Fiction: The Beholders

In one week, a massive hurricane swept up a continental coast, flattening and flooding; an art museum burned to the ground, taking priceless treasures with it; a national leader and his family were assassinated; drought deepened across a formerly fertile region; and the seams of a cruise ship opened and hundreds drowned.

As his mother watched, he lined up automobiles on a bridge just before creating an earthquake.

She shook her head. “He’s so hard on his toys.”

His father smiled indulgently. “Yes, but he’ll grow out of it. Besides, it’s just a training planet.”