- Richard
- Lizzie
- Lisa
- Norval Joe
- Serendipidy
- Planet Z
RICHARD
Trapped
I was well and truly trapped. She stood between me and the door, with my only escape route into the bedroom, and there was no way I was going in there.
A noise from the front door distracted me, the sound of a key in the lock.
Oh, that’ll be my husband’ she said brightly.
Your husband!’ I exclaimed.
The door opened, and for a brief moment I caught a glimpse, from the inside out to freedom.
A large, imposing figure stepped into the doorway. Her husband.
I wished the ground would open and swallow me.
But, no such luck.
LIZZIE
She was afraid. The wind whispered the arrival of a storm. He sat next to her, looking pleased with himself. The more she tried to disappear in a corner, the happier he looked, and the worse the storm became. She started crying, and so did the rain. It’ll be good for your flowers, he said. The flowers he would place on her grave, she thought. She was very afraid… The next morning, the flowers were all dead. He couldn’t understand it. When she fled, she took with her one pot with a sunflower. She wasn’t afraid anymore. The sunflower bloomed.
LISA
The Interview
I’d felt confident as I spoke. Had all the right answers, backed up with examples from previous employment. I knew I’d aced the test: I’d done that many online trials I was getting a hundred percent every time.
SO, I left the offices with a spring in my step. And it was a job I wanted, would use all my skills and the pay was decent.
I went home via the shopping centre, saw my reflection in it’s huge windows: smart from the front but something was flapping on my back, a label.
I’d got my jumper on inside out.
NORVAL JOE
Sabrina continued, “Now, I can’t stop my thoughts. I want to turn my head inside out and dump the horrific images on the floor and sweep them out the front door.”
Dumbfounded, Billbert stood, gawping at Sabrina.
Mrs. Weinerheimer sat next to Sabrina and put an arm around her shoulder. “If you tell us, it might help.”
With large gaps, she said, “I see Billbert and her.” “They’re, you know, hugging, and stuff.” “Then she has a knife and she’s stabbing.” “Stabbing Billbert.” “And she stands up, blood covering her naked body.”
Billbert gasped. “Who’s blood? Does she kill me?”
SERENDIPIDY
I’ve always had a fascination for what makes things go.
As a child, I was always getting into trouble for taking things apart, dismantling them to see their inner workings.
Whatever I could lay my hands on inevitably met the same fate – childhood toys, an alarm clock, my first transistor radio, anything mechanical or electrical really; I had an insatiable curiosity which survived into adulthood.
It’s not just inanimate objects though that fascinate me.
And, if anything, biology is even more interesting when viewed from the inside out.
Unfortunately, bodies don’t go back together quite as easily as mechanical things!
PLANET Z
The programming language Pascal is named after Blaise Pascal the mathematician, and python is named after Monty Python, the comedy troupe, but did you know that Fort Tran was named after Francis Fortran, a star basketball player in the early 1940s. He didn’t shoot much and he wasn’t good at blocking or steals, but man, the dude could pass. They called him Francis of Assisti. after his playing days, he finished his physics degree, and got into computing. A classmate of his decided to name the programming language after him to keep Francis from reporting on him cheating on exams.