Xander hadn’t wanted to shove her out the airlock, but the risk was too high. They’d been friends, shipmates, lovers, and everything in between for the last decade.
“Stop crying,” she said, though Xander wasn’t sure whether she was talking to him or herself.
“Khrys, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
The radio in her spacesuit squawked with solar interference.
“What? You sending me into space so I don’t take out half the ship?” she asked. “How hard … Read More
A portrait of Aunt Myrtle hung from a noose in our living room. The noose itself was just my father’s way of using whatever bits and pieces were about to do the task at hand. He also thought it’d be a nice conversation piece among visitors, if we ever had any.
Aunt Myrtle, my mother’s favorite aunt, had long black hair twisted together in a loose bun that spilled out the back in snake-like waves. Her … Read More
They set the ship down in a paradise untouched by humanity. White sand beaches ringed the islands of the archipelago. Blue, crystal-clear waters rolled into the beach with every wave. Palm tree like plants swayed with the breeze. It was the dream of crew members who’d been cooped up in the tiny ship for months.
Once the ship’s landing procedures had finished, Captain Schmox opened a channel to the ship. “Excellent job everyone. I know it … Read More
The Stars Are Calling publishes August 23rd catch a sneak peak below.
Gideon leaped headlong at the spaceship’s wreckage some five hundred meters away. “Cover me,” he shouted into the comm.
Sarah pulled twin plasma pistols out of her hip holsters and laid on the triggers. She fired each in rhythm with the other’s kickback to keep Gideon covered. She’d gotten used to covering her partner’s foolishness over the last few months. As Gideon landed on the … Read More
Jennifer stepped forward and flung her arms wide. The ball-like Pitheons had never seen such a gesture and cowered behind their makeshift walls. Jennifer took the opportunity to grab the Gresnon gem from its setting in the center of the cave room and run. The Pitheons collectively realized their mistake and sent out their psionic tendrils to restrain her. But the Gresnon gem had been revered by them for a reason. It dispersed any psionic … Read More
“Rolland! Stop!” Mama shouted, but, whether he heard the order or not, he didn’a listen. Rolland was a runaway train, listening to no one and nothing. Mama ran after him, even while the posse continued shooting.
She got behind him and jumped on his back. Pulling at the tubes and bolts with her hands. Rolland paid her no mind, as if she were a gnat buzzin’ round his ears.
“Lizzie,” she yelled, still clinging to Rolland’s back. … Read More
“We knows what you made it for.” Auggy Winkle called out. He sat on a horse at the sheriff’s right hand. “You coulda just come to me.” The scruff and hooligans that made up the rest of the posse thought that rather funny.
“I doubt your wife would have let you,” Mama said.
The scruff and hooligans liked that even more’n Auggy’s comment.
Mama turned to the Sheriff. “Herb, what’ve I done?”
“You ought to know. That there, what … Read More
When I drove the cart up next to the barn, Mama came out of her shop.
“Whacha doin’, Lizzie?” she asked. A piece of lace stuck out from under her shirt in a way I wasn’t used to seeing. She had a grin I’d only seen on the Cooper girls’ faces when they were talkin’ ‘bout a boy.
“Where’s Rolland?” Mama asked.
Then her eyes drifted over to the wagon. She let out a scream that startled the … Read More
At our house, Rolland would lift us out and escort us inside. Never came in the house though. Once we were indoors he’d take up his post out on the front porch. He’d sit there rattling like a teakettle on boil till Mama got home or finished up in her workshop in the barn. After that he’d set hisself up in the barn while the rest of us ate whatever Jessie cooked up. She was … Read More
After Papa died, Mama built a bronze steambot to take us to school. She said it wasn’t safe for four girls to walk there by themselves. So the steambot would set us all in the back of the wagon and trot off with it like a horse.
Our one room schoolhouse was filled to the brim with name callers, brats, braggarts, and hooligans. So’s you can guess what happened the first day he took us to … Read More
“You doing anything?”
Cindy looked up. The bartender stared at her, smiling.
“You wanna catch a late, late dinner?” The bartender asked.
Cindy looked over her shoulder to see who he was talking to.
“You,” he said, looking right at her.
Cindy looked at him bewildered. “Why?” she asked.
The bartender grew self-conscious. “Can’t a guy ask a pretty girl out anymore?”
“That’d be a miracle,” she said.
“Well,” he said, “call me Jesus Christ.”
“You’re far from the Messiah,” she said, but she … Read More
Soon they landed back in court. Virgil had lost a very lucrative business deal due to some the client’s daughter. Now his business was in trouble and he tried to reclaim his two thousand dollars and to prevent Cindy from using a shared savings account (one set up by them for the window seat and alcove installation) to pay for the repairs. Virgil lost this case, but it did not matter much to Cindy. The check … Read More
After Cindy left the hospital and settled herself in a new apartment, Virgil came over with a check.
“I know things between us have not gone well this past year,” he said. “But I hope this will help.”
“You want to give me a check?” Cindy asked.
“That’s right,” Virgil said. “It’s not much, but it’s something.”
At his insistence, Cindy took the check, but decided not to cash it until she spoke with a lawyer.
A few weeks later … Read More
Cindy shoved the truck into reverse and floored it backward into the house. Her tail lights entered the living room at just the place where Janice had been standing only a few moments earlier.
Janice later told the story to her therapist this way, “Well, I just wouldn’t be sitting here now if not for cheese balls.
“Virgil’s bowl was empty so I went to the kitchen to refill it. Then that maniac drove Virgil’s antique truck … Read More
Even before it came into view, she could hear it tinkling in the distance. Little bits of metal rubbing against each other like a wind chime on steroids.
Next came the plodding clip-clops of the old cart horse. That old horse would have lost to a snail in a race, but he could trudge on through the worst blizzard or cross the deepest river. Steady as he goes.
Then came the creak of the wheels singing like … Read More