Weekly Challenge #344 – Marijuana

Welcome to the 100 Word Stories podcast at podcasting.isfullofcrap.com. I’m your host, Laurence Simon.

This is Weekly Challenge, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.

The topic this week was Marijuana.

And we’ve got stories by a lot of people:

The next weekly challenge is on the topic of The Worst Thing In The World.

And if you want to spam your social networks with this episode, use the Share buttons at the end of the post… this obligatory cat photo should help make the Internet go faster:

Huggy Boo


TURA

Mine (late entry for last week, the Muse got held up in traffic)
——–
“Tell us a story,” they said, gathering around the Storyteller.

“What sort of a story?” he replied. “I have light stories and dark stories, humorous and severe, epics and bagatelles, stories for thinking and stories for dreaming, stories to drive you mad and stories to drive you sane.”

“Tell us a story you have never told,” they asked.

“There is one story I have never told, and it is like all of these and more. A story to make the gods laugh, and a story to make them weep. But I will not tell that story, for it is mine.”
——–

Marijuana
——–
Sir Walter Raleigh sailed to the New World looking for gold, but brought back marijuana. It was a great hit at court, and soon among the general public. It became a staple crop of the American colonies and was exported to the known world. An era of peace and love followed, and the Thirty Years’ War never happened.

Neither did much else, until tobacco and coffee were discovered. Governments tried to outlaw them, but they were too laid back to bother, so they didn’t stand a chance against revolutionaries fired by nicotine and caffeine.

History was soon back on track.

JEFFREY

Chance Encounter
by Jeffrey Fischer

Ron hopped off the bus in Center City Philadelphia. He glanced at his watch: 11:35 p.m., still time enough to make the last train back to campus. In 1985, Center City was a ghost town after dark. Ron grabbed his duffle bag and walked briskly toward the subway station, cursing the city planner who placed it so far from the bus depot.

A figure stepped out from the shadows. Ron tried to conceal his fear. The black teen looked as nervous as Ron felt, and said, “You want to buy some weed?” Ron mumbled a quick “No, thanks,” not breaking stride. He was no angel, but he wanted to do more with his life than sell marijuana to strangers.

MUNSI

The Closest Thing to a Story About Marijuana I Have

By Christopher Munroe

I don’t smoke pot.

I do, however, lock onto challenges with a fervor that’s probably unhealthy.

So, when asked by a girl I was doing a show with if I knew where to score pot in town, I spent the rest of the day calling friends, friends of friends, and their contacts in an attempt to help.

We finally found a guy, he made a delivery to the pub we went to after the show.

Nothing came of it, with the girl. I didn’t even smoke it with her.

That wasn’t what it was about.

I just had to win.

LIZZIE

The alien was called Marijuana. He never knew why. One day, crossing the street, a friend yelled “Marijuana!” trying to draw his attention to a speeding bicycle. Everyone looked at his friend and not at him, including the biker. Marijuana suffered a rupture on layers 1, 2 and 3 of his skin plus a terribly bruised ego. “Marijuana in the way of unsuspecting biker”, the headlines would read. He was tired of being made fun of and he never saw the irony of being as green as nature could produce the color green, the plant name and the flying biker

TOM

Mother Milks Leads

I was raised in the land of penny candy. Not one piece per penny. I’m talking three for one. With a mere Nickel you could get 15 count them 15 different types of candy. The primary backer of all things confectionery was my Grandmother Kosick born in poverty with a sweet tooth of biblical proportions. Grandma had a fondness for a turn of the century molasses called Mary Janes. So I ended up consuming a fair number of them despite their lackluster sugar quality. Oddly Mary Janes proved to be my personal gateway drug. Hey don’t Bogart that Godiva dude.

SINGH

Wordscape with Ganja

By Chris Mooney-Singh/Singh Albatros

Call of Nature

Driven all night along a mad highway from Delhi Airport, we finally stopped to relieve ourselves. It was my first glimpse of Punjab: a field of sunflowers and wheat beyond the canal; a Hindu temple flying a red flag for the goddess and I heard morning recitation from a Sikh Gurdwara helping crops flourish via loudspeaker. I was losing myself in the dawn mist and blue haze above, thinking wow! I made it! Meanwhile, my chance companions were still passing rainbow arcs of water into the roadside carpet of seedling marijuana.

“It’s El Dorado!” one exclaimed. “This shit stretches for miles!”

Indian Milkshake

“Welcome to Govt. Authorised Bhang Shop. Choose normal, medium, or super-duper sexy strong — full power 24 hour no toilet no shower special lassi,” the proprietor said, mixing my companion’s Hara Hara Mahadeva milkshake with a teaspoon of buffalo-kicking sacred indica and hint of AK47.

“Your mind will be concentrate,” he added, bowing to Shiva on the wall.

My companion quaffed it, bought bhang biscuits, a chocolate block of green to snack on later, then rode the camel’s hump into the bleary eye of the sun.

After, he’d wake from the blinding sandstorm of an Om-bom-bola headache he would never forget.

Detachment

According to our travel guide ­–– some of India’s four million holy sadhus were laying about –– there in a shopfront. Without ambition, they were role-playing Shiva of the three-pronged trident, stuck upright between the penance fire and donation tin. Cracking jokes, they took turns out front in lotus pose like the Yogi of the Triune Worlds: body smeared with ashes, forehead cooled by sandalwood paste, mind blurred by a pellet broken off from a golf ball of hash, rolled back and forth between the brothers puffing chillums, passing their precious hours like dung beetles with all the busy industry of their calling.

The Valley of Drugs

I flicked through photos while my companion since Delhi kept yabbering about the Valley of Drugs ahead.

Then someone whispered from behind. “Hey buddy! Lookin’ to score?”

Soon, they were both reciting sacred names –– Malana Cream, Sunburst, Kali Mist, Choco-yesh, Shantibaba –– all hand-rubbed from sticky hashish resin. Yes, they were close to their El Dorado of Skunk balls.

They got down. I waved. Good luck; and remembered home — the photo not here in my album, the one burnt into memory: my sister dead in the backroom, overdosed on heroin and her toddler scrambling oblivious around her knees crying for milk.

DAVE

Bliss?

A frigid splash of water rouses him, “Jesus Christ, mom!”

Wiping sleep from his eyes, he reaches for his bong and lights it in a reckless, hair-igniting motion, “Damn it!”

Running to assess the damage, he knocks a pack of Zig Zags off the dresser.

He watches them helicopter to the ground like a fallen leaf, a red inscription revealing itself with each half-turn.

Between yellow thumb and forefinger he reads the note, “Luv you… Sally”.

So beautiful. If only she wasn’t so “anti-weed.”

But he was happier now anyway. In his parents’ basement… bangs burnt… alone.

SERENDIPITY

“Wow… this is good stuff”

I smiled shyly at the compliment from my guests – all this drug dealing was new to me, but I seemed to have done everything right. To be honest, I was surprised at how easy it had been to get it – I’d had visions of dark alleyways and shady characters, but it had been nothing like that at all.

My guests pressed me to tell them the variety I’d bought, so I went to get what was leftover from the kitchen…

“But that’s coriander?”

“Yes! Well, you told me to get the best herb they have!”

EXPLORER

Prose to Marijuana
© by hrs 2012

When the moon is “high,” we look to the skies and pray, well some pray.
Some blame the moon for everything, and curse the moon “mi culpa la Luna, I
blame you the moon.” Many profess love to the moon at twilight when the day
passes into night, and night passes into day.
Her moody translucent soul is seductive, shy, and fickle. The moods change in
the tides, and her soul is untouchable even at her brightest and largest
moments. When our minds and hearts collide like atoms smashing at “high”
tide. I just blame the moon on those emotions. Enjoy!

ZACKMANN

The police chief said “To take back our community, first we take over the drug dealers houses.”
The acting mayor said “Didn’t we have a lot of trouble resulting from a bust when the infection first started?”
“Well, it was hard to tell which of the party we infected and which moved like that because they were stoned but the two sitting giggling in the middle of the room staring at the bites on their arms would have infected the rest soon enough.”
“Why those houses first.”
“Because they built off grid solar panels to avoid detection from law enforcement.”

VINCENT

“Dude, you gotta dig this shit. We can film the fuckers getting robbed,” Randall Smith said.

Artie Goodwine took the marijuana joint out from his mouth and blew a stream of smoke towards the ceiling. He said, “Yeah, we shoot it like it’s one of them fucked up reality TV shows.”

Randall smiled. “Call it ‘You just got robbed’ or something.”

“Yeah, I like that,” Artie said, watching the smoke drift upwards. “We can start making us some real money… Maybe even get invited onto the Oprah Winfrey show.”

“You think?”

Artie shrugged. Thinking. Liking the way it all sounded.

SEVI AND BONCHANCE

Visit with the Chairman

Pepe booked an appointment with the Chairman.
He had to wait seven weeks for an opening in the Chairman’s schedule.
The only slot available was at 9pm. Pepe was going to miss Puppy Dog Idol!

Pablo was getting hot under the collar about his plasma television still not being replaced.

Pepe showed up 15 minutes early and stood nervously. He had it all planned out, a cool 10 Gs for the solution to world domination, final offer. Chairman Meow signalled Pepe to sit. He lit a joint of marijuana and passed it to Pepe, “let the negotiations begin”! He purred.

Ode to Mary Jane

If you swore that drinking was bad for me, I wouldn’t disagree,
In fact I much prefer the plant which contains that T-H-C.
It may be very pop-u-lar and could make the party a smash,
but if you don’t mind, I’ll take my leave and pass that bowl of hash!
After many years of stoning, getting me high wouldn’t take a lot,
so I’ll ask if you have some stash, please don’t Bogard that pot!
If you would like to make me happy and if you really wanna,
all ya gotta do my friend is pass me that marijuana!

CLIFF

I got the idea when I saw the DEA destroying the wild marijuana plants that grew along the banks of the river. I decided to use my degree in biochemistry to find a way to use ragweed as a drug. It took a couple years, but I finally discovered a way to turn it into a drug more powerful than crystal meth. I anonymously shared my findings on the internet and within months, it was the latest drug crisis. Soon, the feds were out in force, scouring the fields looking for the dangerous weed. My allergies have never been better.

RED

Executive hotels require all kind of crazy hours for their year round guests. Lola’s first overnight shift, she figured strong coffee would carry her, however, after leaving the front desk for a bathroom break she returned to find Mrs. Phillips standing naked in the lobby. She was smoking prescription marijuana, and screaming, “Thank God you’re here! I heard gunshots from the suite next door.” Lola smiled and assured the elderly woman she was safe, fed her snack food, and put her to bed. At dawn, Lola smoked one of Mrs. Phillips on the hotel roof and called it even.

NORVAL JOE

The silver doors of the dwarven mine glowed in the low light of the moon. Owen and Traveler shared the midnight watch.
The campfire smoldered sending tendrils of smoke into the clear icy-cold night sky.
Flindert the dwarf crouched near the fire drawing deeply from his pipe and blowing smoke rings to float up toward the stars.
Traveller and Owen wandered up to the fire pit.
Owen laughed, “Flindert, what are you smoking, shredded shoe leather?”
Flindert just looked up and smiled, his eyes glassy.
Traveler said, “Flindert’s entering his ancestral home. He thinks he needs to be spiritually prepared.”

I ordered me a weenie dog from Acme Dachsund farms. It came in the mail, packed in a cardboard box.
My cousin Jessie come by and he laughed when he saw the box.
He says to me, “Have you been smokin that wacky tobacky? Buying a dog from a place called Acme. Aint you seen that coyote and roadrunner bird? A weenie dog from Acme’s like as much to blow up as it is to fetch a stick.”
I toll him Acme’s just a word. It means high-point, pinnacle, or summit.
He laughed even harder when the dog blew up.

DANNY

Bob was through with his sad yet demented life. Bob decided to commit suicide by overdosing, smoking Marijuana. Bob lit his first joint, took in a deep hit, then let the smoke ease gently through his nostrils, exhaling the remainer from his mouth. Then Bob repeated this step, consecutively, for over 3,472 times, smoking 231 joints non-stop over a 29 day period. Despite Bob’s bronchitis, he seems to be responding well to anti-biotics. Bob now actually enjoys being alive, and has taken up painting. Bob’s friends, worried about how uptight he was before, now think he’s actually a decent human being to be around.

PLANET Z

It costs ten thousand dollars to train a drug-sniffing dog.

My son, on the other hand, dropped out of college after doing nothing but smoking pot and eating Twinkies.

Now, he lives in the basement, coming out only to eat or score more weed to smoke.

He won’t get a job, so I called the cops on him.

As part of his plea bargain, he had to do community service.

He now works as a drug-sniffing dog, and to tell you the truth, he’s pretty damn good at it.

But he looks like a fucking retard wearing that dog suit.

Trap

The adventuring party needed a thief to clear traps, but all that was available was a beginner named Lucky Lightfingers.
He wasn’t very lucky, though, and the priest grumbled displeasure at Lucky’s incompetence as he healed up the others.
The dwarf and the barbarian were tired of hauling each other out of pits full of spikes, too.
So, they clubbed the thief dead, and the priest raised him as a zombie.
For the rest of the dungeon, they ordered Lucky to set off tripwires, pressure-plates, and traps on every treasure chest.
They gave his share to his next of kin.

It’s In The Way That You Use It

“It’s not how long it is, but what you do with it.”
Stubby Malone’s penis was the shortest of anybody’s I knew, but what he did with it sure put other guys to shame.
Remember when he conducted the Chicago Symphony with it?
When his critics said “You’re just waving it around” he told the glockenspielist to step aside and, boy, did he shut those wags up!
Painting… fencing… picking locks… wrote a best-selling novel… there was nothing he couldn’t do.
Well, besides please a woman properly with it.
(Which is why he got so good with his tongue, too.)

Thicket

When I was growing up, one of our neighbors was a farmer who had a small apple orchard behind our house.
We’d chase fireflies there in the summer. Dazzling lights.
A ticket in the middle of the orchard was home to a family of rabbits, and our dog would chase them around.
Once, the dog tried to go into the thicket, and needed help getting back out.
I used Google Maps to look the place up, and the orchard and thicket are gone.
The farmer sold to a developer.
All that remains are memories and the scars on my arms.

Cruella

I remember reading a book called 101 Dalmatians, but it was a total fabrication.
What? Fiction?
No, a fabrication.
The book.
The Disney animations.
That live-action movie with Glenn Close?
Oh, sure Cruella de Vil was a crazy and evil bitch who had a thing for wearing fur, but kidnapping and stealing the animals?
Crazy? Yes.
Evil? Totally.
Stupid? Hell no.
She bought puppies from breeders, and then ran her own breeding program at her home.
The dog meat she sold to Chinese restaurants.
And then she wrote the book with that outlandish story to cover up the sick truth.

Brother Theodore

Brother Theodore was very proud that knew the nine hundred and ninety-nine names of God.
“God has one thousand names,” said the Abbot. “Recite them now for me.”
Theodore tried, but he could not remember the thousandth name.
As punishment, he was strapped to a table, and for the next five days, as he was forced to the recite them once again, and the names of God were burned into his skin.
Until… he stopped.
“And the thousandth?” asked the Abbot.
Theodore tried, but he couldn’t remember.
The one he forgot was branded on to the tip of his tongue.

The vet told me he’s dying

My cat is old.
And sick.
And sleeps all day.
I took him to the vet.
The vet told me he’s dying.
I asked the vet what I should do.
Is there any medicine?
Is there any special food?
Is there anything I can do at all? Anything? Please, anything?
The vet told me he’s dying.
What about magnets?
Or crystals? Or pyramids?
Those psychic healers in the Philippines that I’ve seen in documentaries, they sure look interesting, do they work on cats, and how much do they charge?
The vet told me he’s dying.
Clutched his chest.
And died.

Weekly Challenge #343 – Mine

Welcome to the 100 Word Stories podcast at podcasting.isfullofcrap.com. I’m your host, Laurence Simon.

This is Weekly Challenge Number Three Hundred and Forty-Three, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.

The topic this week was Mine.

And we’ve got stories by a lot of people:

The next weekly challenge is on the topic of Marijuana.

And if you want to spam your social networks with this episode, use the Share buttons at the end of the post… this obligatory cat photo should help make the Internet go faster:

Bed Boo


JEFFREY

Sour Cherries
by Jeffrey Fischer

When we were growing up, my brother and I loved to play soldier. We’d grab branches and pretend they were M-1s, or paint our faces with mud and pretend it was camouflage. Every fall, as the sour cherries dropped from the trees in our yard, we would try to dodge the sticky fruit, pretending they were land mines. I was good at this part while Henry always came home with cherries stuck to his sneakers.

In Afghanistan, Henry and I both drew escort duty. We’d move ahead of the main conveoy, searching for snipers and IEDs.

Back home, I place a whiskey bottle on Henry’s grave. “Henry, man, you could never dodge the sour cherries.”

MUNSI

Mine

By Christopher Munroe

I’m sick and tired of telling you kids to stay out of my fields.

You trample corn, you dig up carrots, you treat the land like it’s your personal playground. And I’m sick of it.

Thus, I’ve buried explosives just under the ground. I know they’ll also destroy my crops, but the loss of a few crops to keep out intruders is, to me, a small price to pay, and I’ll pay it gladly.

So: Stay out. Starting today, trespassers will explode. Respect my property or die.

It’s not an unreasonable demand.

They’re not your fields after all.

They’re mine.

TOM

In a flock of sea gulls there is no real personal property to speak of. “I have so little to points as mine,” said Johnothin 685. “Take that crust of bread over there. Watch this.” “Mine.” “Mine mine mine mine” “Fuck, nearly got my head ripped off.” “Look, Johnothin 438 found a Taco Bell wrapper.” “Mine mine mine.” “Hey, show a little love over here.” “It’s landfill time.” Screched Jonhnothin 1066. “Mine mine mine.” “Why, isn’t that Marcel Marceau over there with a Big Mac.” “Mime mime mime” “my my my, he doesn’t look like he going to make it.”

SERENDIPITY

Down here in the mine, safety is paramount! That’s what they teach you first day on the job – it’s our mantra, repeated every time we descend into the depths of the earth.

The trouble is, most miners are a lot softer than you’d imagine and they’d simply go to pieces over the canaries we used to detect gas. So the canaries had to go.

Now we have a hi-tech gas detector – it’s a big metal box, with a tube extending all the way to the surface into the Detector Building.

(It’s full of canaries… but please don’t tell the miners!)

LIZZIE

“How far is it?” the scientist asked.

Silence. The path became narrower; breathing more difficult, as darkness closed in.

There was a chilling scream.

“What was that?” he asked. The others looked at one another.

A second scream brought the group to a halt.

“It’s not safe,” stuttered the supervisor. “Someone unblocked a hole and released a swarm of wasps. We are trying to contain them, but…”

Decades later, this story long forgotten, a group of people unblocked the entrance of the mine. In a matter of minutes, the whole town had vanished under the rage of unexpectedly resilient wasps.

SINGH

Letters to the Emperor (Circa 1312 AD)

by Chris Mooney-Singh/Singh Albatros

Venerable Lord,
Here are designs for the Submarine Dragon-King. Made of iron submerged on a board in an ox-bladder, detonation is determined by a joss stick set burning above. Without air, of course, it would stop glowing. Thus, the fuse connects with the dragon-king via a long piece of goat’s gut. The joss floats upon wild-duck feathers in a container. Launch it downstream toward enemy ships in darkness and when the joss burns down to the fuse there will be a great explosion.
I humbly submit this for the defence of the kingdom.
Jiao Yu,
Principal Alchemist.

Venerable Lord,
I am pleased the campaign against the invaders was successful and the device is in service. Today, after much deliberation, I humbly submit another design. This dragon-king is spherical, made of cast iron. The fuse ignites by enemy movement disturbing a trigger mechanism underground. Cords and axles rotate a steel spinning wheel. When trodden on, weights drop. A pin-flint sparks the fuse. I recommend clusters of nine be dug into a grid of eight auspicious squares surrounding the city as per my diagram.
I humbly submit this for the defence of the kingdom.
Jiao Yu,
Principal Alchemist.

Venerable Lord,
It is seven years since I left the court for my villa and peach orchards. As per your request I again submit a recipe for poisonous gunpowder in hand-lobbed or catapult-launched grenades. I advise this mixture of tung oil, urine, sal ammoniac, faeces and scallion juices be heated, then coated upon dozens of iron pellets, bits of broken porcelain combined with saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal. Even the birds in the air will not escape this flying sand bomb releasing ten thousand fires.
I humbly submit this for the defence of the kingdom.
Jiao Yu,
Principal Alchemist (Ret).

Dear Principal Alchemist,
Greetings from the State Library, Melbourne. I found your treatise – ‘The Fire Dragon Manual’ researching my paper on Song Dynasty Inventions of the 14th Century. My husband, who served during Operation Slipper in Afghanistan, land of ten million mines doesn’t salute you from his powered wheelchair. No need for gory details. You know what’s worse? We survive with alcohol and a copy of Disabled Sex for Dummies, while his ghost legs walk somewhere around Kabul.
I humbly submit this in late summer when the last of my backyard peaches taste bitter.
Mrs Peter Small
Australian Defence Force (Lieut.Ret).

SEVI AND BONCHANCE

Their home was draped in soft textures. A delightful haven from the chaos of the outside world. The bedroom was
their favourite place to be together. The muted colours on the bed, chaise and pillows screamed for intimacy.

He waited patiently for her each evening.

The wood chest was opened. He was ready to serve her as she entered their sanctuary. His silver tea set was buffed
to perfection, ready to infuse the fragrant tea. Orange pekoe was steeping. He placed the silver service on the
tea trolley next to the chaise, his chalis engraved with the words… “with love MINE”.

CLIFF

Listen, I know what you’re up to. I see what you’re doing. You think you can weasel your way between Gloria and me by asking your oh so innocent questions and making your little innuendos. Well, it’s not going to work, pal. Gloria and I are in love and there’s nothing you can do about it. I know your type. Think you can sweep in here with your perfect hair and sparkling smile and steal my girl. Well, she’s mine. You can’t have her. So go ahead and do your worst, detective. I’m not telling you where I put her.

DANNY

“Watch where you step when you walk across my field, I planted about 40 mines,” I said. “Why on earth would you do that? Are you nuts?” Jim responded. “My crops were being eaten by deer, so I put a silent deterrent.” “Won’t that blow up your crops along with the deer?” “You bet it will, but I’d rather wake up to a field of craters than a field full of eaten crops,” I responded. “Well, you may be sick and twisted, but at least you’re consistent. Hey, can I have a couple of mines?” Jim asked. “No, those mines are mine.”

NORVAL JOE

“Mine is not the best head for remembering things which be in the outside world,” the dwarf growled. “But the back entrance to the Silver Pick clan’s mine be in one of these valleys.”
The company stood a thousand feet above the high mountain valley, the sun descending at their backs.
“There,” Traveller said. “There, below in the trees.”
“Yes,” Shareeka said, “that must be the silver gates to the mine.”
Owen watched the reflected twinkle from the polished gates and asked, “Time is short. Will you make us birds and fly us down?”
“No,” Shareeka said. “We shall ride.”

In the original version of Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’, Tiny Tim was Bob Cratchet’s wiener dog who was injured when run over by Ebeneezer Scrooge’s carriage. The story was rewritten after beta readers said they were disgusted by the pooches incontinence resulting from the paralyzing spinal chord injury. They felt a child, born with a disability, which was not the direct result of Scrooges driving would be more sympathetic.
Charles replied, “The idea to use the wiener dog is not mine, but my wife’s. She felt the little beast would add a touch of whimsy to an otherwise dreary tale.”

RED

When Lola was 17, her mother threw her out of the house. Weeks later, her younger sister ran away too and moved in with her. They grew a backbone, while struggling to stay in high school, and care for one another. There is no mine. They worked retail jobs and often ate at shelters, and sometimes dated drug dealers that bought them groceries.

Lola would sometimes see her so called mother at weddings and funerals. They would barely exchange a few words. On mother’s day, Lola’s sister gives her sunflowers. Lola is the only mother she’ll ever have or need.

STEVEN THE NUCLEAR MAN

I heard the dripping pop of lava just before the axe struck through the rock. I shouted, but it was too late; the red-hot rock flowed over me, and flames filled my screen.

I sighed as the front door opened. Dad was home.

“Spending time on that game again,” he said, still soot-covered from his day at work, a toolbag slung over his shoulder. “You need to prepare for the real world, son. Homework. Now.”

I turned off my computer and reached for my bookbag as he turned to leave.

The green limb of a creeper hung from his bag.

ZACKMANN

My kid just got offered a job mining so I started ordering him a pick and a shovel from the hardware store but He told me he was not mining minerals but the classics and he was being hired to look for quote new content on Project Gutenberg. Since they want to rewrite things that Disney has not taken yet. There is some fear that if he doesn’t succeed they might have to create something new or maybe even gasp use something they film optioned form one of our podiobooks friends. They think only a hit can remake a hit.

PLANET Z

The coal mine was running out of canaries. So, they called the mad scientist Doctor Odd to solve the problem.

He obtained some birds, took them back to his workshop, and conducted experiments.

His first solution was a stronger canary. Tougher canaries survive better.

“They’re supposed to be fragile!” grumbled the mine owner. “If they die, it means it’s dangerous.”

The next solution was a fast-breeding canary. Too fast. Their lifecycles were measured in hours.

Frustrated, Doctor Odd returned to his lab.

“Sorry, guys,” he told his canary-human hybrid miners. “I got fired before I could show you to them.”

Blades

The first blade lifts the hair pulling it slightly from the skin.
The second bade tugs it a bit further, just because it can.
The third blade runs right up to the hair, and at the very last moment, backs off. Because it can.
The fourth blade is too good for the hair. Won’t have anything to do with it.
The fifth blade pushes the hair back in, acts like it’s the hair’s friend, these other blades want to do bad things to you, stick with me, you’ll be fine.
The sixth blade cuts the hair off.
The seventh laughs.

Tasting Strawberry

I tear open two packets of instant oatmeal, pour them into my mug, and then wait for the kettle to boil… wait… wait… wait…
A watched pot never boils, right?
I should probably go get dressed. Or sync up my phone. Maybe use my ear and nose hair trimmers. Or…
I hear the quiet rustle of water, so I pick up the kettle and pour.
Stirring with a spoon… scoop out a bit of oatmeal.
Not too thick, not too soupy.
I tear the lid off of a cup of yogurt, dip it in the oatmeal, and…
Tasting… strawberry.
Perfect.