Category: Flash Fiction

Stilts

Stilts Herman loved living on the coast, facing the blue ocean and the breaking waves on the shore.  He was an IT CEO, in charge of a new data mining operation twenty miles away.  Ironically, as the ocean grew and the shore shrank, the data mining centre created local water shortages, needing huge amounts of […]

Fast forwarding

Fast Forwarding Max enjoyed fast forwarding—skipping through movies, books, whenever he could–looking at only the ‘good parts.’  It was the good parts he enjoyed the most.  He loved spaceships, so in science fiction films he fast forwarded and only watched the spaceships.  In books he skipped pages with too much dialogue—exposition.  (And let’s not talk […]

Caring

Caring Carl cared about caring.  He cared about his family, his work.  He also cared about society.  There was not enough caring and it seemed to grow worse every day.  Pretty much everyone could care less about caring (Carl was never sure what that meant—care less about caring or careless about caring?  It was confusing.)  […]

Mental Dope

Mental Dope Arnold knew the time had arrived come for good mental dope.  The nation, unstable, disrupted, needed it.  He needed it: the prolonged escape only solid mental dope could provide.  Recreational drugs were no longer enough–escaping reality had little appeal after you sobered up and there was reality all over again.  The nation’s new […]

Jezebel

Jezebel Jezebel hated her name.  Her parents told her it meant ‘Where is the Lord?’  When people called her Jezebel, they were labelling her—bad enough, but Jezebel was a faithless, immoral cheater.  The name plagued her in high school.  She disliked labels such as ‘girl’ and ‘white’ and ‘colleague,’ but labels were everywhere these days.  […]

The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times

The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times It was the best of times for many, the worst of times for more.  People continued to starve even as the new President held sumptuous dinner parties.  Why did some folks starve?  The new President believed them low level cheaters, swindling the Government with food stamps to […]

Parenthood

Parenting They desperately needed a solution.  Having babies was a lot of work, more than Jim and his partner had realized.  They knew but here was reality.  However, the baby part, sleepless though it was, was a piece o cake compared with toddlerhood.  With toddlerhood, the demanding, unrelenting nature of parenthood truly emerged.  They desperately […]

Better Drugs For A Better Tomorrow

Better Drugs For A Better Tomorrow Society thrived on drugs.  Jim thought that was natural–he thrived on drugs himself.  When younger, he drank, and it helped him get through.  Drugs in the processed food he ate also affected him (but he was not sure how, except eventual cancer was probably involved.)  As he aged, Jim […]

How To Relax In A Stressful World

How To Relax In A Stressful World Bombs dropped, drug running speedboats blown up, war overseas, at home, troops and fear in the streets.  Costs soared, especially food–just staying alive felt tough.  Millard woke each morning dreading the news, what horrible information the day would bring.  He was an accountant who loved working, losing himself […]

Halloween

Halloween Halloween was over.  Frederick handed out candy during the rainy, bleak evening.  It was no longer time for ghosts and goblins.  The annual holiday was over.  Now it was time for real life.  But real life was like Halloween.  He handed out psychological candy to family, friends and colleagues.  They all came to him, […]

Team Spirit

Team Spirit Arnold was a respected Proctologist and Psychologist.  He told anyone who asked that the professions were related.   One of Arnold’s hobbies was watching sports on TV.  He loved the tension, excitement, the teamwork.  What he did not understand was why teamwork failed to exist in his own life.  At work he was frequently […]

Fred

Fred Fred walked the Earth.  Sometimes he drove if he had to, sometimes took a ferry–he walked whenever he could: observing, learning, wandering.  There was much to see, much to know, much to understand.  Fred knew it was good for his soul.  Talking with people, watching animals, living in each environment.  Walking the Earth was […]

Peace?

Peace? God created Peace but never energized it.  Peace often asked God why She created Peace only to never use it.  God’s reply was always Peace was a good idea but the time was not right.  Peace was discouraged.  Eons passed.  The time was never right.  As 2025 unfolded, Peace again spoke with God.  “You […]

War In 2025

War Everyone agreed it was time for the annual lunch with War.  War was on the move again.  It never stopped, really, but occasionally slowed.  War was born with humanity, gaining power and consciousness from any conflict.  As humanity and civilization grew, so did War, until War was Itself.  War considered itself crucial to humanity’s […]

King Leer

King Leer [Reader Advisory] King Leer was born Prince Lear but acquired his nickname in his teens.  It fit.  He slipped into being King Leer as easily as his hand into a fine glove, as he saw women: something soft to fit into.  He was not a decent fellow, dominated by male fulfillment and power.  […]

Hamlet Today Hamlet Today Hamlet did not consider himself a ditherer but doing nothing but watch had enabled a scheming idiot to marry Hamlet’s mother, the Queen, and become King, quickly revealing he was a tyrant—seeking petty revenge on opponents, sending troops onto the streets and seas to round up immigrants and kill drug runners.  […]

No Kings Day

No Kings Day This year citizens took to the streets to demonstrate against the current administration with a No Kings Day (twice, but these are the times we live in.)  What about next year?  We will certainly have more No Kings Days, and in addition we could have: No Bullying Day No Personal Insults Instead […]

Dorian Gray As President

Dorian Gray As President Dorian Gray always wanted it easy.  He was born into wealth, dabbled in real estate and casinos, but often went bankrupt because he enjoyed stiffing contractors, spent too much on gold toilets, and working hard was not easy.  Dorian Gray always wanted it easy.  Dorian decided it was time to make […]

The Church Of Me The Church Of Me The nation was created by Christians fleeing religious persecution by other Christians, founding it not as a Christian nation (they had seen the danger in uniting Church and State.)  However, over hundreds of years the nation evolved, as did its religion, which was a new version of […]

Film Actors We Live With Who Die

Film Actors We Live With Who Die Film Actors We Live With Who Die Maurice began reading obits of famous people in his twenties.  Then, most died in their late sixties; now, in their early eighties.  The worst were actors he ‘knew’ for decades.  The very worst were actors he first saw as children, who […]