She gets into his taxi, heavily pregnant.
“Hospital, please. My waters have just broken.”
He drives.
“You look familiar,” he says, “Have we met?”
She takes a moment to really look at him.
“Yes, we went out on a date once.”
“When was that?”
She grimaces. “About nine months ago…”
Bill lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. He hopes to be upgraded to a better life in a superior Matrix someday.
On a golden planet, a starship descends from the night sky. A lone figure emerges, making his way toward the crowd. Horrified, they eye him. “I come in peace,” he proclaims, pointing to the word Mankind emblazoned across his uniform.
“Yeah right,” the species screech in unison before opening fire.
Pamela is a writer who penned this story in the heart of a blue planet.
The story was so immersive she sat on the floor of the mobile library to read.
Unaware, it drove to the next location.
By the time it returned to her street the following week she had finished the whole of the fiction section. Who needs food when you have books?
Rosie Douglas has been writing all her life, just for fun. She was born in the East End of London and although she says she hates London, she keeps getting drawn back there time after time.
Yet again, his new home wasn’t as advertised: the “light coastal breeze” setting was more like prone to gale-force storms, his neighbours noisier than ideal for his hermit lifestyle. Meanwhile, the outside was badly weatherworn, the inside tide-marked and cramped even for a crab. It was time to move on!
Sarah Leavesley is a fiction writer, poet, journalist and photographer, who loves exploring shadows and light. See more at sarah-james.so.uk.
We were having breakfast together—I at my table and he at the feeder outside of the window.
For a long moment we gazed enviously at each other. I said, “Would that I could fly in the air,” to which he replied, “Would that I could sit in a chair.”
Stephen Tilden is retired and actually quite happy while sitting.
First, we found the right rocks for the job.
Then, we broke the rocks into better shapes.
Later, we burnt the rocks to do new things.
Finally, we taught the rocks to think.
(Clever people, clever rocks)
One day, those rocks found us.
I wish we’d left the rocks alone.
Dr Sam Bowker is an art historian who also writes poetry, songs and very short stories. Sometimes these evolve into collaborative performances like “The Thief of Stars”, a experimental concert inspired by Egyptian medieval shadow theatre (khayal al-zill).
FRYING PAN RECIPE
Preheat frying pan
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil
Add sausages
Brown 3 minutes on each side
Add half cup of water, cover
Cook 6 minutes
Check for correct internal temp. of 160F
BARBECUE RECIPE
Place sausages on hot grill
When sausages resemble charcoal
remove and serve.
Gene Newman is a retired old guy (90 yrs) and former New Jersey journalist and columnist. Read more at GeneNewmanImagineThat.com.
I was sure squirrels were scared of people. Until one Grey stood in front of me and put its paw on my shin. I had nothing to give it, not even a crumb. The squirrel stood its ground and in the end I turned back, grateful it was almost spring.
Brian Maycock’s short stories have been published recently by The Drabble and Paragraph Planet. He lives in Scotland.
Like all lovers, they carefully carved their initials into the earth as a symbol of the permanence of their love. Their mission completed, they boarded their respective vessels and shot off into the sky.
Millenia later, archaeologists are still trying to solve the unearthly mystery of the geoglyphs in Peru.
AJ Joseph tweets very short stories as @sonobeus.
The silence shuffles. His heart leaps to his throat.
He dares not turn, lest the package rustle, but he twists his eyeballs till they hurt and there stands Big Sister.
Heart slides back to his toes, eyes squeezing shut… never to see the manicured hand also creeping for a taffy.
Marigold Packwood is just a plain girl. Lover of writing and all things written.