The Belt

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Mother likes it when we come to dinner, especially when I bring the kids.
When dinner is over and Dad loosens his belt, I see something in Mom’s eyes.
She’s afraid.
Sometimes, she’d call me at the strangest times. Early. Late.
But when I ask her if anything is wrong, she doesn’t say a word.
What does Dad do with that belt that scares her?
I found out last week. Mom was in the kitchen, beaten to death. Dad was hanging in the basement from the belt he beat her with.
Thanksgiving will be at home this year, I guess.

Heartless

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The kidnappers sent Julius one of Edna’s toes, but he still had trouble rounding up the ransom.
Time was running out for Edna. The deadline was Valentine’s Day, and they”d threatened to cut out her heart.
I won’t bore you with the details, but things went sour.
What arrived at Julius’ doorstep on February 15th, wrapped in paper, was her stomach.
The kidnappers didn”t know much about anatomy.
“This means she”s still alive, right?” begged Julius.
The FBI agent looked at his partner.
They started to pack up their equipment and notified the office that it was homicide’s problem now.

The Butter River

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In the morning, we walk to the river of melted butter that runs through our village.
Others are already there, waiting for the Buttermaster to proclaim the river clean.
He inspects the flow, confirms that our upstream neighbors are still neighborly, and measures some samples in his testing apparatus.
A light shines green.
“Safe!” he shouts.
We cheer.
Lined up on the shore, we dip our toast and biscuits into the river and savor each bite.
“The river is good,” I say.
My family grunts their agreement.
Nobody double-dips here – that is impolite, unsanitary, and a crime punishable by flogging.

Way With Words

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Felix’s novels were a War Crime against Literature. So, for these crimes, he was banished to the circle of despised Literary Critics.
He didn’t just have a way with words – he had his way with words. In the worst possible way, in the back of his unmarked white van.
When he was done with them, he’d send his article to the publisher and leave the bloody, sweaty, shivering words on a playground for the children to discover.
His headstone will be blank. No words would associate with this monster, and no numbers are brave enough to cross the picket lines.

Bowling Alley

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A neighborhood only gets a movie theater when people there go to the movies so often, some chain finds profit bringing the movies to them instead of making those folks drive an hour or two.
It’s not the same with bowling alleys. Those chains use satellite photography to watch empty fields for kids playing sandlot bowling, rolling balls over the uneven, rocky ground at makeshift pins.
Or maybe they put their agents in shoe stores, listening for when someone asks to rent the ugliest pair in the store for a few hours.
Whatever you do, do it fast.
We”re desperate!

Weekly Challenge #96 – Steampunk

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Welcome to the Ninety-Sixth 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 selected by Elisson.
It’s Steampunk
The excellent theme music is by Guy David
VOTING

Which were the best stories in the Weekly Challenge #96?
Caleb Bullen of Black Tie Martini Club
Elisson of blog d’Elisson
Terry from The Old Coot Cast
Tom from Footnote
Guy David from Night Guy
Laieanna from Hodgepodge Point
JD from Writing.com
Planet Z
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

CALEB

Joey Ramone looked into Wendy O Williams” eyes and said, “Your eyes are like two limpid pools drawing me in to an oasis of love”
He felt her tremble as he pulled her heaving bosom close to him and as their lips met
they both heard a single distorted guitar chord
with an incessant 8th note rhythm, relentless like the engine powering their love.
Their hearts raced as groping hands
pulled each other nearer
and a second chord was added
as zippers gave way and
unwashed blue jeans
fell to the floor.
No need for a third chord,
it”s punk.

ELISSON

Doctor Rauchfisch stood over the basin, trimming his muttonchops
carefully with his straight razor. He rinsed. A splash of bay rum and he
strode out, clapping on his top hat and walking-goggles.
Dodging the press of Stanleys and Vapormatics that clogged the street,
he arrived at his office and rode the hydraulic lift to the seventh floor.
Taking a polished mahogany case out of his desk, he unfolded it,
snapping the steam hose into the wall outlet. Rapidly clicking clockwork
signaled the Difference-Engine”s readiness.
He smiled. Life was so much easier since the invention of the World-Wide
Steam-Powered Computational Network.

TERRY

I have just woken up from the strangest dream I have ever encountered.
In the dream, I was living the life of someone called Oswald Bastable in the early 19th century on earth. We were in the process of chasing some Chinese guy across the Pacific, when our difference engines quit and we had to switch over to the steam powered motors. This slowed our descent enough that we were able to land on an island without any damage or personal injuries of the crew.
My very able assistant, Penelope Tugbottom and I frolicked along the island beach while the crew made repairs to the engines so we could continue our chase.
This was so unlike my real life crash landing on Mars that I encountered several days ago.
The loneliness and stress of the past few days had taken a toll on me, I guess I better not be reading Moorcock’s The Warlord of the Air or any steampunk material for that matter, so late at night.
This is Captain Josh Jones, Earth Space Command signing off.

TOM

Arnesto Cervantes joined The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 1899. His contribution to the organization was the Kronomotive a steam driven time machine. The Kronomotive could jump 100 years between overhauls. Refueling and repairs on average took one month. Queen Victoria approved a two year voyage for Arnesto”s steam jumper. The mission was at once simple and tremendously complex in nature. Arnesto would take ten 1000 page books to be delivered to each jump point. At these centitaral coporarites he requested a list of 100 questions be written in each book to be answered by a millennium of future minds.

GUY

The train stopped and puffed blue smoke. The metal figure stepped up and boarded it, Kevin following. He knew metal men weren’t supposed to exist in the 19th century, but he didn’t care. Time paradox or not, he was keeping his bodyguard close at hand. He knew well enough there where dangerous things around. This was the wild west after all.
Suddenly, a flash appeared and his metal bodyguard was torn in half. “I should have guessed Steampunk Girl would follow me here” thought Kevin as two silver disks flew away from the robot wreckage and disappeared in the distance.

LAIEANNA

An enhanced prostitute, Rose captivated the passengers more with her
wafting scent than the dance she performed. Thomas Persuade took his
opportunity, convincing the adjoining train car guards to sleep while
Dr. Dushan used his clunky, brass backpack to melt the iron door under
blows of the train whistle. Big Micky stood guard. The Baroness,
close by, concentrated on her glowing ball. She was key to their
escape before the rear soldiers were even aware they were there.
Getting passed the locked door, Big Micky grabbed the treasure, and
Baroness transported them from the locomotive in a cloud of smoke.

JD

The book was a success. Awards were bestowed upon the author.
The movie was released and generated, in its first six weeks, ten times the production cost.
Of course there were detractors auguring that the premise was wrong and the research flawed.
But the media ran with the story, citizens groups organized, government agencies intervened, and now we are required to cut back.
Who could have envisioned in the latter part of the 20st century that the release of heat and water vapor from our steam engines could so change the world and bring on the the fifth Ice Age.

PLANET Z

Jersey Girl

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Shirley the Mermaid had been around. She’d seen everything.
She and the girls were getting their nails done when they talked about their first times.
The first time Shirley saw a human, she swam after it for a closer examination.
It looked like a mermaid, but instead of fins, it had two limbs coming out of its hips leading into a solid stone-like block.
“Mob informant,” she thought. “Should have kept his goddamed trap shut.”
She took his wallet, emptied out the cash, and swam away.
Whether you’re over or under the Boardwalk, a Jersey Girl is a Jersey Girl.

My Bloody Valentine

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Five hours ago, this bum was using his pen knife to cut aluminum cans into hearts to give away on Valentine’s Day.
Now, he’s a bloody pulp under a bench. Some other bums beat him up for the aluminum cans, cashed them in for beer money.
He could have defended himself with the knife, but to him, it was a tool and not a weapon. Just as Cupid”s bow and arrow are for love, not war.
A mother tells her son not to worry. He’s up in Heaven now.
I hope they clean him up before they let him in.

Assembly

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I like to walk through the drive through lane at the bank and ask for a loan for a car.
Usually, I get a laugh, but one day – that pneumatic tube machine wheezes and PLOMP! It lands on the hopper.
I open it up, and there”s a set of car keys.
I pull the keys out and hit the Call button – “Very funny,” I said. “What should I do with these?”
PLOMP! Another tube shows up. There”s an instruction booklet in there for assembling a car.
PLOMP! Some spark plugs.
PLOMP! A fanbelt.
PLOMP! PLOMP! PLOMP!
This could get messy.

The Wacky Adventures of Abraham Lincoln #83

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Trapped in the kitchen with Mary Todd, Abe decided to make a souffle.
After many failed attempts, he focused his chi and went back to the mixing bowl.
Pour.
Spread.
Lift.
Close.
Wait.
Then, just at the right moment, he reached into the oven to pull it out.
Gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking anything, he carried the crockery to the table to display his achievement to Mary Todd.
“It looks great,” she said. “What did you do different this time?”
Abe scowled. “It helps not to trip over the loose floorboards and Tad”s scattered toys.”