Far, Far Away

Justin put the finishing touches on his email and hit send. He found giving his messages a human touch helped them stand out in the never-ending garbage dump of communication his supervisor constantly found herself filtering through. Hopefully it would be the advantage he needed come promotion time.

When he'd taken this remote position, he knew the hours would be bad and the pay low, but he didn't expect to be stuck at an entry-level position forever. Surely his enthusiasm would stand out.

Now he just needed to await a response. Transmission to corporate headquarters would take 53 light years.

Gravity

A panhandler with the woeful face of a Christian martyr in a medieval painting stops me outside the discount liquor store. He says he needs two more bucks to get a bottle. Marlene, he adds as if I know her, is resting with a beer and the dude that shot her whose nickname is Rabbit. Has anyone asked us how we see things? No! We’re all on the road. But now it’s really getting fun. I dig some change out of my pocket. There are only so many opportunities to take maximum advantage of gravity’s pull on people and objects.

From Guest Contributor Howie Good

Advantages

It didn't have to be that way. Stan wanted her. Even now it was obvious. Maybe it had never been to Richard, who had been too busy indulging his taste for punishment. And everyone else was too scared to see anything but the inside of their own asses, but she knew it the first time he raked his eyes over her. Stan wanted everything that had ever belonged to Richard and that included her.

He could have sent someone else to fetch her back, but he wanted to find her himself. She would use his lust to her advantage.

Part Five