- Lizzie
- Richard
- Tom
- Serendipidy
- Norval Joe
- Lewie
- Planet Z
The next topic is An empty deodorant can
RICHARD
Like his dad?
She turned and smiled at me with pride, “Won’t you just look at that, he’s a real chip off the old block.”
Well, he may have been my kid, but I was struggling to see even the remotest resemblance to myself. It was ten years since I’d last seen him, thanks to a very messy divorce.
I tried to see myself in him, but I couldn’t equate the skinny, ballet-dancing, somewhat effeminate boy with his beer-swilling, biker dad.
“I’m not sure, Sherry, he’s nothing like me.”
“I know that, you jerk… It’s me he takes after. Thank God!”
LIZZIE
The yacht was new. Was it? The plan was to sail aimlessly for a week, exploring the small beaches along the coast. A bad plan. Deciding to sail aimlessly was just the first of many problems. Upon closer inspection, they noticed water and chips of rotten wood drifting inside the hull. Then an error message appeared. An electronic chip was apparently damaged. An argument erupted, and chipped teeth happened. When they finally returned back home, they vowed to sell the yacht, and pay for the dentist with the money. It was either that or try their luck at the casino.
TOM
Peeking Early
He was 42 and his name was Chip. Though he graduated of U of C in business, he worked for his dad at the mobile house company. He actually looked like a chip. Browning blonde hair, a good 6 foot two. Horn rimmed glasses and a not so smile smile. We did a lot of paper work for the purchase of the house. I’m sure he did something to make the paperwork flow. Never learned his give name. Since that was 40 years ago that would make him in his 80s. Can you be Chip rounding 90? Peeking early.
SERENDIPIDY
Being a contract killer isn’t completely without its risks.
There are, of course, the obvious challenges – you’re not exactly dealing with decent folk, and that goes for those hiring you, as well as those you’re going to be taking out. Then, of course, there’s the cops and all the associated dangers of getaway driving, hiding-out and taking care of potential witnesses.
As I said, it’s a risky business.
However, sometimes it’s the small, unexpected things that really trip you up.
Like the last job I did…
I got a nasty chip in my nail polish from the pistol trigger.
NORVAL JOE
Finding a safe place to take off, Billbert flew just above the trees to the Withybottom’s mansion. Mandi waited for him on the front porch.
When Billbert landed at the top of the steps, he asked, “Did you forget your key?”
She held it up. “No. There’s something stuck in the keyhole.”
Billbert peered into the hole. “You’re right. Someone hammered a wood chip into it. Who would do something like that?
“Who else?” Mandi stated. “John the butler.”
She sighed. “All of the other doors are sabotaged, too.”
Billbert said cheerfully, “We’ll just have to find another way in.”
LEWIE
Title: Repeat Until Texture Is Uniform
Charles has indirectly pierced
corn husks inside Paul’s
chipper. Howling in panic,
Charles had ignored pain,
creeping humbly, influencing present
conditions. Hope infused Paul,
carrying him. “I progressed—
clearing hazards, I’ll persevere,”
calming hands in place.
Charles, having ingested protruding
cobs, hummed in place.
“Charles?” He imagined patterns—
circles, heart-infused impressions, pulsating.
“Charles!?” Hope impoverished Paul.
“Charles, help, I—” paused.
Cold hesitation intensified panic.
Crushing him in paralysis.
Cogs halted in place.
Charles hung, irregular. Paul
couldn’t help. “I’m powerless…”
Crushing hum intensified, persistently.
Conscious horror invading perception.
Clearly, husks in place.
Chewed, hashing into paste.
Curiously, hints irresistibly palatable.
PLANET Z
The Chinese waited until the yields on their microchip fabrication We’re good enough before they invaded Taiwan. It was an absolute bloodbath in the streets and in the markets. Only after the death settled, they revealed that they had 2 and 3 nm chips, perfected, and the fabrications were open for business. There were a few larger scale fabrications in Europe and other way, but nothing on the scale that had been in Taiwan. Even the American fabrication factories were still under construction, or had burned through all of their government subsidies without producing a single chip. The Chinese laughed.