Month: August 2008

Fiction: Request Granted

Posted on by bryon

Ned sat in the least broken chair against the inside wall of his dingy apartment. A strong ammonia smell pervaded the place, but he hardly noticed. He ran down the list again, as he had done for the last three days.

Wife threw me out.

Filed for divorce.

Kept the kids.

And the dog.

Girlfriend not returning my calls.

Parents and sister ditto.

Lost my job.

And my medical license.

D.A. considering criminal charges.

Patient’s family considering civil lawsuit, too.

Reporters hounding me.

BMW trashed by angry mob.

Rent on apartment overdue.

Loan shark looking for me.

That covered things.

“It’s going to take a miracle to get me out of this,” he muttered.

The meth lab in the apartment next door exploded. The two meth heads and Ned died instantly.

“That butcher doctor sure got off easy, didn’t he?” everyone said later.

Fiction: Appeasing the Appetite

Posted on by bryon

The mouse’s eyes darted around. He had been maneuvered into a corner and there was no way out. He looked up and up again. There towered a great gray cat with evil and hunger in its eyes.

“Oh, please, please, Mr. Cat! Please don’t kill and eat me!”

The cat was amused. “Whyever not? I am hungry and you are food. This has been the way of things since our kind first shared the earth.”

“Please! I … I could pay. I could get something for you that you wanted,” the mouse pleaded.

“You are what I want,” the cat replied reasonably, and he lifted his right forepaw for the coup de grâce.

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Fiction: Crossing the Bridge

Posted on by bryon

In the light of the full moon on a cloudless night, Ron walked to the middle of the bridge and put one leg over the guardrail, and then the other. He stood on a narrow catwalk meant for the use of painters and inspectors. Ron planned to use it as a launching pad, to launch himself into the deep waters of the Tondoscinewa River and end it all.

He took a deep breath, and released it. Depressed as he was, he thought perhaps he should get right with God before jumping. Of course, jumping itself was guaranteed to get on God’s bad side, and there was no point in asking for forgiveness and then committing the sin. So, no prayer.

Ron took another deep breath, thinking it would be his last. Then he heard the footsteps approaching slowly from the tree-laden far end of the bridge. He blew out the breath and wondered who was coming.

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Fiction: At the Finish Line

Posted on by bryon

“So, Agent XR9 – or should I call you Major Arthur Shining? – you have found my final lair, my sanctum sanctorum, and defeated all my henchmen. I am defenseless … except for my attack robot!”

“Oh, please, Dr. Baddar; we both know that pile of nuts and bolts is worthless.”

Dr. Baddar aimed a remote control at the robot and pressed the activation sequence anyway. The silver robot, six feet tall, three feet wide, and designed with lots of odd, sharp angles, lurched toward XR9. It waved its arms menacingly and made a mechanical growling sound. XR9 watched idly as it slowly drew closer.

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