Monday, September 29, 2014

12 stories

by nick nelson

illustrations supplied by pete palomine studios and penmarq studios






excuses

terry was tired of jerry's excuses.

it was time to settle their accounts, mark a clean break and move on.

terry sat down and drew up a list of their resources, and wrote a prospectus on the best way to split them.

jerry didn't see it that way.

*

horticulture

maria liked to plant flowers. her garden was her life.

bud, her boy friend, was a mean drunk and grew jealous of maria's flowers.

one day when maria went to pick up some chinese food, bud pulled up all her flowers.

then he disappeared.

*

variety

rick was a guy who grew bored very easily.

as a child he had been diagnosed with some kind of symptom or syndrome.

he was particularly given to eating combinations of foods that his fellow humans found disgusting.

eventually all his friends drifted away.

*

don't get me started

nate used to watch a lot of television, but after cindy left him he got more interested in politics.

he developed strong opinions, especially on immigration and the second amendment.

but nobody cared what he thought.

*

emptiness

sometimes, when the sun went down, and the last siren died away in the lonely streets, sid would just sit in the dark and look out his window (he only had one) at nothing.

*

defeat

"that was your last warning."

*

gratitude

when barry was down and out, leon came through for him big time.

and never let him forget it.

*

obsolescence

"i'm sorry, jonathon, i can't use these."

"not one? not a single one out of fourteen?"

"not a single one. sorry."

*

world of tomorrow

mona walked slowly down the steps from the door of the spacecraft.

her breath was taken away by her first sight of the intergalactic capital, and its magnificent dome.

she felt someone nudge her from behind.

"come on, lady, time is money."

*

undertow

"helpless?"

*

appropriate attire

"i do not think that is appropriate attire for the theater, raymond. please change into something less proletarian."

"but i don't have have time."

"you do have time."

"we'll be late."

"if we are late, when we return i shall have you flogged."

"might we still have ice cream after the show?"

"why not?"

*

beauty and the beast

"walter, do you think i am still beautiful?"

"good lord, what a question to ask a man before he has finished his first drink."

"your first drink of the evening, you mean."

"don't provoke me, my dear. it won't do."

*



Friday, September 26, 2014

another 13 stories

by nick nelson

illustrations supplied by pete palomine studios in conjunction with penmarq studios





king of the road

*

confusion

*

quiet please

*

laughter

*

serendipity

*

nightfall

*

my confession

*

highway robbery



*

the magician

*

the cat

*

the neighbor



*

greed

*

now what?



*




Wednesday, September 24, 2014

13 more stories

by nick nelson

illustrations supplied by pete palomine studios





bad

brad was a bad person, especially on dark and windy days when he could walk down the street unobserved, with his snarling contempt for his fellow humans naked to the elements.

angels looked down on him, but he heeded them not.

*

the wolf

"never relent."

*

fortitude

"i don't care"

*

terror

marcia came home expecting to find her mother waiting with a nice dinner, but found their house surrounded by police cars and ambulances.

the neighbors were silently watching the house but no police or emergency people were to be seen.

she turned and walked swiftly to the bus station…

"never again."

*

retribution

"you shouldn't have told me that."

"but you have, charles, you have."

*

oh no

cassie lived a very uneventful life, by design.

suddenly a vision rose up before her in terrible majesty…

*

youth

"mother, please, i have so little time."

"i told you to stop watching those foolish television shows."

"but i don't watch television," marie insisted.

*

the animal

shirley saw a small furry animal as she was walking to school one morning.

she didn't know what it was and tried to catch it.

it made her late for school .

*

revenge

"i'll get them for this. every single one of them. then they'll be sorry"

*

the vampire

"that man looks like a vampire."

"no, honey, he's just a - little pale."

"he's pale because he's a vampire."

doreen wondered what she was going to do with parker.

she did not seem to be responding to socialization therapy.

and the money was drying up.

*

when things were good

jeffrey often wondered if things might have turned out differently if george hadn't gone away.

how nice it had been back in the summer cottage!

especially at night, singing around the campfire.

but then maureen came along and ruined everything.

*

zero hour

this is it, thought perry desperately, the moment has finally come.

now i will be exposed as the fraud that i am.

now, not later.

*

power

now he would never know true domination

*