Drabble – Language
Hephaestion had a bad case of the giggles. It had started out earlier in the day and had escalated from there. The morning had begun quietly enough. He had gone to Alexander's rooms to go over a few things with the King in the morning. Something had struck him as funny and the situation just ballooned from that point on. Alexander had joined in the fun too but was keeping control of himself a little better than Hephaestion was.
Both men were now in a closed room with the other generals. Alexander was talking and Hephaestion was trying his hardest not to break down and lose control but everything out of Alexander's mouth struck him as funny. Alexander was looking at everyone in the room except Hephaestion. He knew if he looked at his friend that he too would not be able to keep a straight face.
Hephaestion let a little snort escape and was rewarded with a swift sideways kick under the table. It had the opposite effect than Alexander had hoped. Hephaestion began to giggle again but quickly coughed in his hand to try to hide it. Alexander countered with a small snort of his own.
The rest of the people in the room began to notice the exchange of snorts and coughs. Several began to smile and a few even chuckled themselves. It was getting to be contagious. Trying to get control of the crowd he was quickly losing, Alexander stood suddenly and cleared his throat loudly.
"Men," he began seriously, or as seriously as he could sound with a big smile plastered on his face. " It is imperative that we get to the bottom of this as soon as possible to prevent more misunderstandings. With the differences in our languages, we must find a way of communicating with these new tribes. Let's put our heads together and see if we can crack this dilemma today."
Hephaestion snorted again and was rewarded with a bonk on the top of his head by the King standing next to him. Hephaestion responded by breaking out in a full-blown laugh. Alexander soon followed and was joined shortly after by the rest of the room.
"This is serious." Alexander said, between the waves of laughter coming out of his mouth.
"I command you to stop laughing this instant." He said, looking down at Hephaestion who now had his head on his arms on the top of the table.
All control of the room was out the window as everyone was now in various stages of giggles and laughter. It took quite awhile for everyone to calm down and wipe the tears off their faces. When it got quiet again, Hephaestion was the first to speak.
"Maybe we could invite them to a big party, you could give one of your moving speech, like the one you just gave us, and when you are finished we could giggle together in the universal language of happiness."
He was rewarded with another bonk.