False Idols
A short story written by Matt Gardner with PlotWeaver: Cards of Creation, a storytelling game made by Mod Hob Cooperative.
This story uses a Frame Tale Plot Pattern, written in 15-minute timed acts with all story cards drawn at random. For more information, visit www.plotweavergame.com
Act 1: Outer Frame Introduction
Story Element Cards: The Martyr, The Mentor, Bistro, and Science Fiction
It was incredibly humid. The sky felt like it was carrying an ocean of moisture in the air. Yet here Goldie found her way, legging it up the hill to get to work at the Bistro.
Every step was a labour; she had no motivation, no passion anymore for the restaurant.
As she made it to the door, she immediately seized up and hid in the shade. In her restaurant sat her childhood idol and star of the biggest Sci-Fi franchise ever. He was quite a bit older and definitely not the shape he was back then, but it was him.
In her restaurant!
“What the f...?!”, she was saying, when her coworker Amy came to inform her of what she was already fully aware of.
“Hey Goldie! Look, we have a bit of good luck today, you see that bald fella over there. Follow the direction of my eyes,” she said while motioning her pupils comically from side to side.
“Well, he used to be a big deal with your generation… you know… like oldies. But this is totally good news. Right?” she hesitated as Goldie slowly composed herself.
“Who was this guy anyway?” she muttered under her breath.
“Just some rich celebrity idiot,” Amy said, a little too loud.
Goldie’s face flushed with blood; she could hear her heart thumping in her ears.
“Miss, Miss,” beckoned the visibly impatient former captain of the old show that people still cherish. Goldie rushed towards the kitchen as Amy went over to check on him.
“I have been waiting for over 2 minutes for service,” he corrected Amy.
She smiled with her mouth while staring intently at his bald, bloated head. He assumed it was genuine because in a moment, she realized his head looked a lot like ham. Which reminded her of why she was so glad she had given up meat.
Act 2: The Inner Story Development
Story Element Cards: Story Elements: The Seeker, Frontier Outpost, and Inner Struggle
In the kitchen, Goldie prepped the vegetables for the lunch special while Amy and Fred handled the tail end of the morning crowd.
She remembered a classic episode where the then-handsome Captain delivered a deeply moving monologue across a frontier settlement on a distant world. He had spoken about why humans needed to expand, to control, to conquer. Why couldn’t we be happy with just existence?
Little did Goldie know that those words were scripted by a senior writer who was under the gun to fill 44 minutes of airtime on a tiny budget. That writer had become deeply cynical about humanity; he spent his days imagining a world where people were simply happy with what they had. His contract wasn’t renewed the next year. The studio blamed the budget, but the writers knew the truth: the executives didn’t want depth. They wanted attention between commercials.
“Hence, commercial television,” Goldie murmured, chopping salads.
But that episode had been imprinted on her. It was the reason she wanted a small, sustainable business within walking distance of her home. No driving, no rushing, no need to ‘succeed’ at the cost of her soul.
She could still see the scene’s lighting, hues of red creating a cruel, hellish desert landscape. The Captain, staggering in heavy eye makeup as if he’d walked for days, panted into the camera: “Why? Why did we need to spread ourselves across the galaxy? Why could we not just be happy with what we have? Why is it never enough?”
Goldie had thought about that line for years. ‘Why is it never enough?’
In the show, it was meant to be a moment of doubt before he embraced his messianic fate, the trope that to be great, one must overcome human connection. The Superman. The Alpha.
“What a bunch of BS,” she said, dicing sweet potatoes.
Act 3: Return to the outer Frame
Story Element Cards: Broken Faith
Amy popped into the kitchen, looking hesitant. “Goldie? That celebrity... he wants to meet the owner.”
Goldie perked up, a strange spark of excitement hitting her. She shed her apron, tidied her hair, and walked to his table. “Hello, sir. I’m Goldie, the owner. How can I help you?”
“Ok, cool,” the ham-headed has-been said snidely.
Goldie was taken aback. She had imagined him shaking her hand, offering a photo for the wall to celebrate the ‘fantastic dining experience.’ Her social media person would have been thrilled.
“Look, your staff is unbearably stupid, your food is mediocre, and I did not enjoy myself,” his highness berated. “I will not be paying for this.”
Goldie had expected to comp him anyway, but the entitlement stung. She forced a practised grin, staring at his head and thinking again about how much she didn’t miss eating ham. “Of course. Please, accept it as on the house.”
He stormed out. Goldie watched him go, fearing a bad review, but then a better impulse took hold. She leapt out of the restaurant and chased him down. When he turned around, she didn’t ask for a photo. She asked, “Sir, I need to know... Why is it never enough?”
He stared at her in disbelief. His mind flooded back to that desert set, to a time when he was young and idealistic. He had resonated with those lines back then. Years later, while fighting a cocaine addiction, a guru had told him he was enough.
His eyes welled up. He stopped seeing Goldie as a pawn and saw her as a fellow traveller. Someone who had learned the lesson he couldn’t keep hold of. He took her hand. “I am so sorry. I am deeply embarrassed by my behaviour. I needed that reminder.”
He reached into his pocket and handed her a hundred-dollar bill.
“But did you ever find the answer?” Goldie asked.
“I am never satisfied,” he sighed. “I am nothing more than a hungry ghost. That is all they ever wanted from us... to want, and want, and want.”
“Who?”
“The bosses. The producers. The advertisers,” he said, looking ashamed. “And I bought into it.”
He turned and walked away. A breeze swept the humidity out of the air for a moment as Goldie walked slowly back to her bistro, finally feeling the passion return.
Have a story you need to tell? You can explore the Frame Tale pattern and draw your own cards at www.plotweavergame.com.
What a wonderful story. It's so cool how you connected two very different individuals in it.