Johnny was sad, but he knew there were always more fish in the sea. And he would keep kissing manatees until he found his mermaid.
Tag: love
#quikfic 87
I stumbled in the fog with only my heart to guide me home to Kathy. I ended up on Lorna’s porch. And on her sofa. And in her bed.
Fiction: Expectations
Artemis looked around the tight canyons of the great city. She was there for a change of pace. There were kinds of hunting here, although not the traditional sort she had always patronized.
She watched as a bus pulled up to its stop and several passengers exited. One man captured her attention, and she watched as he trudged down the sidewalk.
Artemis, goddess of the hunt, knew the terrible look of prey resigned to its fate, and that was the look on this man’s face. He was conventionally handsome and of average height. He wore a dull gray suit and a black tie. Only the despairing look in his eyes distinguished him from the crowd.
“Athena,” she called in her mind. “Do you have a moment?”
The other goddess appeared next to Artemis.
“Look at that man,” Artemis said, pointing down the street. “What has happened to him?”
Athena used her powers of knowledge and wisdom and divined the man’s history. She saw images…
Fiction: Fifty Percent
They were alone in his home after the usual friends had gone. She stood by the bedroom door, a little smile playing on her lips. He walked up to her and put his arms around her waist.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Sex,” he told her. After a pause to test his courage, he plunged onward. “And love.”
Her smile slipped a little. “How about one out of two?”
His head dipped slightly, and he went for broke. “We don’t have to have sex.”
Her smile returned, but it was blighted by the sweet sadness in her eyes. She drew him to her and hugged him. “Oh, Honey.” She held him quietly for a moment or two, acknowledging his need even as she denied it. She whispered in his ear. “Let’s go in here and make each other feel really good, huh?”
He nodded his head against hers. They went into the bedroom and did many gentle and energetic and passionate things together.
He awoke in the morning just as she was about to walk out the door.
“Hey,” his scratchy voice said.
“Oh, hey.” She smiled. “Go back to sleep. I’ve got to be in the office early today. See you later?”
“Hope so.”
She bent over the bed and gave him a quick, friendly peck. “Bye.”
“Bye.” And he heard the front door close and her car leave.
He smiled, remembering all they had done together. Then, remembering what she did not – apparently could not – give him, he embraced her pillow, tighter and tighter, trying to soothe the abraded, agonized place inside him that cried out for more.
haiku 254
The Way We Were
on movie channel –
too soon…
#quikfic 30
When I said I’d walk a thousand miles for you, I didn’t think there’d be so many bridges. You know I hate bridges. I’ll miss you.
#quikfic 21
I met her in an art gallery and fell in love. Somewhere near The Persistence of Memory, she melted into the arms of another man.
Fiction: Acceptable Risks
I agreed to meet her in the relative quiet of station night.
A space station never sleeps; the same work goes on all the time. But in a nod to our animal selves, some of the station’s lights dim at a certain hour, and business tends to be done more quietly while not quite half the people sleep.
I knew why she wanted to see me. We had a history. It was almost businesslike; we would make an exchange, and then I wouldn’t see her again until she wanted to make another exchange.
I walked slowly down the twilit corridor toward her apartment. Station personnel like me have quarters; civilians have apartments. It’s a nice distinction. Someday I’d like to have an apartment, but what would I do on Outreach Four if I weren’t in Spacefleet?
At her door, I paused. If I got caught, I’d be cashiered and sent back to Earth. Worse, her part of the exchange…
Pen to Paper: Love and Torture
No, that is not a Frank Sinatra song used as the theme for a popular sitcom.
I have been thinking about this for quite a while now. There are words whose definitions we exaggerate to the point of hyperbole in an effort to convey strong feelings. E.g.:
“I love this new book.”
“Watching that movie was torture.”
I’m calling time-out to consider whether these are appropriate uses.
Fiction: Jeune Fille se Defendant
The arrow nearly struck Paige, but some carefully honed instinct warned her just in time to duck. The missile hit a building’s façade and disintegrated harmlessly.
She whirled to find her assailant and found him crouching by a Postal Service collection box.
“You chubby little shit!” she yelled, heedless of her fellow pedestrians who were beginning to watch her with some interest. “I should kick your ass all the way to Poughkeepsie.”
“No, you should let me do my job and make you happy.”
“Happy? When the hell have you ever made anyone happy? You’re making me miserable!”
Then Paige remembered – again – that she was the only one around who could see Cupid. As far as her fellow New Yorkers were concerned, she was having a one-sided screaming match with a mailbox. For most of them, this rated no more than a three on the weirdness scale, but it was the only street theater they had at the moment so they watched. Continue reading “Fiction: Jeune Fille se Defendant”