Every morning, rain or shine, after his breakfast, Roland negotiates the overgrown sidewalk to his mailbox. Most days he finds it empty, but occasionally there’s a bill or political ad.
Neighbors sent him a pamphlet highlighting snail mail addiction. Roland reviewed it, painstakingly resealed it, then specified “Return to sender.”
Roberta Beach Jacobson is a humorist from Iowa.
Effie tells me she’s uploading herself to the cloud. “It’s for work.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’ll be like a bot.”
She tells me our minds are the future; our bodies are too slow.
I take her slow hand and say I love her.
She says she’ll send me a meme. :-\
Michael Mau wrote this story.
Tex is old school, still uses snail mail. Today, instead of going to the post office, Tex will try the latest technology.
After the message is sent, Tex feels confident. Now all he has to do is wait for a reply.
Tex will go back to the telegraph office tomorrow.
Denny E. Marshall had had art, poetry, and fiction published, including fiction in The Stray Branch Spring 2017. See more at dennymarshall.com.
Life had taken over. I’d tried to get it back on track. Thwarted at every step, I finally called the children to my feet. In simple language I tried to explain how life sometimes runs amok, despite our best efforts.
The television remote was beyond my mental capabilities, I explained.
I watched, awestruck, as my baby daughter’s chubby little fingers slid across the surface of my smartphone. Roads and landscapes shifted beneath her touch. She pinched, and the map zoomed out.
A photo of my husband drifted past, betraying his GPS position.
Wait… That’s not the location of his conference.
“Hello, I’d like to borrow a book please.”
“Did you reserve it online, sir?”
“Sorry. No.”
“Have you got your Library Swipe Card?”
“Errr. No.”
“Tried our search engine?”
“No.”
“Touch screen app?”
“No.”
“Sorry sir, but I can’t help you. Next.”
“Hello, I’d like to borrow a book please.”
Chris Redfern’s short stories have been published within a variety of magazines and websites. Find out more at www.aatwatchtower.com.
Kieth leaned wearily on his mop. He looked up at the ugly contraption the whitecoats had so proudly built and intended to fire tomorrow. Kieth thought of the misery and death it would bring. Quietly, carefully, he removed a metal panel, tugged free some wires and snuck away a hero.
Alex Steacy is a member of Loading Ready Run and recently released a collaborative graphic novel called Shards.
Anna was once again berating the office printer. Her list of irritations was well into double figures by 11 AM. The printer finally kicked out the presentation and Anna went back to her claustrophobic cubical.
The printer sighed. “No ‘thank you’ again. Maybe tomorrow I just won’t turn on at all!”
Amy who lives in a black hole training to be an apple, but it’s all coming out pear shaped. Luckily she has her helper dog, Ellie, to munch on the worms. Read her blog at www.Blind-Style.com.
The time traveler found the genie’s lamp.
“You have one wish,” she said.
“I wish for zargon crystals so I can return to my time.”
The genie shrugged, embarrassed.
“What about some protofongles?”
The genie sighed. “Here’s some gold, a castle, and a gorgeous wife. That’s gonna have to do.”
This is the seventh in a series of stories from King Kool, who has previously contributed multiple other series.
It was raining.
I had spent years dreaming of and working towards that day. My creation was blood, sweat, and tears mingled with iron, wires, hope, and steam.
I had great plans for the technology I had built. I was all set to change the world.
But it was raining.