Class in Antarctica; a submarine to simulate zero-gravity and we are students of astronomy and sociology. I am late for class and have been watching the opening hour on closed-circuit TV. A cold-related injury has given me a good-enough excuse for not making it on time. During the class’ intermission, I make my way over […]
While leaving a movie, I am given a box of old writings by a stranger that date back to middle school. At first I am hesitant to open this box. How good could my middle school era writings possibly have been? And why would they be worth re-visiting now? The stranger informs me that there […]
For his 18th birthday, it seems my brother has decided to have me and my dad accompany him to get pierced. He won’t say where on his body but he does drag us along to the mall. This mall has two-stories but it’s preposterously tall, with an obscenely large escalator going from the very low […]
We’ve been bunkered for days (weeks?) against the plague and the roving hordes. It’s dangerous out there but we’ve done a decent enough job of fortifying the house. It’s not my parents’ house but everything started happening we just let ourselves in here, found the keys, and set up camp. We’re short on provisions though […]
Teleported, perhaps fallen through some gate to another dimension. It’s impossible to tell how I’ve landed here in this Star Wars meets Jurassic Park meets Alien wonderland. Fear for my life; obviously I have trespassed here or else have been caught elsewhere and dumped here for some gruesome execution. I am in this huge paddock […]
Negotiating. There’s a voice that whispers a word into your ear; sounds Japanese, starts with a “gu” sound. The word has no true English translation; it’s more of a concept than a word. It’s supposed to be a philosophy of negotiating that gets your Opponent to believe they’re getting their way when really you are […]
The students have become teachers? You have returned to high school as a student; people that you have taught in the past now stand at the chalkboard, doing their best to explain concepts that you long ago taught them. (Wait, back up. Did you even teach them?) They criticize your in-class work; they mark it […]
The road is some amalgamation of Rt. 7 in Burlington and 355 in Gaithersburg; yet at the same time it is neither. An overgrowth of trees abuts the road at each stretch, each intersection, each fork. The town is dense right along the road but unravels quickly into rural settings at each branch, every turn. […]
Record shopping. During work hours? (Your work has perhaps come home with you.) The music plays, interrupted periodically but the 60 second samples of new, desired tracks. You uninvited guests stare at you with irritation at each beefy bass beat and treble-toned sweep; your tune browsing is not what they bargained for. A moment’s pause […]
How to turn a pistol with seven bullets into a room with nine dead bodies. Sneaking around; the art of silence. Intense close-quarters gun battles. Definitely more CIA than the corral OK. Breaking and entering, garrotting, and the like. Which comes in handy enough soon enough. (Quick cut.) Leaving the party; my lovely partner is […]