The Holiday Season

It’s my favorite time of year, holiday season on the coast. The weather is nice, the days are long, and everyone is happy. The tourists are everywhere. Children, grandchildren, dogs; they’re all waiting in lines at the jewelry shops, the coffee shops, and the gift shops. Especially standing in lines at the ice cream shop where I work every day. Flashing their cash around once and a while, but mostly credit cards. So carefree and careless. And so clueless. They’re all ripe for the picking. Skimming credit card information is how I can live comfortably the rest of the year.

From Guest Contributor NT Franklin

Missing

He felt he’d been travelling. Couldn’t be sure. His memory was as misty as the panorama. It looked like Kiev: all those domed churches. How would I know that? The question hung there, unspoken. The answer ignored it.

He looked down at shapely legs and high-heels. What the–

The world spun. Elise was a woman: always had been. The last thing she remembered was the headache at Lloyds. Oh God...work. Did I walk out?

She reached into her handbag. Passport, cash, credit cards...no tickets.

She determined to make a doctor’s appointment the minute she got home.

From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid

Cable

I received a cancellation letter in the mail last week. My cable subscription had been halted. I found myself spending the entire afternoon staring at a black screen.

That evening, while out shopping, I discovered that all my credit cards had been stopped. I wasn't hungry anyway, but I was beginning to spot a disturbing trend.

One by one, every relevant account, identification, and social network deleted me from their databases. I was suddenly cast adrift, avatarless in a digital world.

It soon became clear that I had died. I didn't mind. What was the point of life without cable.