His Curve Ball

He always told me that he would be famous one day. I am not sure I really believed him. But he was right. He is famous. His memoir has been the number one best seller on the New York Times list for over two years now. He can be seen on all the talk shows, in all the tabloids and at all the best parties. They have begun to film the story of his life. When I left him all those years ago I never expected to become the villain of his story. I never thought my name would become a synonym for evil. I heard a couple of young women on the train the other day refer to one of their acquaintances as an " Alice Winters". It was not a compliment. I knew when I left him that I had hurt him. I never expected the venom that spilled from his pen. When I heard of his success I was happy for him, then I read the memoir. I remember our story differently. If I had not lived this story with him, I too would hate Alice Winters. The character he draws is terrible. I try to see it from his point of veiw, but I can not. I may be the villain of his story, but I am the heroine of mine.

I Quit

" I Quit, I quit, I quit!" these words repeated through her head as she walked to work. Enough was enough, she was tired of all the crap and this time she was really going to do it. No putting off, she would find another job. This job was not her life and she was going to quit. Really, today was the day. As she walked on she thought of all the horrible things that had happened to her over the last few years, the bad treatment by her bosses, the laughs, the jeers, she was done, no more. As she entered the fairgrounds she saw her boss and she marched over to him and bravely said,
" I quit!"

He laughed and said " Oh come on Mary you know that you are not going to quit."

" Yes, I am." she said.

"Fine, fine so you quit, lets see what your sister has to say about that. So Elisa are you quiting too?"

Mary turned to her twin sister who just looked back at her with a sad look in her eye and said, " No Mr. Smith I am not quitting, Mary and I have no place else to go."

And with that, Mary's attempt to break free was over. Elisa tried to console her as they headed toward the Midway and their booth in the Freak Show.

The Future of our Planet

She stood on the deck of the ship looking out upon the vast emptiness, no stars, no moons, no planet existed. She remembered when her planet had been vibrant, lush and green. Now there was nothing. When the scientist had first begun speaking about the effects of pollution and over population no one had believed them. Everyone had laughed and by the time they stopped laughing and began to believe it was too late. In the last twenty years of the planet they had built ships to evacuate. It had not been enough time. There were not enough ships and many people would be left behind on the dead planet. On the day the ships left the planet she said her final good-byes to her parents and siblings. That had been ten years ago, ten years of living on these ships. Ten years of looking for another home and then in the last month the scientist had discovered a planet that looked like it could sustain them. It was lush and green like there old home. Unfortunately it was populated with creatures who were slowly killing it. The High Council had decide it would be necessary to rid the planet of these creatures. Her people would be better care takers, for they understood the fragility of ecosystems. She looked forward to seeing this third planet from the sun.

Tired and Sore

She stood over his prone form with her colt revolver drawn and ready to shoot again. It had taken her months to track him down, months of ceaseless riding, months of dirt, months of hate, and now that she had finally filled him with lead she felt empty, as if all of her anger had been fired from her body like the bullets from her gun. The first time she had seen him had been that rainy night three years ago when he and his gang had ridden in while the moon was obscured by the clouds, killing her husband, shooting her pregnant belly and leaving her to bleed in the rain as she listened to their laughter as they rode away. She had survived but the child had not, so when her sister had arrived to take her back east she did not resist at first, but then she found her husbands old trunk of clothes left over from his days as a gunslinger and at the bottom was the buttery soft white leather jacket, when she put it on she knew what she had to do. She practiced every day for three months, honing the skills she had begrudgingly learned when she first moved west to marry her husband and after three months she knew that when she found him she would beat him shot for shot. She found him in a whore house in Abilene and at noon the next day she had eased the knawing, burning anger in her heart.

It rings and rings and rings but no one is home

The telephone rang and rang and rang. I slammed down the receiver and cursed at the heavens. Where the hell was she? she had said she would call at 10:30 and that was four hours ago. This was not good. Not good at all. If she did not get here soon every thing would be over. The plans we made would be finished. My mind turned to the the plans we had made. We were going to take the cash and travel the world. We would buy sari's and spices in India and see the Taj Majal. We would climb to base camp in Nepal and drink butter tea in Kathmandu. We would walk the entire length of the Great Wall. We would eat puffer fish in Japan and bath in mineral springs. We would take the Trans Siberian railroad and make jokes with babushkas. We would see the Blue Mosque in Turkey and swim in the Black Sea on the coast of Bulgaria. We would lie on the ground in Transylvania and pretend to have been over come by the charisma of Dracula. We would drink Champagne in France and eat chocolate in Belgium..... The list went on and on and only as the phone rang did I realize another hour had passed. I answered the phone and it was my mother.

" Turn on the TV!" she said.

I turned on the TV and there she was, I dropped the telephone as she was handed the giant check for 350 million dollars with out me.