Greenland Eric worried that Greenland was very appealing to the President. For one, the President believed it was actually green and not nearly as icy as it claimed. The country had really great minerals too, and was big. The President’s intended legacy included a significantly expanded nation. And Greenland had to be good because money […]
Men And Sex [Reader Advisory] Marvin led a team studying what aroused people. They had been at it thirty years (there was a lot to research.) Women seemed straightforward, men were all over the map. Marvin and the men on his team found it fascinating and disorienting. The women smirked. Women enjoyed sex but did […]
Aging Milton found aging to be a process of increasing tiredness. Needing naps. Waking up slowly, pushing himself from bed rather than leaping. Gut problems draining his energy (took a long time to realize it.) B-12, Magnesium, prescription pills. Dreading walking a few blocks, arthritis pain and no energy, he shuffled. Seeing something new every […]
Shallow Mike earned a living in construction but lived to write poetry. He had several books published but, despite the music in his writing, he wondered whether he had anything to offer more than cliches. How shallow was he? What was he, deep inside? Did he have a deep inside? He avoided cliches (or thought […]
Expectations Andromeda needed therapy for anxiety, for her failed expectations. She did not consider her expectations unrealistic—they were what life should deliver: happiness. To achieve happiness, as did so many of her generation, Andromeda turned to AI. Why? By her mid-twenties, earning a modest living as a commercial writer (she wanted to write screenplays), she […]
A President Without Precedent I am a President without precedent– think of all I’ve affected since re-elected. My deeds you should have expected (though I have misdirected.) I call you names, won’t play your games. I’m not dumb. I love you numb because half the country is scum who deserve being under my […]
Comfort Food Life was fulfilling but hectic for Maria. She was a supervisor in a small corporation, often working into the night, weary by day’s end. What truly helped was her comfort food–for when she was home, alone, finally by herself, finally in the quiet with no distractions. Maria enjoyed all sorts of comfort food. […]
Pardon Me? Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s life was driven by his need to create life. It would be his ultimate achievement. He earned degrees, got significant grants, worked ceaselessly to build a body from the pieces of corpses, a body on which he would endow life. Perhaps he went too far, murdering a colleague for his […]
Cookies For The World Phyllis needed cheering. She had just hit eighty and felt every aged year. Today’s politics would have left her parents spinning wildly in their coffins. So much anger! Inflation never went away, especially for daily needs such as food and medicine. Wars continued. Poverty and inequity continued. It was a lousy […]
Four Hits To Sink A Speedboat Top Pentagon officials were distressed. It had become public knowledge that, during the new President’s war on drug smugglers, it had taken the Navy two hits to sink the first speedboat. Then it was made public it took the Navy four hits to sink the speedboat. Which apparently was […]
Martin Hears The Truth From Ratings Martin decided the only way to stop the new President was to make a deal with a greater power. He knew who the Greater Powers were. He had to stop the new President, who ordered killing people in speedboats, troops in the streets, dividing the nation between the ‘with […]
The Need For Sugar From his first bowl of cold cereal, Anton loved sugar. It became a constant part of his diet, and of his children’s’. It tasted sweet, gave him energy, when your sugar high fell there was always more, everywhere. Desserts were often the best part of a meal–certainly sugar was great for […]
Madge’s Journey Madge wanted to keep feeling young, but at eighty it had grown increasingly difficult. Staying young involved finding something new every day. Being around grandchildren helped. She lived across the street from a small park with a playground, and hearing the children play helped. Even so, she no longer had the energy to […]
Tired Of Being Tired (2) Arnold needed a solution to the insoluble: aging. He had just turned eighty. His leg ached when he walked, he ran out of breath easily, he was youthful only in his heart. Arnold needed a solution to the age-old problem of aging–but unlike previous centuries, Arnold lived in a burgeoning […]
Tired Of Being Tired He just turned eighty and already Arnold had grown tired of being tired. Medications helped his underlying problems but created both diarrhea and constipation, an odd combination which created an unsettled morning and rest of the day. The heart meds lowered his energy, which he tried to replace with B12 pills […]
Heroes The new President wanted to be a hero–to be respected, loved, honoured. He thought of himself as heroic, fighting enemies. He had his face put on coins, plastered on billboards–but it was not nearly enough. He wanted to be honoured for his many acts of heroism as President. His first acts as a […]
Careers Harmony wanted a career–she was just not certain what. She graduated with a B.A. in literature, which opened no career except staying in University for a Masters, then a PhD. Her liberal arts education was supposed to qualify her for a junior executive position. These days, she had worked as a server, driving a […]