Ignominy

The oppressive dryness from the onboard heating joins forces with the mid-carriage intensity of the bus engine to agitate my Nor Loch-purchased nausea. I glare up the aisle at the convex miniature of the driver’s face trying not to think of anything stomach-related...or liquid...or food.

My teeth are Publius Horatius at the Sublicius Bridge: facing off against a more dreaded force than that of Clusium.

But bridges span rivers, and the guy next to me sipping spring water from a bottle of ostentatious brand summons images of the Tiber and spilt blood.

Bile breaks through and brings friends.

From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid

Miniature Dragons

Before science invented the microscope, there was a popular theory that supposed illness and disease were the result of miniature dragons that attacked our immune systems. People believed the only way to defeat them was to equip an army of miniature knights to combat these miniscule, invisible dragons.

The king called for volunteers. They would join a mating program modeled by the dog breeders who created the miniature schnauzer. Over the course of several generations, they would sire knights tiny enough to fight the dragons.

Eventually it was discovered that germs, not dragons, were making people sick.

Sometimes science sucks.