The Big Win by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

My bonsai master friend Raymond Alexander Kukkee has allowed me to present his short story today. This one, however, isn't so short...it's definitely not  flash fiction! So relax, set a spell and enjoy. When you're done with it you can run along over to his insightful blog Incoming Bytes. Say hello to Raymond for me.

The Big Win by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

The tiny bits of paper floated on the wind and I watched as they drifted away and fluttered downwards one by one, finally settling on the water below. The current carried them downstream and out of sight.

"Out of sight, out of mind" I thought to myself, smiling inwardly. It was time to go back home and mow the grass, and I know that if I hurry, I can finish just in time to go to work. It's 6:00 am and I'm an early bird, I always have been. I took a last look at the river, kicked the front tire again just to be sure, and climbed into the old half-ton.

The truck started, that was a surprise, the battery is getting a little weak. No wonder, I was sitting on the bridge, listening to the radio, and after all, I can't blame the battery, it's eight years old. Time to buy a new one. A new battery, I mean. The truck sputtered and started.

Cabin in the woods part 2

Cabin in the Woods part 1

Artist: Jay Toon

Bryan leaned against a large white oak tree for a minute, one he knew had been around longer than his own great-grandfather. He willed himself not to throw up, but it was getting difficult. Whiskey obviously didn’t agree with his well-trained body. He usually never ingested much that wasn’t totally natural and good for the body. Jack Daniels,  all his friends touting it as awesome stuff notwithstanding, was neither natural nor good for anything.

He pushed away from the tree and immediately stumbled again. Down on his knees he felt his head spinning. He tried to get back up, but the trees swirled before him knocking him down again. Though he knew these woods like he knew his own name, the  dark and ominous quiet pressed uncomfortably on him. His heart started beating dangerously erratic and for the first time that he could remember he actually felt scared. He desperately wondered if he had done the right thing, coming here alone like this. No, he knew he hadn’t, but it was too late now. Moments later he passed out cold.

Mission Impossible: Mission Accomplished by Amanda Dcosta

Mission Impossible: Mission Accomplished by Amanda Dcosta

It was that time of youth when life was carefree and logic never existed.  Those were the college days, the good old days of fun and mischief. 

Did I just say mischief?  Apparently so!

Every afternoon, while in the final year of college, our classmate Nina was out on a date.  While Nina was a friend, she’d never trust anyone with her ‘secret’.  I am told this is typical female behavior, but what can you expect with two scores of women involved?

Bullies

They were nothing but Bullies.

“I dare ya,” Rick said, his grin suddenly turning devilish.

“I double dog dare ya!” Steve said, chuckling and holding the beer bottle to her lips.

Rosy looked at the bottle then up to the two boys. She didn’t want to drink it. She hated the smell of beer, so she knew it would be just as foul tasting. And yet they liked it. Was there something to it which no one knew until they actually had some?

Cabin in the woods, part 1

Artist: Jay Toon

 The stories about the cabin in the woods were now verging on legend, but they would, after some eighty years of sightings.  

Sightings is how the townsfolk referred to it when people told of their experience with the cabin in the woods. These were somewhat like sightings of UFO’s, the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. Everyone  in Banyan Hollow Township  had heard the tales, incredible ones told with relish, by well-respected people, totally sane ones and mostly sober.

They spoke about getting lost in the woods, getting hurt, being chased by a bear or wolves or experiencing some other misfortune which brought some desperation to their circumstances.  Just as they were thinking death was coming for them they saw it, like a beacon in the night. The cabin in the woods just showed up in the nick of time to save their lives.

A fun challenge

I dunno, what do you think it is?

I'm involved with a group of writers from HELIUM who get together for the occasional Author's Challenge in which we read and offer praise and gentle critiques on our work, this in an effort to improve our writing skills. We only just finished one, our 35th one in fact, which was particularly fun. We each wrote a story or poem from the point of view of an inanimate, unknown object. That is to say, everyone except the author wouldn't know what the object is. We had to guess by deciphering the clues within the story or poem.

Well, in some cases, this wasn't as easy as you'd think. Some of them really stumped us! All of these entries were good, but the winner of the competition was Terry Mahoney, who happened to guess each one correctly and rendered the most people clueless as to what his object was. Don Hancock came in a close second.