The Stare

I was maybe halfway through my Jumbo Deluxe Loaded Baconized Burger Combo, when I realised I had gotten all three sauces on my shirt. I looked around for the napkins I had nabbed, and then my eyes met hers across the food court.

She was a little girl, maybe ten years old, and her expression was simultaneously the most judgemental and most pitying I’ve ever seen.

I didn’t know why, but that stare made me question my entire life history.

Then the girl’s mother noticed she’d dropped her black glasses, picked them up, and then led the blind girl away.

Umeko’s Party Trick

It was Umeko’s party trick since she was a teenager. She was barely over five foot, maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet with bricks in her handbag, and yet, upon request, she could ask anyone to stand a few feet away from her, and then with a sudden leap, she’d go from vertical to horizontal and (almost) always knock you down hard.

She’d learned it as a kid from her father, and like most good party tricks it was impressive, but useless.

Right up until the time she noticed this allergic idiot about to bite down on a prawn ball.

Expecting Miracles

He tried to slink to his desk without the boss spotting him, but Old Man Winters was too clever for that.

“So what was it, unicorn attack?” his superior asked, sarcasm dripping off every syllable.

He took one deep breath.

“No, there was an accident on Tu-“

“I don’t care! Half your pay has walked out the door, and if you don’t do some magical work today, it’ll be all of it, got it?”

He bit back a snappy retort.

“Yes Master.”

“Get on with it.”

He turned and rolled up his sleeves, and began to convert lead into gold.

Recrossing Calm Water Bridge

It could have been at a party, they both knew a few of the same people, that’s how they met in the first place after all.

It could have been at that coffee place that she introduced him to, she still went there and he was now equally addicted to caffeine, thanks to her.

It could have been at a concert, a conference, she could have needed her computer fixed, he could have had a torn suit jacket.

But no, they met again on the bridge where they broke up.

The river of life can be so unrealistic at times…

School Work

“Free Internet Wifi! Thanks to the City Council!”

The sign went up on the outside of the library, explaining how the council wanted to help the kids get ahead on their schoolwork, and thus in the school grounds there was now free wifi.

It was, of course, extremely popular, and all the kids used it for their laptops and smartphones. Sure, there were some people outside the school who abused the privilege, but they were relatively few.

Just a great little idea and system. I got hundreds of pictures, records and other blackmail material, before the school worked it out…

Inevitability

It couldn’t have ended any other way, really.

Susan’s need to have everything just so, her life ordered, controlled, set. Right down to the lines of her suit jackets pressed perfectly, to the millimetre.

Janelle’s innate ability to, no matter how important the occasion or essential the task, to be distracted at a key moment, or to get too engrossed in something, or just plain sleep through something.

Something had to give, they clearly could not maintain a relationship without something changing.

Tears would be shed eventually, I was sure of it.

And they were.

At the wedding though, surprisingly…

Hardcore Russian Roulette

I must have been dragged a good mile before I was dumped into a surprisingly comfy seat, then tied up with unsurprisingly rough rope. When the hood was yanked off me, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the scene.

Nestor, I expected. The vodka, sure.

The nuclear warhead? Not so much.

Nestor smiled as he poured himself a large drink.

“Today we play, how you say, Russian Roulette!”

I stared at him.

“Where’s the revolver then?”

“My rules better! Tell me where she is, or I start cutting wires!”

He managed to cut three wires safely.