Tag: oddsandends

Mari stared at the map. To get to the ocean they knew was to the east, they’d have to go through what satellite imagery was suggesting was a barren wasteland with no plant or animal life, no water, and no natural shelter.

Continue reading “Prompt: Adventure Awaits!”

I stared at the schedule for the week’s shows. We all worked in all areas of the show, but the cleanup was always on a first-come-first-served basis. If you got to the roster last, you got the crap job… literally. Trust me. When elephants fly, you don’t want to be on cleanup.

Continue reading “There Are Some Jobs…”

I peered through the door, then pulled back to stare around the tree. Yep, the scenery was different around and behind the tree than it was through the tree. There were several puzzling things about this. First, the basic question – why was there a door in the tree to begin with? Secondly – where would I be if I stepped through that door? The view through the door was very attractive. Green, lush, and filled with sunlight. Extremely inviting indeed. I didn’t remember ever running across this patch of woods before and I’d been roaming this neighborhood for a couple months now.

Continue reading “Through the Tree”

“Apologize to the judge, or else!” a woman’s voice yelled, echoing off the linoleum floors and metal lockers lining the hallway.

“Or what? He’s gonna put me in jail? You’re gonna ground me?” a locker slammed shut, and the snarky tone came rolling back as somebody ran up the stairs to the second- floor classrooms.

Continue reading “MOTE Prompt: Kids”

Looming silently over the landscape for thousands of years, the standing stones had puzzled scholars and archaeologists, both amateur and professional, for as long as anyone in Plainstone could remember. It was clear the town had been named for the stones, but how they got there, who put them there, and what they meant was a puzzle. The circle stood about five miles outside of town and was a popular spot among local teenagers to get away from their parents. As was common among teenagers, it never occurred to them that their parents had done the same thing.

Continue reading “MOTE Prompt: Rings of Stone”

Jason pulled the collar of his jacket up and hunched his shoulders in a vain attempt to keep his ears warm. He should have brought a hat, but if he ran home to get it now, he’d miss his train and be late for work. The day was grey and cloudy, but he didn’t remember the weather report saying anything about it being this cold. He glanced around at the crowd streaming down the sidewalk. Nobody else seemed bothered by the wind and the cold. Jason shook his head. He thought he was pretty well acclimated but maybe not.

Continue reading “MOTE Prompt: Tea and a Proposal”

Bettina stared at the cat sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. She shifted right and the cat followed. Shifted left, same result. Frustrated, Bettina put her hands on her hips and stared at the stoic feline. She flexed her knees and jumped left before stepping to the right. The cat stayed with her.

Continue reading “MOTE Prompt: Finding a Home”

I stood on the river’s edge and stared at the roiling water. Clearly, I was not going to swim across this. I was a good swimmer, but a flood-swollen river was more than I could handle. I guess I was making the trek downriver to the ferry I knew was a half mile away. I’d hoped to avoid the ferry and the contact with someone who could possibly report seeing me to the Guardians, but there was no help for it.

Continue reading “River Crossing”

She stared at the screen and sighed. She’d expected this, but having it in writing, staring at her, the blinking cursor waiting for her response, made it all come crashing down around her. It was an impossible dilemma… what one of the old women back home had called being “between a rock and a hard place.”

Continue reading “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”

What the hell was going on? We had landed with no problems. The previous host had easily sent us on our way and the group commander was aware of our intended target. But now that we’d landed, it was almost impossible to move away from the landing sight. Under ordinary – well, for some values of ordinary – circumstances we should have been able to set up a base camp at the landing site and then almost immediately move out to explore the near in area before sending out larger groups of colonists into the further reaches of the new host.

Continue reading “A Living Prison”