. First his suit changed colour and his hair started to form clumps. His face turned white and within moments he’d transformed into the clown in the painting. At that point, he did a tumbling pratfall and ran from the room making gibberish noises.

We started watching our watch with every new customer. At the fifteen minute mark, the businessmen, and only the businessmen, would start turning into clowns.

“I don’t know what is happening, Derek. Is it the radon? What I do know is that we really need to get the sale wrapped up before the fifteen minute mark.”

Author’s Note

Thank you to Nichola Scurry for providing the inspiration for this one.

This story is based on an actual bluestone basement gallery that had the strange, chilly radon air.

Thank you to R. Klemek and Short & Weird for publishing.

You can read my previous Rudimentary Structure here:

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