Exquisite Corpse

Michael Jackson rose from his grave for the second time. This evening there was no dry ice and no need for zombie make-up. He brushed the dirt from his red leather jacket and yawned. His nights sleeping in an oxygen tent had helped prepare him for the claustrophobia of a coffin.

Michael stretched and felt a number of bones clicking unhealthily. Oh well, age catches up with us all in the end. A ravenous hunger came over him, after all, he hadn’t eaten for eleven years. Beyond the cemetery he saw the lights of an all-night diner, what a lifesaver. Michael’s stiff movements aped his old trademark dance moves. Fancy that, his choreographer had been more accurate than anyone could have guessed.

It was slow, jerky progress, but finally he got to the diner. It took all Michael’s strength to open the door and then he held his hands up, dazzled by the electric lights. He was expecting a reaction from the customers and staff, ‘Michael Jackson, back from the dead, call CNN!’, but unfortunately his resurrection had coincided with Halloween. The place was populated with werewolves, Vincent Prices and a variety of ghouls.

He staggered to the counter and sat on a stall, exhausted and even more famished from his journey. Michael inhaled the coffee, cherry pie, pumpkin fritters and ice-cream sundaes, but found he wanted none of these things.

‘What can I get you, Michael?’ the waitress asked. He smiled at her, pleased to be recognized. She was dressed as a vampire and he enjoyed the curve of her neck and her plump cheeks, so he leant forward and took a bite.

By the end of his meal, the diner was a bit of a mess, but Michael toothpicked fastidiously and politely wiped his mouth and hands on a napkin. He carefully stepped over some discarded entrails (too stringy in his teeth) to look in the mirror. Michael smiled broadly, very happy with his reflection, his cheekbones, his chipped point of nose and his fantastic, impossible thinness.

‘Still got it,’ Michael said to himself and moonwalked out the diner.

 

I have a vivid memory of Thriller being premiered before the six o’clock news when I was about ten. I was terrified but a couple of months later performed a gymnastics routine to it at a Croydon schools competition, where we danced like zombies. I’ve just re-watched it and it’s extremely dated but is still nostalgic. Vincent Price lends his voice too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA