Beating Swords into Saxophones
The Earth was snoozing peacefully—the sunny Sunday afternoon of history—when the aliens came to prod through what remained of human civilization, oohing and ahhing in incomprehension over our ruined cities and quaintly antique technology.
They found our weapon caches delightful. The casing of a Minuteman made a pleasant booming when hit with the butt of an M-16 and .50 bullets strung up on trip wire cable laughed and sang as they tinkled together in the wind.
Then one poked at a landmine, with explosive results. “Save that for the concert,” the leader said. “That’ll be the grand finale.”
The Green-Walled Tower 
October 9th, 2014 at 11:59 am
good one 🙂
October 9th, 2014 at 12:52 pm
1812 Overture for Aliens! 😀
October 9th, 2014 at 1:46 pm
Exactly. 🙂 Maybe for their big celebrations, they’ll use nukes.
October 9th, 2014 at 5:48 pm
David,
An interesting and lighthearted take on an alien invasion (post-apocalyptic, in this case, it seems). I too thought of the 1812 Overture. Fun stuff. Let’s hope they don’t pull out the nukes.
All my best,
Marie Gail
October 9th, 2014 at 5:49 pm
Dear David, Enjoyable story and clever! Yes, I think they would have a field day at the (yes I will say it) INSANITY that happens on Earth. I don’t blame the aliens, Hope they enjoy the toys. Nan 🙂
October 9th, 2014 at 8:55 pm
Dave,
You lured me in with your clever title then made me smile like the quaint little antique that I am. Thank you for that. 🙂
October 9th, 2014 at 9:31 pm
Hey anytime. 🙂 It seemed like an appropriate allusion.
October 9th, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Haha! There’s lots of places in the world they can have concerts with landmines. Clever and darkly amusing, David. I enjoyed this one.
October 9th, 2014 at 11:06 pm
Yeah, unfortunately. I wasn’t even thinking of the ones in the field. Even though the US has banned their use, they still have millions stockpiled. Glad you liked it. There’s humor in everything, including the end of humanity and an alien invasion. 🙂
October 10th, 2014 at 4:35 am
Dear David,
Make music not war. Works for me. 😉
You have a way of putting a fresh spin on everything. This one was no different. Harmonious composition. Well played.
Shalom,
Rochelle
October 10th, 2014 at 11:45 am
Long live the gentle, musical alien invasion. Every other type has been done, I’m sure. 🙂
October 10th, 2014 at 11:32 pm
Ah, like fireworks, huh? The day the music runs out will be a sad day. I’ve never experienced the alien musical invasion. Nice one, David!
October 11th, 2014 at 4:27 am
Hahaha! Those guys REALLY get into their music performances!
Fun one, Dave!
October 11th, 2014 at 11:56 am
Yep, they’re quite militant about their music. 🙂
October 11th, 2014 at 6:37 pm
I was just reading an interesting article about the first man to take ordinary and not so ordinary sounds and make them into music. Can you imagine there was a time before that?
I couldn’t either.
October 11th, 2014 at 8:43 pm
I like to think of firsts like that. Who was the first person to make up a song or play an instrument?
October 11th, 2014 at 8:57 pm
OMG..I do not know but this article was about John Cage. I can not access the one I found but here is another.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/searching-for-silence
October 11th, 2014 at 8:50 pm
Weapons are music to their ears; they must have the NRA on other planets too! Enjoyed the story,
October 11th, 2014 at 11:48 pm
Possibly, although I think the NRA would object to guns being used for anything besides shooting things. 🙂
October 13th, 2014 at 8:37 am
I would probably save the landmines for later too..
Have you heard:
Concerto for a muted mortar?
October 13th, 2014 at 2:48 pm
Concerto for a muted mortar sounds like a good anti-war campaign. Is it a real thing?
October 13th, 2014 at 12:21 pm
Enjoyed where your music took you – not sure I’d like to attend the concert however. Loved the line ‘sunny Sunday afternoon of history’ – so evocative.
October 13th, 2014 at 2:49 pm
Yes, that concert might be a bit much. 🙂 They need a disclaimer: The first five rows may get injured.
October 13th, 2014 at 6:15 pm
How fun to have the story actually flow like music even when discussing invasions! Great voice.
October 14th, 2014 at 1:17 pm
From the title to the last line – amazing.
October 14th, 2014 at 8:06 pm
Thank you so much. 🙂
October 14th, 2014 at 7:03 pm
I, too, had written a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story! I really enjoyed yours. Mordant and funny story!
Vividly narrated!
October 14th, 2014 at 8:07 pm
Thanks!