A Chapter from “After 2012″ The greatest threat of 2012 was not an astrological alignment, solar flares or a geological catastrophe. Instead, it was man himself. Global nuclear war, instigated by religious fanatical sociopaths, left only scattered pockets of desperate refugees and roaming gangs of thugs. The great societies of the world had fulfilled their [...]
They had left two days before. Lynn’s job was to care for the house while everyone was gone. It was an easy task, or series of tasks, unless something went wrong. The generator ran all by itself, fueled by two huge tanks of diesel in the garage. It was barely audible. In fact, unless she [...]
Fear is a powerful instrument that can be used to hold us back. It is an emotion that can literally grab a hold of a person, leaving him or her feeling helpless, vulnerable and stagnate. Even after convincing ourselves that we can and will be successful at what we set our sights on, fear has [...]
The sun was rising as I drove from my condo to the Holy Cow Café, where I grabbed some coffee, and continued to the apartment. The place was the same as I left it last night, fairly clean and quiet. Ed was on time and I was still half asleep as the peaceful music of [...]
Aspen, Colorado As Nick Holloway crossed the street to his car, he noticed a man on the sidewalk, eyes closed, face tipped up toward the sun. It was a perfect day. Nick himself felt some appreciation for the pure blue sky, benign sunshine and cool shadows, although they didn’t really touch him. That was just [...]
The road from downtown Quito out and around to Cotopaxi, Ecuador’s highest peak, takes about an hour and a half to negotiate. Actually there are several dirt roads that branch off when one begins to near the national park, but they all lead to the same base camp of the nearly twenty thousand foot high [...]
What marital secrets will sneak their way in when Clarinda is home alone on a Friday night?
A quiet gasp escapes past the age-chapped lips. Her eyelids flutter open as her mind gropes its way out of a deep sleep with a realization of the silence. To the old woman, it seems as an almost deathlike stillness. The silence is broken only by the soft purring drone of the bumble bee playing a duet with the tinkling chimes outside the window. The old woman is deaf to the subtle sounds drifting in through the window, her ears hoping desperately for other, more domestic, sounds. Sounds she knew would not be there.
She sighs depressingly, knowing all too well that this morning will be like all the others. Her life now is an endless stream of mornings greeted by gloomy silence; suffocating and still, like an ancient tomb where life hasn’t tread for centuries.
The decision was the fastest and most fateful he had ever made, but living with the result was going to be problematic, even if the life he had left was to be very short in duration. Josh stood with his back pressed into the hard cold granite. He was balanced on a small triangle of [...]
Many times she dreamed of kissing him, wondering how it might feel. Although magic allowed her to perceive, she burned with longing to taste his impassioned kiss upon her mouth. He licked playfully at her gentle raindrops, hungry for more.
