It was a hot day in the Colorado oil fields. The hottest day of the year. Robert stood on the platform of the new oil drill his company had just finished contracting and removed his construction helmet to wipe the sweat off his brow. He looked over at the young man with sandy blonde hair standing next to a large valve and computer station. “All right Bert. Let her rip.”
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Sea Comedies
Seas. Escapades. Journeys. These are the things one lives for. These are the things that Melissa Jennings’s mother wanted her to strive for. When she did, she found herself in the middle of a rowboat abandoned by her crewmen for the crime of being a woman who wouldn’t “put out.” The churning waves lifted and dropped the small rowboat over and over again as the sun beamed down on her clothed form. Queasiness filled her stomach, and it was only because she hadn’t eaten in days that she was not emptying it into the ocean. Her whole body was sticky and grimy from the caked-on sweat, and she wondered how…
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Grandpa’s Dying Gift
By the time she was nine, Chloe was well on her way to becoming a really, really spoiled brat. As an only child, she got her way with almost everything. Her parents doted on her like crazy and indulged her every whim, being firm subscribers to the belief that she would eventually grow out of her selfish streak. They railroaded over well-meaning objections from her cousins, uncles, aunts and other relatives and persisted in allowing Chloe to live out her childhood unfettered in every way. There was time enough, they felt strongly, for her to face up to the inherent meanness of the real world.
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The Choice
The end feels so inevitable when it comes. At least, mine does. I am in my final moments, of that there is no doubt. I stand in the biting cold of winter, my bones aching, my wounds bleeding. I know this is where my story ends. I should feel afraid. I should feel absolute terror. I’ve seen it in the faces of those I’ve bested, in the faces of men I held in their final breaths. Men that I respected, brave men, have lost their courage in the face of it time and time again. I always expected fear in the end, but now it has not seen fit to…
