recent david byrne blog post works quite well as a surreal short story:

" I’m in a shopping mall, in the food court. From around the corner, some distance away, I can hear the sound of throbbing rock and roll guitars. No distinct rhythm or melody, just a low ominous churning rock and roll growl, getting slightly closer. The others in the food court seem to know what it is, and they stand up, abandon their half eaten chicken salads and burritos, and begin running in the opposite direction of The Rock and Roll Monster.

I do the same, but being unfamiliar with what it is, I have what I think is a smart idea. I head into a boutique and run in and out between the racks and display cases towards the staff entrance in the back. I go in, and sure enough there is a hallway that leads to stairs I can take down and out of the building. The stairs lead to a small alleyway, where a few of us convene. We breathe sighs of relief — we’re free and clear. Whew. I guess we outsmarted that thing, whatever it was. I never even saw it.

Now, somehow, I’m back in the food court or some other public part of the mall. Once again I hear the ominous thrum getting closer and louder. Some people run, but I’m too slow this time. Here it comes from around the corner. It’s twisting and turning, snaking down the central aisle, like a giant serpent. It seems to be an endless tube of clear plastic, about four feet in diameter, and filled with giant versions of either those translucent cups you get at a water cooler, or the ones you get when giving a urine sample. Only these cups are so large they almost fill the writhing plastic tube, arrayed one behind the other. It’s as if it is some weird, enormous intestine made for a school science project, but on a too-large scale. It has that homemade, ad hoc, do it yourself vibe. But it wriggles and slithers as if it is alive.

Somehow, in this dream, I am terrified, but I am also aware that the Rock and Roll Monster takes many forms, and all of them share this quality of looking homemade and rudimentary, yet somehow animated, these pedestrian objects coming to life."