spacious skies - 3. the stranger

by american joe

part 3 of 40

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it was the day after the fourth of july, and brother, it was hot as hell. it was so hot in the barber shop that wyatt earp took his copy of the carson city gazette out on to the front porch, where he would have to listen to jack slade and roy bean gassing, but might at last get a bit of breeze from the mountains. roy was asleep in his chair, but jack was palavering with - mostly to - chingachook, who seemed to be paying him no nevermind, the way he had. there was nobody else on the porch, and wyatt took one of the three remaining chairs, without speaking to the bad man or the indian. but jack immediately started in on him. ain’t seen no strangers lately, jack opined, in the matter of fact way he sometimes affected. might be one coming along now, now that you mentioned it, how so? how do you figure? just the way it always is. you say something ain’t going to happen, then it happens, sure as shooting. why is that, do you think? because things always happen. that is what things do. you do not say so. i just said so. wyatt turned the page of the carson city gazette. look here sheriff, how about a friendly wager? on what? on whether a stranger comes to town. a stranger will come to town sooner or later. i mean in the next two days, if a stranger comes to town in the next two days, i will give you a brand new shiny silver dollar. that you came by honestly. how else would i come by it? and if no stranger shows up? you let me shoot fish in the river for a whole day - sunup to sundown. wyatt thought about it, and turned another page of the gazette. make it three days, and you have yourself a friendly wager. done. shall we shake on it? no need. i will take your word. i am most gratified. and stop riding on that poor indian. come on sheriff, i thought we was friends, it is hot, i have to pass the time somehow. next

spacious skies - 2. mike and jane

by american joe

part 2 of 40

to read part one, click here

mike dink was a little bit annoyed when he came home that night. his wife was home, and he had expected to find her gone. why are you here? mike enquired exasperatedly. mike and his wife, whose name was jersey jane jones, had agreed to part ways. mike was a timid soul, but had a violent temper, and collected comic books. jane was from the hill country, but years in the metropolis had both inflamed and deadened her ambition. king john lived across the hall from mike and jane a year earlier, mike had been waiting for a bus and it had started to rain. he took shelter in the doorway of a doughnut shop and jane hit him in the back with the door when she exited the shop. jane first encountered king john when king john was having trouble getting his multiple shopping bags out of the elevator, and jane helped him. mike was not considered a sympathetic character by very many of his fellow humans. his interests were narrow, and he communicated them poorly. next

spacious skies - 1. power

by american joe

part 1 of 40

eugene dobbs dreamed of power, but nobody took him seriously, not even his personal trainer, christopher columbus. eugene ran for class president in his senior year of high school, but he did not receive a single vote, not even from his girl friend, because he did not have one. his failure at the ballot did not unduly unnerve eugene, but a curious incident at mrs dalton’s bakery, where he worked after school, did. a woman entered the bakery just as the sun was setting over the mountains. eugene had never seen such a woman before, in humberville, where he had hitherto spent his entire uneventful existence. eugene was an ungainly boy, with little interest in sports and games, and despite his overweening ambition, in any kind of competitive activity. he would have been hard put to explain exactly why the woman who entered the bakery made such an expression on him. her name was cassandra j rapunzel, and she was an attotrney with the fourth largest law form in the nearest nearby metropolis. she looked at and through eugene, and in a husky voice - did she smoke? emile wondered amazedly - asked for a cup of black coffee and a birthday cake. eugene recovered his wits sufficiently to ask - did madam want a name and/or number on the cake? and did she have any preferences as to the cake’s color and frosting? as long as it says happy birthday on it, that is all that counts. something about the way she intoned the words “that is all that counts” almost caused eugene to pass out. but he managed to say, in that case we have a cake all ready for you, if you care to look at it. i don’t have to look at it, just box it up. yes, madam. and stop calling me madam. next

zachary fletcher

by roger "pegleg" wilson

zachary fletcher was born in h---- kansas on january 18, 1967. his dad was a cab driver who drank somewhat heavily and.also did odd jobs and his mom was a stay at home mom who chain smoked. he was a below average student, and had only a few semi-friends, whom he lost touch with after he graduated and they left town. what he particularly disliked about school was having to read books and do book reports. however he did read the books and wrote the reports himself as best he could and never paid another student to do them, as that was not his way. he never read a book after he left school. zachary graduated from high school in 1984.and got a job at a local drugstore. the drugstore was purchased by a chain in 1988. zachary kept his job at the drug store for four and a half years but then the drug store closed. zachary was a sincere patriot and a volunteer for the local republican party. in 1997 he married a woman named shirley who was five years older than himself who also worked for the republican party. they had always gotten along at the party headquarters but the marriage did not work out and she left him for another man. they never bothered to go through with the paperwork of a divorce. zachary always daydreamed about having children, a boy whom he would take hunting and fishing and a girl who would be his “little princess”. he never confided these fantasies to anyone, least of all shirley, who professed a horror of children, whom she referred to as “anklebiters”. zachary liked to read hunting and fishing magazines but did not actually indulge in these pastimes all that much himself. he liked to play poker and watched poker shows on cable tv but did not find many people to play with, fortunately for himself , as he was not very good at it. he was not much of a sports fan, and never bet on sporting events. after shirley left him he began putting on weight, mostly from cheeseburgers and hungry man dinners and marie callender pies. he never went to doctors - except to a dentist if he had a toothache - or had regular physical checkups. he never broke the law or was arrested. he had a high opinion of the police, and always defended them - though not very heatedly - if he heard them criticized in any way. he also had a good opinion of firemen, especially after september 11, 2001, on march 5, 2007, zachary had a heart attack at the republican headquarters. he never fully recovered and died ten months later.

zero plus nothing equals - 31. revenge

by jeremy witherington

part thirty-one of 31

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jesse woke up. it was still dark. the rain had stopped. or at least stopped beating on the window. he sat up. and reached under the bed. his boots were still there. or were they? and so was betsy. or was she? wait a doggone minute, he thought. where am i this time? and who am i supposed to be? and then it hit him. slow as first, then fast, like the sun coming up over the desert. the desert that was just outside. if it would ever stop raining. but it had stopped raining. finally. jesse knew what he had to do. it was time. he put his boots on. he stuck betsy in his belt. he opened the door and went back down the stairs. down in the street the rain had indeed stopped. and the fog was lifting. someone was walking down the street, coming towards him. who could it be? but that dirty little coward bob ford. jesse smiled. bob came closer. wearing a hat two sizes too big for him. bob was shaking. as well he might be. hello, bob, jesse addressed him civilly. hello, jesse, bob replied in a somewhat surprisingly confident voice. but the time for talk had passed. jesse took betsy out of his belt. and pointed her at bob. and smiled. and felt a bullet rip through his back. the end

zero plus nothing equals - 30. bend in the river

by jeremy witherington

part thirty of 31

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cecily walked along the river. the hot sun beat down on her blonde curls. she wished she had not thrown her hat in the river. but how else was she to convince lady desdemona and the others that she had jumped into it? surely, she reminded herself, it was a small price to pay for meeting william and running away with him to arcadia. a slight breeze sprung up. cecily reached the bend in the river where the old yew tree spread its melancholy shade over weary wanderers. but william was not there. where could he be? cecily did not doubt for one minute that he would keep their rendezvous. how william would laugh when cecily told him of her spirited performance expressing outrage at poor emily. poor innocent emily who would surely never know the flaming passion cecily and william shared for each other. suddenly cecily felt very tired. she had had a long day and the walk in the hot sun had fatigued her more than she had expected. she lay down under the old yew tree and fell asleep. she dreamed that she turned into a turtle dove and william turned into a raven. they flew across a vast nameless ocean. there was a single cloud in the sky. no matter how long the flew they never seemed to get closer to it. the cloud was white, then turned pink, then gold, but they never got closer to it. or saw any land, even the smallest island. or saw a ship. the sun turned red. and fell over the horizon. william cried out ——— next

zero plus nothing equals - 29. queen of spades

by jeremy witherington

part twenty-nine of 31

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blackbeard the pirate woke up. something was wrong. the fire was out! the darkness of the jungle loomed above him. the atlantic waves rolled smoothly behind him. it could only mean one thing - mutiny! the rascals had deserted him. but why had they let him live? his trusty cutlass, bess, lay beneath him - the dogs had not been so foolish as to try to dislodge it. his pistols were still on his belt. and a flak of whiskey in his pocket. the waves continued on to the sand. the ship was gone from the moonlit waters. but he was alive. what cowards the scoundrels were. they would pay for their cowardice. and doubly for their treachery. he was edward teach - blackbeard the pirate. with a whole deck of aces up his sleeve. and as much as he loved gold, he loved vengeance more. where to begin? he knew where to begin. with the queen of spades. he knew she was still in there. in the depths of the island. and she owed him. blackbeard took a swig of his precious whiskey. and without looking back at the ocean, strode into the jungle with faithful bess at the ready... next