A Letter Changes Everything [88]

I was so much more than a wordsmith. I was an alphabet alchemist; a metaphor magician. I had, of all things, sifted through the English language to put together the most comprehensive instructional manual our institution had ever seen. It'd taken months - nay, seasons! Spring, Summer, and Fall - to bring this piece to fruition. It wasn't so much a project as bringing a baby to term and today was its birthday.

A Romantic Scene in an Unromantic Place [17]

"After all these years, I can't believe you've never brought me back here before today," the woman said, leaning into her husband's arms. The husband, for his part, eyed the bags of trash and chemical foam frothing in the surf and said nothing. He just held her closer. Scenery aside, the waves made for a magical, musical moment.

"We should have come back sooner, honey," the husband finally agreed. "We could have made time. We had time after our bundles of joy grew up. Hell, I could have taken a long weekend off blacksmithing - I could have trusted one of the apprentices for a few days. I'm sorry hon."

A Wedding Reception with Hundreds of Guests [199]

And lo, the gods and demigods, mages and learned men all gathered for the wedding of the sun and the moon. It was a great feast - a divine feast - and the ceremony was like nothing the mortal men had ever seen before. The sky had turned black as the sun and moon kissed. They gave birth to the stars in the sky. It was over too soon, however, and both were off to count down the days until they could renew their vows again.

Their parting, however, was a signal to those assembled. The cosmic event vouched for many years of good luck until the two grew too lonely. In the spirit of good luck, the god of war proposed a toast - to soldiers, of course - and the feast moved from largo to allegro, from gridlock to expressway. Drinks and merriment abounded and toast flew fast and heartfelt.

It's a Setup! [174]

"Do you think they followed us?" Diego asked as his wild eyes checked the car windows.

"Of course they followed us," Rafael replied. "It was a setup - a trap - and we haven't escaped yet."

"We're gonna die!" Diego blurted out. Rafael hit the brakes, causing the car to jolt and Diego to slam into his seat belt. The wild-eyed man gasped to catch his breath.

"If they want to kill us, they'll have to catch us. Now, where are we headed?"

A Scientist Makes an Unexpected Discovery [22]

"What's that you've got there, Dr. Johnson?" Dr. Reeves adjusted her glasses. Dr. Johnson held the folder close to her chest.

"I know it's unlikely, but I think I found a way to subvert telomere decay during cell division and cell replacement without a parallel increase in cancer risk," she said.

"That's astounding April! The fountain of youth!"

Business as UNusual [7]

This time it was different. This time everything would change. Robert held his head high as he walked into his boss's office. In a way, he was right. He walked out like a dog with its tail between its legs. The watchwords his friend had beat into him - "confidence is key"; "demand, don't ask"; "you're worth it" - echoed in his head as he slunk back to his desk, all while trying to ignore the stares of his colleagues.

He'd asked for a raise. His boss opted to conclude their relationship. This had been unexpected and Robert had stared at his boss as if hearing an alien who'd teleported to the office. Reality raced back to him, however, and he nearly moonwalked out of the office, dragging his feet and walking backward.

A Lunch Date Gone Wrong [6]

Glenn's fork plunged into his salad and, like out of a Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon, an eruption of fire and smoke bellowed out of the cafe's kitchen. While the causality was a bit shaky, Glenn's date, Brad, looked across the table with his mouth agape.

"I promise I didn't have anything to do with it," Glenn said quickly, before the idea of evacuation had entered either man's mind. The idea did rush in, however, as a small series of pops and bangs rang out. Glenn made the choice to grab his salad.

Chasing the Enemy [4]

I was hot on his heels as we both crashed through the woods. If I could keep up the pace, I knew I could catch him. The man ran like a demon though, so it was on me to not tire before he escaped completely. I hoped he'd hit some obstacle like a wall or a ditch soon though.

The man, a raider from the next village over, was participating in one of the oldest traditions in our region - he'd snuck into our town hall and stolen a golden parakeet. The object, made some centuries ago, was part of a larger collection of singing birds. When water was added to the top of a great sculpture the various birds fit into, the device would create birdsong through some ingenious interaction between fluted pipes and the dripping water. Every town in the region had one bird and they were reunited at Easter in the big cathedral. The tradition of course, was to show up with two or three birds that you would then "ransom" back to the home town.

A Story Told Through Emails [97]

My computer screeched through its dial-up routine as I raced the progress bar with slow, steady movements of my cursor. It didn't matter who won - the game was out of mind the moment the warm "Welcome - you've got mail!" played over the speakers.

Today's batch of emails was a newsletter and a message from my penpal in New York, just as I'd hoped. We had symmetrical schedules, usually checking and responding once before school, once after school, and once before bed. This one had me reading her email tucked up in a borrowed oversize hoodie with moonlight coming in the window. It was still so cold here that I had to read her section about a new swimsuit and sunglasses twice before I remembered that she made a reference to a family trip to Disney World a few emails back. I forgot that would be a big deal for here - Disney Land was a few hours south, so my family went several times a year.

A Family Mystery Uncovered [2]

It was a Sunday morning like any other in the Poste household. Mom made breakfast while Tina, the youngest, bounced around like a possessed rubber ball. Her sister, Meg, slowly emerged from the nest of blankets and teddy bears she called bed. Dad was conspicuously absent from the table; it took the girls a full five minutes to find him to tell him breakfast was ready. He arrived on the scene with a tattered notebook in hand.

An Interview on Live TV [173]

Tony smiled an impish smile for no one as he waited behind the curtain for the interviewer to finish the introductions. Jane was less comfortable, squirming at the thought of the hot lights and the implied attention. Neither had a good sense of the crowd that could occasionally be heard coughing or shifting until, with the announcement of their names, the crowd exploded into applause.

The two waved and smiled and looked around at the cameras, not sure which to focus on. Eventually they were herded like sheep down a path to where the interview was to take place - a standing table with a jet black top. Their product - accentuated in neon colors - stood out like brilliant Emerald City from sepia Kansas. The interviewer, with his big bleached smile and caked makeup, asked them a couple perfunctory questions. How they met. Did they ever see themselves being on live TV. Did they try the drink on any pets first. Questions meant to soften them up and make the audience laugh.

A Couple on a Cruise [14]

"Does that couple look a little... peculiar to you?"

The bartender didn't make enough money to consider "observing passengers" as part of his list of duties, but he was willing enough to indulge his manager for a moment. He made a big, dramatic sweep of the hundred or so people in the Deck C Aft Bar both to placate his boss and to make his eyes falling across the couple seem less planned.

"There! In the yellow!" His manager spoiled whatever element of unintentionality there might have been by hissing into the bartender's ear and pointing across the way.

"They seem normal enough to me," he said with a service-industry smile. "Is there any reason to be nosy?"

Revisiting a Fond Memory [191]

James sat in his padded wheelchair, looking at nothing with an angelic expression.

"Did I ever tell you about my honeymoon?" he asked the attendant who was carefully cleaning the room.

"No, never," she lied. It wasn't like she had to pay attention.

"Oh, it was wonderful. Beth and I went to Italy and got to explore all over. Our favorite little spot was a restaurant just off the piazza and away from the crowd. After a few days they knew our tastes and surprised us with something new and interesting every day after. It was wonderful."

The Main Character Ignored the Warning Label [128]

The doctor looked over the man sitting on the examination table. She looked at his wife, who had accompanied him. It was a strange match - some blonde model and a gross, blob of a man. A blue blob.

"How exactly did this happen?" the doctor asked, doing her best to keep a neutral tone. The two were quick to blame each other, each pushing into the story before the other had gotten even a sentence out. The doctor was patient though, and the story emerged gradually.

A Ghost Story [69]

A little dust glittered in the sunbeams that shot through the cracks in the boarded up windows.

"Did you hear that?" Billy, the resident expert on the invisible and the intangible prodded his friend.

"I didn't hear anything," said Jack. While he'd expressed a healthy skepticism at the outset, his eyes now darted to every crack and nook as if some creature might shoot at them like a missile. So far the house had been devoid of any creature, living or dead.

"I heard on the news that there's a stuffed grizzly bear that comes to life during the full moon in one of the rooms." Billy stated.

The Main Character is Startled Awake By... [139]

I awoke in a cold sweat. Were they after me? Had they found out my secret? My mind was a wild ride for a minute as I tried to get my bearings in the dark room.

Nightmares were an occupational hazard.

I'd moved into the "subway squad" eight or so years prior after I'd shown how well I could blend into any situation. I'd never been caught - not even suspected - by any group I'd infiltrated. My silver tongue opened gates some of our best inspectors had had slammed shut in their faces. The nights, however, never got easier. Dreams of ferocious men who could "smell a swine" were common in my life and I feared for the day I'd be discovered.

A Woman's First Day in a Convent [44]

"Who's that statue of?" asked Roberta of the nun she was walking alongside.

"That's a statue of our first Abbess, Sister Mary," Sister Mary said. "You'll become well acquainted with her and the zealous practices she instilled in all of us here at the convent."

"Well, I'm excited to learn. Will there be a film?"

"Oh no, my dear. We don't even have a television on the grounds."

"No TV? How do you get through the day?"

A Mysterious Package [57]

A brown papered cube with twine fastenings and no labels sat outside Mr. Arrow's house on the porch. The aforementioned man had nearly tripped on it as he attempted his usual routine: out the door, down the pathway, and onward to the metro which would deposit him one block away from his place of employment. Luckily he'd seen the obstacle prior to tripping as he looked at the bottom of his paper were theater reviews were printed. He would later recount a column titled "Mamet Mangled" had saved his life.

Students Take on a Challenge [23]

"Alright gang, we've got to do this right."

"Amen, Chuck!" Brenda said, staring at her phone.

"You're going to have to put that down," Chuck pointed first at Brenda's phone, then at various classmates' devices. "This is a no-phone-zone for the next eight hours. They're a parasite that will leach your attention from the task at hand."

There were groans as the kids put their phones away, but all of them did it; they knew they were lucky to be here on this particular assignment. Other kids in their class had to do harder work, or worse: attend lectures like "an introduction to non-Euclidean geometry."

Running Away From Change [42]

The man was red-faced and out of breath as he slammed up against a chain link fence. He mustered enough breath to curse the universe as he gripped the fence as if his legs would fail him at any second. His flight had only been a few blocks, but the man was heavyset and had never tried to remedy his condition. His physical deficiencies mirrored themselves mentally; a mind so "made up" it was a bed with sheets made of steel. Behind his back, his coworkers called him "Ed" because he was "past tense". Any change in his routine, however small, threatened to destroy him - to split him a hundred ways and down a hundred alleys. Especially when it came to money.