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Gina's feeling of safety and security lasted exactly one day.
by BG
This year's vacation was going to be really special; getting back to nature, leaving all their technology behind, and being able to create a togetherness that the family hadn't felt in a long time. Despite protests at first, the kids got on board fairly quickly and even helped with the planning and decision-making. Their knowhow with the Internet helped tremendously with finding the ideal spot to go, then printing out the information, directions and maps. They helped locate where to go to find all the equipment they'd need. They had even foregone hanging out with their friends to accompany Bob to all the various different sporting goods places to pick up the items they had located on-line.
With just days away til the start of their adventure, Bob went over and picked up the trailer with the 2 canoes. Friday they packed all the stuff they had accumulated in the garage, and that evening the neighbors had a big send-off barbecue. Hank and his son Jeff from next door were up bright and early to drive them to the departure location. They would pick them up at the end of the trek.
Everyone piled into the minivan. The drive was four hours. Lots of conversation and talking over details. Lots of confidence in the air. They finally arrived, loaded into the canoes, waved good bye to Hank and Jeff, and paddled off. They came to a spot that took everyone's breath way. The kids whooped, Bob beamed with pleasure and Gina gasped at the prospect of what was to come.
What was beyond that huge bridge at the end of the lake? Gina's feeling of safety and security lasted just one day. It would be a long two weeks. It's the Hilton next year.
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Now Thomas was like a
beaten dog, eager to cower and flee.
By CC
It was hard being gate
guard in Moria, even though he finally ranked high enough to work the upper
levels. That was due to seniority, as he had been trolling through the complex
for most of his life. But now, he was at the pinnacle, or almost. That was the
problem. He couldn’t stand heights.
Ordinarily he could just
hunker down inside the entrance and let trolls, dwarves and balrogs pass as
needed. He would never bar any of them regardless, but they were nasty to him
anyway. Pretty soon they told him to guard the other side, which meant he had
to cross the bridge. Then they had him changing sides every day, then every
hour. Then they said he needed to stay in the middle of the bridge.
Now Thomas was like a
beaten dog, eager to cower and flee. But there was nowhere to go, no escape
possible. One day he moved back against the railing to let a balrog pass, and
it capriciously threw him over the side. It was a long way down, but Thomas
felt at last he was heading in the right direction.
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Lucas dropped a coin in
his friend’s Santa Muerte shrine
By RC
Lucas had taken a long,
long road trip into Mexico. He had gone so far because of his friend, Carlos,
who had told him about a shrine there: the “Santa Muerta” shrine. Well, Lucas
couldn’t speak one word of Spanish, so he had no idea what saint this shrine
was dedicated to, but it sounded interesting—an out of the way place where
pilgrims went once a year. Lucas loved out of the way places.
Now, Lucas had taken
his trusty Volkswagen, the same one that had gotten him to Anchorage Alaska the
long way, up the northwestern road from Washington. He was confident it would
make it, and it did. Carlos had drawn him a map, since the place was so
out-of-the-way that it wasn’t on any maps. When Lucas rolled into the town, he
saw exactly what Carlos had meant. The place was totally uninhabited—and looked
like it hadn’t been for a long, long time. “This must not be the
season for tourism or pilgrimages,” Lucas muttered.
He parked his car in the
middle of the street and, continuing to follow the map, walked into an old,
falling down structure made of large blocks of cement. Weeds grew inside, for
it had no roof. But he found the fountain, there in the center, surrounded by
dead plants in what had once been nice looking planters.
“Well, I guess I’m
supposed to throw in a coin,” he said to himself—that is what Carlos had told
him. Behind the fountain there stood a statue of the Madonna, Christ child in
her arms, but the plaster had been peeling off for a long time and the nose of
the Madonna was blistered by the sun. Lucas fished out a coin and threw it into
the stagnant water. “This place was a waste of time,” he thought as he walked
back out. Before he reached his car, the waters had begun to fall, but not only
to fall, they rose up out of the nearby creek and flooded down the streets, a
wall of mud being pushed ahead of them.
Lucas was astonished.
He ran for his car, but to his amazement, he saw that it had been stripped of
its wheels. “This is worse than New York,” he muttered. “What am I going to
do?” He didn’t have to ponder that question long, because—just as he glimpsed a
gang of young men in tattered clothes running around a building with his
wheels, the flood struck him and carried him away.
The Santa Muerta shrine
had struck again. The locals, who did not live in the town, but in the
surrounding areas, carved another notch in a large nearby tree, for another
silly tourist. There were quite a few now. After the waters subsided, they went
back and stripped the rest of the car.
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Not far away, a string of condominiums caught fire.
by TNT
There was no time to find out where they were. They had wandered for several days after losing Number 1. They had lost him when he went to scout out their directions. He hadn't returned. Number 2 and 3 were uncertain whether to look for him but deep down they were afraid to find out. Perhaps his body lay dismembered and half-eaten by wild creatures on a rock. They didn't want to see that. Depressed enough by the failure of the voyage - they had been sent to another planet in the solar system, but dismayed when they were turned back by the guardians and sent back to crash in the desert.
Since all deserts look alike they weren't sure where they were. It had been easy when looking out the portholes of their ship, but when the ship whirled through space to crash they had lost consciousness and couldn't remember what they had seen. Was it the Sahara or the Negev In Africa or was it a desert in South America after they had removed the Bolivian jungle?
Anyhow, they would not have guessed until they saw flames on the horizon. Not far away, a string of condominiums caught fire. Soon they were swallowed up in the conflagration and the screaming populace. Oh well, they were home at last. It was the usual thing - the fifth World War.
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Once the past is
organized, we begin to work on the future
By MD
Donna perched herself
on the back of the Gypsy wagon and pondered what to do next. When Carl left her, distraught and disgusted
about her vow of celibacy, she felt the self- righteousness of the hopelessly
religious. But what should she do
now? The wagon itself had no means of
locomotion, not even a horse, and the milk jug and laundry detergent bucket
were both empty. That left her with only
the clothes on her back and that strange pedestal thing with no discernible function (was it the base for a flagpole?) along with the polished brass kettle
which Carl had not bothered to take with him.
“Well, at least I still
have my virginity,” she muttered. But
that was small comfort with no one around to protect her purity from, and no
observer to measure the depth and sincerity of her sacrifice. I think maybe I need to rethink this whole
virginity thing, she mused. It’s not all
it’s cracked up to be. Where did this
all start? When and how did this notion
first enter my head?
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