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Serena was hell on insects.

The fiber-glass snapped, and the piece with the reel flew over to crash on my Buick’s shiny hood. I got out of the car and tried to just walk on past her. I was definitely ripe for my Friday-afternoon beer. But Serena was too fast for me. She put herself between me and the house.

Serena was hell on insects. A badly mashed stag beetle was lying in the grass. I was relieved that it wasn’t a little Harry. What were you doing to it? Serena liked to go over and pick on her baby.

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2012 05 19 admin The larger and smaller Fletchers did the same thing. Comments (0) Permalink

Clearly Aleid was a tough negotiator.

Clearly Aleid was a tough negotiator. We eat as much a regular people, said Thuy. In fact, were hungry right now. But we dont eat brown bread, added Jayjay, not ready for a repeat of the fierce hallucinations hed had from eating ergot-tainted brown bread with the limbless beggars behind the Hospice of Saint Anthony last night. Neither do we, said Aleid, undermining Jayjays half-formed theory about how Bosch was getting his visions. We eat white bread, she continued. Brown bread is for the lower classes.

In a way, said Thuy. Were known far and wide in our home land. Can I feed them some carrots? Kathelijn asked Aleid, sweetening her voice. Aleid nodded, and the maid gave each of them a raw June carrot, crunchy and sweet. How about a couple of chicken legs, too, said Jayjay.

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2012 05 18 admin Or we could assist in the studio or about the house. Comments (0) Permalink

He was watching me.

He was watching me. He was ready to eat me alive, drumsticks first. Lu and I will work this out. Please leave us alone till I call you. Go for a walk or something. I leaned against it, hands behind my back, and gave Tri Lu my biggest smile. It seemed like the easiest thing to do.

Hell, I had nothing to be scared of. I had twenty pounds on the guy, easy. This is Joe Fletcher. The nipples were starting to tingle. It was hard to concentrate on the secret of the universe.

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2012 05 16 admin It is fed into a one-meter-long subether wave guide leading to the subject's brain. Comments (0) Permalink

He laughed it off.

Actually, the candle had been my roommate’s. I glanced at my watch. I’ll fire up the 3Set and see how the Millennium comes down on the East Coast. Do they still do Dick Clark? Or is he finally dead?

You met him at the Christmas party. Skinny guy with bleached blonde hair and a nose ring? I was like ‘Take a picture, it lasts longer. He laughed it off. I said it in front of his girlfriend.

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2012 05 14 admin We strained with all our might. Comments (0) Permalink

Held her in my arms.

She had a good figure, pink skin and hair light colored enough to dye to regulation-issue California blonde. Did I mention that she had cutely bowed lips? She was the kind of woman that guys turned around to stare after in the street. Jena was happy with the roses I’d brought; she laid them on the built-in dressing table while she started drying her hair in front of the mirror, standing there naked. I sat on the bed watching her, drinking her in, the curves and colors of her body. Jena always enjoyed being the focus of my attention. I walked over and kissed her.

Held her in my arms. She made a soft noise and leaned back against me. I should have put a move on her right then and there, but I was kind of into getting the 3Set installed. And it seemed better to save the sex for midnight. So I went out in the living room and got to work. I had to plug the 3Set into the wall, hook it to the cable TV line, run a USB cable from the 3Set to my computer, plug a Zip drive with the 3Set software into my computer’s parallel port, and jack a Playstation controller into the game port for changing the viewpoint on the 3Set.

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2012 04 27 admin We strained with all our might. Comments (0) Permalink

We all did it.

I jumped to my feet, and the bench swayed dangerously. I leaped at the universe egg before it could change again. Can It Ever Be Over? And crashed down on Alwin Bitter’s porch. I was holding Harry’s hand, but the rest of him wasn’t there.

We strained with all our might. Slowly the rest of Harry appeared: first his arm, then his shoulder, then his angry face. Finally his whole outraged body stood there: lumpy, ropy, wise old Harry. When I let go of his hand he leaped backwards, but only succeeded in falling off the porch. Serena was toting her new pet rabbit. Is it all over now? Can it ever be over?

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2012 04 22 admin We strained with all our might. Comments (0) Permalink

It was Harry and Sondra.

Over on the other side I could see upside-down Antie, still waiting for her master. The Gary-brained driver took a running jump and leaped through the magic door. He flipped, landed smoothly on the other side, and took off at a run. Tears welled out of my eyes and streamed down my cheeks. My arms swung the door shut.

My arms put all their strength into the first blow, and the hammer smashed a hole in one of the chamber’s sides. It was the side that led into the Microworld. A pseudopod lashed out from the hole I’d made and ingested the head of my hammer. When I managed to pull it free, my sledgehammer was just an axe handle with an acid-charred end. The giant Microworld amoeba pushed another pseudopod out of the hole and felt around. My spine-rider and I backed off in some confusion.

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2012 04 21 admin The doors were open and unguarded. Comments (0) Permalink

The ground around their little house was packed bare dirt.

It was too cloudy to tell exactly what time it was, but I figured it was about noon. Nancy was talking to a frail gray-skinned woman with a large brood of children. The ground around their little house was packed bare dirt. She put a seed in each, and called for water. One of her skinny sons hastened off. Serena was already up, standing at Nancy’s side. The green shoots started up, and some of the children gathered around to watch. I went over and gave Serena a hug.

This was more fun than working for Susan Lacey at Softech. With Luther gone, I’m happy to have some grown-ups to chat with. The seeds were for everyone nobody was going to need to fill out a form to get them. The more I thought about the idea, the more I liked it. Johnson’s children took a liking to Serena. They showed her how to swing in their tire swing, and one of the little girls brought out a greasy rag doll for Serena to play with. The clouds broke up and let the warm autumn sun beat down.

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2012 04 19 admin Nancy laid the sleeping Serena down under a porkchop bush. Comments (0) Permalink

I’m staying at the Plaza Hotel.

Are you in New York? I called the network and I’m going to be on the Brad Kurtow show this morning. I’m staying at the Plaza Hotel. I’m sleeping in a double bed with Harry and Sondra. I got the brains off their backs, and today I’m going to try and get blunzed.

As a matter of fact, she wants me to change her back to the way she was. I’ll get rid of the Gary-brains and I don’t know. Is there anything else I should wish for? I like it here. Why should she get everything? I’ll flit in and out of our penthouse like a dove. And I’ll wish for ten million more bucks while I’m at it.

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2012 04 13 admin It's been a week. Comments (0) Permalink

I can’t go back to working at Softech.

Lots of people wore jewels as well, and I noticed several men drawing out big wads of cash. I can’t go back to working at Softech. Shiny cars antique and futuristic alike buzzed this way and that. In a doorway across the street lay a man slumped in some interminable ecstasy. In the distance I heard music playing. What did he wish for?

It was a cause-and-effect loop with Harry and me in it. Alwin wished you into existence. What’s important is that now everyone will be happy for quite a while, and maybe later even if the changes all wear off people will still remember how to be happy. I thought it was worth a try. A hatch opened and family of little green “Martians” hopped out. They talked with New Jersey accents.

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2012 04 04 admin It is fed into a one-meter-long subether wave guide leading to the subject's brain. Comments (0) Permalink