Ghost Story

Jackson stumbled into the bathroom and flicked on the light. He jumped with a start. Samantha, his dead wife, was staring at him in the mirror.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I've decided to haunt you."

"Whatever you say." Jackson went back to bed.

Samantha started following Jackson wherever he went. People often caught him talking to himself, and decided he was crazy.

It was not long before Jackson's boss fired him. "You're behavior lately has been unacceptable."

"But my dead wife is haunting me."

"Why didn't you say so? You get used to it after a while."

Thanks For The Snack

Coyote watched the newcomers cross the open expanse, wondering why they carried so much chattel. "It must be an important treasure to go through so much trouble," she thought to herself.

Curious, Coyote followed their passage. But even under the cover of darkness, when she approached their wagons, they used long, hollow noisemakers to drive her away.

One night, a large thunderstorm descended upon the valley. Coyote used the distraction to slip past the sentries unnoticed.

She jumped inside a wagon, and smiled at what she found. "How nice of them to carry all this food for me to eat."

Earth 2.0

Curtis looked at the new cityscape in amazement. He had never been outdoors, but he imagined this was what it would be like. The path, it really was a path, meandering and uneven, wound its way through ponds and lawns. Trees towered overhead.

Curtis had been in virtual environments that mimicked Earth's various bioshperes, but they paled in comparison. He used his scanner to measure the nearest tree's composition. Real DNA!

"What are you doing?" a sentinel demanded angrily.

"I'm conducting analysis tests." Curtis displayed his credentials.

"No humans are allowed inside the biosphere. Your biorhythms disrupt the natural order."

The Long Forgotten Adventures Of Blake Worthington, Archeologist

We stumbled upon the entrance buried beneath the sand. It figured, with 14 miles of desert in every direction, the door had to be buried. Thank God for the stolen map.

The tunnel was cool, a welcome respite. We had run out of water hours ago.

"You know, if the Midnight Sun is not here, we are going to die," Semele whispered.

"It's here, trust me."

We lit torches, and descended into the catacombs. The passageway opened into a cavernous chamber. The walls, the ceiling, the dais, everything was stripped clean.

"It appears Dr. Jones beat us to the prize again."

Jafar And The Magic Ring

Jafar found his magic ring in a Baghdad trash heap. While polishing it, a powerful djinni appeared.

"Your wish is my command."

Jafar was ecstatic and his mind pleasured in all the magnificent wealth and luxuries that would now be his.

"I wish to be the richest man in the world."

The djinni declined. "That's too much trouble. Wish something else."

"Then I wish to marry a beautiful princess."

To Jafar's consternation, the djinni again refused. "That's even worse."

After much negotiation, Jafar found himself the proud owner of a lovely gray donkey and a year's worth of leavened bread.

The Unluckiest Boy In The World

"The giants are coming!"

The shepherd's febrile shouts aroused the sleepy village to immediate action. Parents grabbed young children and ran for the underground shelter. Soldiers mounted the hamlet wall, pikes in hand.

Herman gazed at the pandemonium from the imposed security of the bell tower. He was well known as the unluckiest boy ever to be born. He was not allowed to fight the giants, not allowed to talk to anyone else, never even allowed to set foot outside the sacred grounds.

Herman watched the villagers without resentment. "Better to be unlucky than to fight giants with tiny sticks."

In Private Company

It was love at first sight, all thirteen remaining members of H Troop floundering in the presence of Stella Grunwald.

We lingered during Corporal Mannheim’s interrogation, a volunteer detail of thirteen sentries where only one was needed. Anything for a glimpse of the German starlet.

The Chaplain once told me the difference between men and animals is animals can make a new home for themselves every night.

I guess he was making some theological point about finding your home with God.

Anyway, when the German tank brigade appeared, each of us was hoping to make a home with Fräulein Grunwald.

Genre: War

Permanent Vacation

I suppose you'll want me to start with the beginning, get straight into the middle, before building to a conclusion, and all that other crap you learn in English class, but I really don't give a damn. Lucy always went on about proper structure, like she wasn’t just repeating Mrs. Calloway, and it’s all trite as hell. People keep asking why I don’t go back to school if I want to be taken seriously. People are funny that way, always asking phony questions. Lucy was the worst. She’s annoying as hell, but she has big tits. Sometimes I miss her.

Genre: Salinger

Crescendo

The mysterious caller asked to meet in the church tower. Grace suspected a trap, but planned a surprise of her own. She glanced down the stairwell trying to discern the source of echoing footsteps.

Professor Tobin had warned her the information in her possession was dangerous. He offered to take it off her hands, but her dying lover had entrusted the package to Grace alone.

She raced into the belfry, hiding in the shadows.

The trapdoor opened, and Dr. Tobin stepped into the light. A shot rang out. Grace slipped the revolver into her pocket and calmly descended the ladder.

Genre: Hitchcock

The Boilermaker Cooperative

Chief Pilot and Brass Wainwright Extraordinaire Gordon Diggory, Esq., eased the Air Titan into position. Vapor hissed loudly as it was released from the hydraulic valves.

They had only thirty minutes to reach Oxford before the Boilermaker Cooperative's planned detonation of the entire district.

"Enemy steampods, starboard side."

Diggory stared out the window in shock, realizing the trap. “They aren’t interested in Oxford at all. It’s the Queen they want.”

He violently rotated the wheel in the opposite direction. They must reach Buckingham Palace, no matter the cost. If Queen Victoria were assassinated, Diggory would not receive his Christmas bonus.

Genre: Steampunk