PERFORMANCE

He stood on the stage in a glare of lights. No, preening
is perhaps a better word – a new phenomenon, a national superstar.
His whole performance was arresting, and behind him, rhythmic music
played. Young and old were in awe of him, the young, in particular,
thinking him ‘wicked’. They were all in his grasp, and now, as he
manipulated the audience to frenzy, he continued: ‘And if you
vote for me …’

CAUGHT IN THE LIGHT

He didn’t believe in such tales. Oh sure, he’d heard all about
the barn – how people fear to go inside at night – how you could
disappear for ever in there. But he was a big fellow, rational, and he
wasn’t about to be put off by ridiculous folk stories. As he
approached, a lantern light from deeper in the barn shone on a man
and woman in the door. He felt comforted by this and immediately
thought, why do I need to feel comforted? There’s nothing to it. He
walked into the barn, approached the people … He didn’t believe in
such tales. He’d heard about the barn – how people disappear. He
was a small, rational fellow. As he approached, a lantern light from
deeper in the barn shone on a big man in the door …

NO TELLY

He stared at the TV but it was useless as nothing would
come on. It was all gone, taken as the power went and the air
boiled and died. Mad ways done, he was alone – stared at the
screen – ‘til his skeleton fell.

THE WORRIOR

War seemed inevitable. And now that the ultimate weapon was
available, fear gripped them. They worried how they could possibly
defend themselves. No, there was no defence! They knew that. And
as the enemy mobilised, ready to strike, the decision was simple.
Surrender. Afterwards, the victors thanked their new weapon – the
worrior. What a spinmaster he was. He had created the ultimate
illusion and fired fear at the enemy.

FORENSIC DECISION

As a pathologist, she was truly professional, but her
private life was a shambles. This is what happens when you
have two lovers; and she had two lovers because she couldn’t
make up her mind. Eventually driven insane, she decided upon
drastic action. Killing them both, she made up her perfect
partner from their bits.

CINDERELLA – THE TRUTH

It was a lovely ball, but she inevitably lost her shoe. She
searched everywhere, anxiously, when she lost it, but it was nowhere
to be found. Distraught, she went home and cried. Eventually it was
found by a Prince. He searched for her, located her, knelt; raised her
foot; sniffed. Said: ‘I cannot marry you.’

THEY FELL

Starship Hell came to a stop passing Earth. Caught off guard,
he fell and down he went, his thorny body landing with a jolt.
Injured, medical treatment was required, which made him mad. As
a mind vampire, this was not good. Someone had to pay. Wandering
the planet, he found the class he felt at home with – full of
lies and spin, they were – and once his mind had worked on them, they
bent to his ways. It was inevitable the people would suffer. But he
was sure his own people on Planet Politico would be proud of him.

THE SOLUTION

The Boss looked at Malone. The other guys were surrounding
them, watching, and he felt nervous for the first time. It was all to do
with being efficient, he told himself. Malone listened as the Boss told
him about how he had been treacherous – that he knew. Malone saw
it as nothing more than a way to optimize his success, of course.
After all, what are rules in this game? Yet, he knew the implications
well enough. And as the Boss raised the revolver, end game was
approaching. It was a single shot and the body fell to the floor. Much
better, thought Malone, for him to go this way. Leads to a
smoother transition.

SHADOW

And it came to pass that man saw the greed of kings and
democracy rose. Good men fought and good men debated and
usurped the kings and the people held sovereignty. But a shadow
formed. No one could see it, but it invaded the minds of good men,
and as they sat in their chamber, they were perverted, and
democracy began to fall. And the shadow ruled, and it was greed,
for all the people now thought they were kings.

THE OTHER ONE

She had no idea why she preferred hairless men. She hadn’t
felt like this for long, as her partner had enough hair, and he was
submissive enough. But as the man dawdled towards her, opened the
cage and injected more serum, the feeling increased. Little did she
know that the fool at the research institute had begun the process
towards a real Planet of the Apes.

COLLIDING ORBS

The simple fact was the two planets were going to collide.
Their scientists tried everything to stop it, but it proved pointless.
Finally, a joint suicide pact was agreed, and at the appointed hour,
both planets let loose their missiles and wiped each other out –
which released just enough energy to push the planets apart.

TRAJECTORY TRUE

He was nervous as he watched the trajectory of the warhead
change. The Starship had banked perfectly into the run towards the
practice target. His new crewman had been awkward at first – they
had bickered – but now the android had settled down. It was the
new ‘human’ chip that was at fault, he was sure – to allow machines
to examine their feelings was stupidity. And as the trajectory
confirmed the new target was the city, he asked: why? ‘To
experience the ultimate of being human,’ the android said. ‘After
all, you all dream of being gods.’

THE MILLIONAIRE

Bullied and a ‘failure’ for many years, he left the town to
go backpacking around the world with the intention of making his
fortune. When he returned, his ‘friends’ had done well, but were
envious of his Rolls Royce and designer suit. Prepared to forgive
them, he let them invest in his business. Then he paid off the car
hire firm and left to live the life of a millionaire.

THE UNIFORM

She cried after she’d laid out the uniform. It seemed
so empty, the love of her life no longer there, a casualty of
war. Suddenly, she noticed it was moving, as if animated. At
first she was frightened, but as his form appeared, she couldn’t
help but notice the serene smile on his face. Gone were the
injuries she knew he had sustained; and by the time he had
said goodbye, hers, too, had been given leave to heal.

A THEFT – WHODUNIT?

The policeman seemed to dawdle as he surveyed the
crime scene. bald man seemed uncomfortable yet
submissive. The photo was shown of the stolen item and the
policeman struggled to hold back his emotion. Yet suddenly the
answer seemed obvious. So whodunit? He suspected the wife
stole the wig. And he didn’t blame her.

YOU’RE DEAD

The psychic got the shock of her life when the ghost first
appeared before her. ‘I want to show you my murderer,’ it said, which
disturbed the psychic even more. But what could she do other than
follow it. Finally finding herself in front of a mirror she saw a reflection
of her own guilt.

THE NEW RACE

It was a new kind of race. Was it due to meddling? Was
it inevitable it would happen? Was the way we treated nature
somehow to blame? But ‘… racing just isn’t as fast as in the old
days, before we changed,’ said the horse. His rival agreed as he
mounted the human.

LOTS OF LOVE

He lay so still. She looked at his face, his hair, his misshaped
ears, the laughter lines by his eyes. Soon she found herself beside him
and she placed her arms around him. Maybe they would have stayed
like this forever, but when they were found, she was dead, too. And
they looked on, hand in hand, as their bodies were taken away.

THE INSANE ALIEN

So now we know. The alien had been here for ages; and he had
kept his secret by killing everyone who found out about him. And so it
was that the first alien contact we had involved a murder trial. He
was, of course, found not guilty due to insanity. I guess that’s
advancement for you.

BOOKMARE

He stood in the bookshop, browsing. Picking up a book, he
opened it. At that point he seemed to pass through the bookcase.
He found himself fighting gnomes and fairytale warriors to save the
realm from the evil queen. Replacing the book, the assistant asked,
‘have you decided?’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘anything but CS Lewis.’

SILENCE

The jetty seemed to disappear into the fog; into nothingness.
The whole scene was silent, lifeless, eerie. I pictured it in my mind
and wondered: what now? What fate awaited the people? Indeed,
what people? And then I realised. There was silence no more as the
ideas flowed to the keyboard, and the people, the sea, the boats
exploded into life. The story would go on.

LOVERS

The red rose whispers of passion, and the white rose
breathes of love. They were sat in the garden in a lovers’ embrace.
Birds serenaded, adding to the mood, and a pleasant sun bathed
them. He touched her face, delicately, and when their lips met,
passion burst out upon the scene and they were fulfilled. He watched
them, his heart full of joy, and a tear came to his eye. It was all just
so perfect, and he knew he did good. Finally, he pulled himself away
and to his front took in the hundreds of other monitors. The candid
microphones and cameras guarded us from harm and protected our
freedoms, he was sure.

BLUE RAIN

It was the first Earth-like planet they had found. At least,
how Earth had once been. Nature proliferated here. It was a jewel,
and the crew were ecstatic. They had really found paradise. Yet, as
one crewman found out, paradise held dangers. The branch just fell
from nowhere. He was rushed to sickbay, leaving a pool of blood on
the ground. Later, clouds gathered, and when the rain came it was
fierce. But when it turned blue, they began to fear the rain. And as it
became acidic and burnt their skin, they raced back to the ship. It
took just an hour to realise the rain was only over them – and it was
burning through their hull. They took off after that, never to return,
and on the planet the ants removed all trace of the blood.

FAST FOOD

Her weight had become a problem of late, but she
chose a novel way to lose it. And who’d have thought it could
be conquered by fast food. Yes, she ate fast food every day
– lots of it – literally gobbled it down. Indeed, often it was so
fast she had to run to catch it.

ASSIGNATION POSTPONED

Some would call him fickle. After all, he just couldn’t
resist the right type of woman. It was the sparkle he looked
for – that sign that this woman was just right. He sat in the
bar – his latest hunting ground – when he spied her. Okay, she
was a little older than him, a touch wrinkled, but that appeal
shone out from her. Soon he introduced himself, and small talk
over, it was time for business. And in no time at all they were
in the hotel suite. She laid, naked, in bed; waited for him to
return with the condom – and waited – and waited … Eventually
she called the police. It was when she checked her jewellery
that she noticed her sparkle was gone.

FOOLISH

Foolish! You would have understood me, had you waited;
given it time – worked it out. But no, you had to go your own way;
express your individuality; do your own thing. Never mind all the
warnings. Never mind the idea that there was more to life than you.
You became the centre of your ‘self’, and that was that. And I was
forgotten, ridiculed – killed off! You had to go your own way. Well, it
has an inevitable outcome – you’ll see that it’s true. Then you’ll want
me back, to care, to cherish you, to be with you. Yes, soon you’ll
need religion once more.

POP

It was crazy, man. Everything just kept popping. It was all
so Xtreme! First, my ears popped, repeatedly. As I ran and ran I
thought my heart might be the next to pop, but it wasn’t. It was a
tree next to me. It just popped and was gone. And when the ground
popped, leaving all those holes, my eyes nearly popped as well. And
then I heard the gun pop – pop, pop, pop – and my mate popped in
kind. Finally, the silos popped and out popped the missiles, and the
planet popped. Of course, it had to come with all this
Politics Of Power.

THE PERFECT CRIME

It had happened before. Indeed, Brad had told Greg when
it was proposed that they wouldn’t get away with it. But Greg was
a good talker and it was decided that each would murder the other’s
problem. The appointed night came and Brad did the deed, solving
Greg’s problem. And at about the same time Greg got to work on
solving his. Mindst you, this proved much easier. One phone call
to the police was all it took.

GHOSTLY THOUGHTS

It is terrifying being like this. I know it shouldn’t be – it
doesn’t make sense – but I’m me. I don’t think I can cope with
them any more. They haunt me always – never leave me alone –
always here, always in my sight, my mind. Damn them all, the
living. It’s no fun for a ghost.

THE CELEBRITY

Her removal from normal life was absolute. Beautiful,
she sat in the studio, in front of the audience, acting like an
idiot. The interviewer was fascinated by her – her reticence,
her annoyance, her pain. And the audience jeered. How dare she,
they thought. Didn’t she know how things were nowadays? The
audacity. Still, she was a celebrity now – famous for not
wanting to be.

All © Anthony North, 2009