Saturday, March 31, 2012

A family tale...

Fimmininus Elbut was from one of the wealthiest, most well-regarded, long lived and long-liniaged families in Tumbuctoonabergshirington. They all knew him there. They respected the Elbut crest pinned to his cloak, and did not question his business, even when this meant swimming in the town fountain at midnight, naked as a babe, with two dwarfs, an exotic and large breasted wench from the village of Nod, and a drunken adolescent dragon who poured drinks for everyone from the bronze bowl his dead mother had made for him out of his birthday egg. And Fimmininus was the mayor's son.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Consistency...

There are three things in this world that no one ever suspects: the Spanish Inquisition, the Cubs to win the World Series, or for rabid stuffed teddy bears to attack viciously with plastic silverware in the middle of the night. Especially if said household being attacked was devoid of children to possess homicidal bears wanting to kill everyone. Mortimer was incensed when he thought about how the bears were not only trying to kill him, but were breaking and entering to do so. It fueled his rage to where he'd had no compunction about blowing the stuffing out of them.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

It was frighteningly regular...

SPRING

The sky had gone green again. That wasn’t right. It should be blue, or grey. Or black for night. Maybe pink and orange for a sunset, if one was feeling adventurous. But never green. That was a surefire way to know things were about to go straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. And sure enough, it did. Sudden, blustery downpours where the rain seemed to hit the ground like it had been fired from a water canon, and tree-toppling wind destroyed power lines. The sewers overflowed into the streets. It was again Tuesday.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

And don't get her started about the hydrangeas...

BODY

They’d found a body in the garden. Muriel was sure that was important, but she couldn’t remember why. They asked questions, of course. But she couldn’t fathom why the body had been buried between the rose bushes, or, really, of what consequence it was. There were roses, there were flowering trees, bushes that gave off some kind of fruit, and a body. In the garden. Why all the fuss? And the men with their big shoes, trampling her grass, digging up her flowers. Harold’d have something to say about it, when he got home. Eventually. He’d been gone so long.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The saddest of songs...

The dragons vacated the planet known as Earth millennia ago. They came in peace, but in every land they visited, the humans saw the dragons with their fire breath, and whip tails and enormous wings as the enemy. Something to be destroyed to ensure survival. The dragons spent a thousand years telling mankind of a different way, without pain and cold and darkness. But the humans didn't hear. So the dragons left. Boarding their shining oblong ships they went back to the stars, never to return. If they were to meet man again, man you'll have to come to them.

Monday, March 26, 2012

A bug story...

There really was no reason to be afraid of spiders, even big ones. Most of the time. If you left them alone, they would leave you aloe. Even the poisonous ones. They performed an important function in the ecosystem, by eating excess bugs like flies and Mosquitoes. And no one wanted those things around. Really the only thing you needed to worry about was one crawling in your ear at night and laying eggs, then yoo think you have an ear infection till the eggs hatch and a thousand creepy crawly baby spiders crawl on out. Till then...party on.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

All those decisions...

Of all the magical creatures the Big Man could have chosen, why did it have to be reindeer? They weren't exactly easy to train. Nor did they really have any stake in the Christmas game. Mostly they just wanted fed on time, and a warm place to sleep. They didn't care about the timeliness of gift delivery, nor about the need for stealth. They'd clomp on rooftops as loudly as possible, like it was some sort of game to see how many children they could wake with their hooves, so Santa would have to dodge them once down the chimney.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

That's how things went...

Time was seldom kind to those creatures that existed temporally and linearly. It was why the Nenn avoided getting mixed up in temporal affairs. It was an adjustment to the senses to have to see the universe in tiny segments, instead of all of time and space simultaneously, which was quaint but not terrible. The terrible part was having to see those bits in a chronological order, watching the mortals grow and blossom, and just as soon as they had Learned, they withered and died. So the Nenn stayed away, avoiding that plane of existence because it would burn them.

Friday, March 23, 2012

They had a plan...

"But I don't understand why I have to be the decoy. Again."

Alastair cuffed George under the chin. "Someone has to be the decoy. Besides, i am the better shot. Now, when you see it coming, just run toward the pit, then veer to the right, into the hole in the rocks there, and let me do the hard work."

George's shoulders slumped. "You are firing arrows into a ditch. It's like shooting fish in a barrel! Surely my skill with a bow is good enough for all that. And you run faster. I got my bottom singed last time!"

Thursday, March 22, 2012

It was so loud...

The noise level was nearly unbearable. It should have been quiet, outside the ship, alone in his space suit, in the vacuum that was the universe. But... That wasn't to be. The noise dampening system in his helmet had crashed out two hull jobs ago when he'd been cleaning debris from a vent port and had his bell rung by a dislodged piece of rock. And until he did at least fifteen more jobs, he wouldn't have the money to repair it. So he would be stuck listening to the amplified sounds of his own breathing in a confined space.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

This was war...

The Harrison children were ready. After dinner, the three had done just as mother had instructed, hanging their stockings on the mantle with care, leaving an adequate amount of cookies and milk an unsuspicious close distance from the tinsel and popcorn-laden tree, and had bathed and retired to bed early after kissing mother and father in turn, had shut off the lights and pretended to be asleep...then waited. It was well after midnight before they heard feet on the roof. A moment later, the bear trap in the chimney snapped shut. Tonight they feasted upon the Fat Man.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Universal order...

The old woman stirred the leaves in her tea, ignoring the two children at her table. When the tea was swirling, she pointed behind her, to the frosted over window. "Winter comes so we can see the stars. The days go shorter so there is more time to see them--both when we end our day, and also when we rise. The earth grows cold so the leaves will fall from the trees, the better to see the stars." The children's eyes grew wide. "Can we see them now?" they asked. The old woman laughed. "Not now. It's day time!"

Monday, March 19, 2012

Nothing lasts forever...

In the night I feel them come, the tiny rainbows that wisp along particles of dust and smoke as the candle by my head guts itself into extinction. Even though I am lost in dreams of longer, warmer days and places with enormous, cool water falls pouring over straight-faced cliffs, I can still feel the rainbows. They twist up from the burnt stump of wick as they wave upward into the air above my bed. I feel their magic leave my space and dissipate as they drift toward the ceiling. Even in sleep I know they've come and gone.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Winter changed and stayed the same...

There were no elves that winter. The cold and darkness usually brought the, but this year...nothing. The lake stood frozen and still, white with snow that ever seemed to melt, the banks caked a virgin white. And it remained that way. No midwinter warming, no thaw/freeze cycle to trouble winter's progressive consuming of the world about them. Just wind and cold and snow. More snow. And finally, spring came. Or it should have, but the village never thawed. It remained in perpetual winter for all years to come. Sadly...coldly...the little winter elves were never seen again.