This is my second attempt at the 55-word tag. The first is here.

On a related note, here is the shortest horror story ever written (although one might argue that the shortest horror story is actually “BOO!”). This story is by Fredric Brown, who was one of the writers who inspired me to write small stories.

The last person on Earth was alone in a room. There was a knock on the door ... [via madhoo.com]
And here is the shortest story ever written. It is by Hemingway.
For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Used.
And now here is my story. It is something of an offshoot of another idea that I had. I was trying to find a format for it, and this seemed to fit nicely. When I wrote it, it was 59 words, and I had to fight for more than an hour to get it down to 55, because every word I deleted seemed to change the meaning. And then I realised that I had actually reduced it to 54, and I had one more word. It was like finding a million bucks. By the way, ‘Two’ is not the title, it is the number.

Two

There was once a human head for sale.

A comb sat beside it. They talked.

“What sex were you?” the comb asked.

“I don’t remember. I have nothing to look down at. Have I a moustache?”

“I don’t have eyes.”

“Let’s ask the shopkeeper.”

It tried to turn. Then it realised it couldn’t talk either.