[
The auction for this Significant Object,with story Mark Frauenfelder, hasended.Original price: $1 Final price: $23.]
Matt saw the tiny blue bottle on thethird step of the main entrance to theLos Angeles Central Library. It wasnext to a sleeping man, obviouslyhomeless. A $100 bill, rolled-up, was
protruding from the bottle’s open
neck. Matt slyly scooped up the bottleon his way into the library. He hid thebottle in his fist until he got to a desk with side partitions.A chipped decal on the bottle read,
“Arrow De Luxe Apricot FlavoredBrandy.” He pulled the rolled
-up billfrom the neck. When he unrolled it, it was a just note printed on what
looked like a $100 bill. He’d picked up
these phony bills before. They werereligious tracts.
What kind of religion tries to win members by pulling a dirty trick?
he wondered.Matt dropped the note on the ground and pocketed the bottle. It looks like an antique, hethought. I might get some money for it. He barely made it to the computer card catalogwhen the bottle appeared in his mouth. The oddly ribbed neck protruded from his lips,while the rest of the bottle uncomfortably occupied his mouth, pushing his tongue downand preventing him from closing his jaws completely.He pulled the bottle out, tossed it on the table. It spun and skidded across the table, clankingon the floor. He walked quickly towards the exit. In five seconds, the bottle reappeared inhis mouth. This time he yanked the bottle and threw it on the ground. It made a loud noisewhen it shattered. The other library visitors looked at him, startled. Matt ran. The bottlereturned to his mouth, intact, before he was outside. He looked for the sleeping man, but hewas gone.He ran down 5th street, throwing the bottle onto the sidewalk every time it appeared in hismouth. After nineteen attempts to get rid of it, it felt like it had gotten bigger. What had thenote said? He went back into
library to look for it. It wasn’t there. People stared at the crazy
man with the blue thing sticking out of his mouth, crawling on his hands and knees. Hefinally found the note under the shelves near the desk.This time, he read it:
This bottle is going to appear in your mouth in two minutes. If you pull the bottle out of your mouth, it will reappear in your mouth in five seconds. If you attempt to prevent thebottle from reappearing in your mouth by filling your mouth with another object, you
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Excerpt from the book Significant Objects
By Mark Frauenfelder
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