The Enigmatic Dot

Inquisitively, her eyes narrowed as she attempted to see it.

“I don’t get it!” she said. “It’s just a blank sheet of paper with a small black dot on it.”

Carl showed it to others. Mike held it up against the light. Tom ran his fingers over it. His teacher unequivocally dismissed it as balderdash and several online friends expressed how deeply offended they had all been by its very concept.

The fact that no-one else could see it seemed strange to Carl.

To him, it was simply a small black dot with a blank sheet of paper on it.

From Guest Contributor JR Hampton

The Life And Death Of A Stand-Up

He believed he had the crowd in the palm of his hand, teasing them, provoking them, then hitting them with the punchline when they least expected. He heard their laughter. They were his.

But then she interrupted. She told him to stop. She told him she was offended.

Suddenly, they were lost. They hated her, but it didn't matter. She may have committed the sin in their eyes, but he was unable to respond and so he'd lost his grip on authority.

She was the awful one but he was the one they took outside and shot in the head.