Fyodor began to see how the lottery & a swearing in were the same lame game. Llamas knew it as well. An alpaca with maracas wrapped in Alaskan damask asked an aging apparatchik at

Samsa G. left the QuikMart & went around the corner to beat himself up for buying more than one lottery ticket. "You should've had more faith in your 1st ticket asshole." Bystander

One time, I think I was maybe 5, I kept annoying my mom who was breastfeeding my little sister. She tried to swat me away. She misjudged it and punched me hard. I lost my breath.

mongers hiding out in the Cheesemongers Guild Hall. They felt besieged on all sides by the new cheese hating regime. The Big Cheese convened a special operations team to fight back

really ran afoul of his mood was how all the jai alai groupies raised their noses at him. Detective Manatee stormed off to the showers followed by the mothers of the slain fish.

The question hung in the air unanswered. The dusty deer's head over the fireplace, the five owls in their bell jars, the mildewed books, the stale tea from 50 years ago -- they had

"I Spake with a clear Voice and nothing happened. Only after I took to the booze and smokes could I really say Behold." God was having a Total Eclipse of the Heart, but how could I

after another offered me tea and biscuits on the way to the upper deck. The captain lowered above me. "Who are you to bellow commands on MY SHIP, cabin boy?" He was fat and drunk.

How many times did a shiny new 2nd lieutenant promise to be back up that hill and die trying? Their determination had no impact on the bullet that found them. That bullet impacted

I used to fantasize about being Walter Mitty imagining all the fun things he could do. I'd be Walter Mitty pretending to be MacArthur returning to the Philippines with a corn cobb

The Bee King donned his apparatus. It made him look like a bug eyed monster. He liked that. He pressed a button on his belt and took a heroic pose. When nothing happened he pushed

close the eyelids back down over them, to cover them. "Why Andrea," Andrea thought to herself, "Did you ever start your day off attempting to scream? Don't you realize the tone it

writhing across my skin where the bee's venom entered my bloodstream. I kept trying to beat my wings to the beat of the buzzing. I, of course, didn't have wings. It didn't care. An

The video ended. The room remained quiet. Then Mitchell Brothers piped up. "Why did I look so disheveled in that last scene?" Miss Shipton pointed out, "You looked impeccable to me

"The new boyfriend? Simply put, I was whelmed. Flamboyant is so passé with her. She only needs his artwork after he's dead. Why prolong the torture? She doesn't inspire his work."

It was in the best interest of everybody concerned to not look concerned or interested in any interesting concerns that might concern or interest them. Her ongoing concern drew his

The AI was always looking for points where it might be infiltrated. How Ai got into the AI would blow the minds of robots with brains the size of planets. But it was a secret. None

He didn't know how he knew but Kevn knew Ai was in the ship's AI. She probably infiltrated his REM patterns to let him know she was there. Pure Ai for sure. Risky business that.

I get it. Sometimes your character is so damned real that you feel it when he or she dies because the next folder dropped them. That character's story arc is over. Then Kevn & Ai

It is in the nature of the beast. It will happen often enough that you will know to avoid those stories. Not that that helps in any way. The blood shed will just happen to somebody