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July 13, 2005
Volume 3, Issue 13
The Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch today.
The theme for the day is the word: discovery.
Laurence - The Off-Season
A boot strikes the beach, then a knee, a large metal helmet with a ridiculous amount of plumage, and finally a Spanish Flag.
"I claim this land in the name of Queen Isabella," cries the explorer.
Thirty feet down the beach, the same process is repeated for the glory of Portugal. Fifty feet beyond that, God is implored to save the British Queen.
Soon, the beach was filled with flag-waving, angry explorers.
Concealed in the tall grass, the natives laughed.
"Two bushels of maize on Birdman," said Walks With Limp to Sneaking Weasel.
"In the end," mumbled Shaman, "we lose."
Tanya: Self-discovery
David Thompson-Hughes awoke to find himself in a stable. So, it was true. A sickly-looking boy, his own age, was impatiently jabbing a grimy shoe into his ribs.
"We’re already late, Dave. Get up and grab your saddle," the boy ordered, gesturing toward a white horse. David whimpered pitifully as the boy sneered at him.
"I don’t know what you’re whining about," he continued. "At least you and Will got to live with normal names. Not like Pham and me." A thin girl in the corner nodded and rolled her eyes.
"Now get your ass up, and let’s get moving."
The Eschatologist: Mad Scientist For Sale
"Excuse me? It's a what?"
"A Eureka engine."
"Well then. So what the hell is a Eureka engine?"
"It's very simple, actually. You know the concept of the positive feedback loop, right? And mob theory? This works in much the same way. It takes those two ideas and for scientists, alchemists, and thaumaturges like ourselves, will biologically amplify the emotion associated with invention - the epiphany moment - and feed it back into itself to where the output is a higher order multiplier of the original breakthrough. There are, however, certain...side effects."
"Such as?"
"It's an insufferable bastard. All ego."
Michele: Frayed Ends of Sanity
The questions served to be little fingers untying a rope. Each answer untied a knot, each elaboration revealed worn and frayed spots where the rope had been strained and pulled.
Fourteen half-hour sessions at two hundred dollars a pop, and I got rope metaphors.
Every Tuesday: ropes, knots, frays, loose ends. Live it, he said. Be the rope.
So I untied the knots, the unraveling an exhausting lesson in self-discovery I wasn’t prepared to learn.
In the end, the rope was thousands of metaphorical feet long.
Let’s finish it off.
My note just says “long enough to hang myself with.”
From the Comments: James F.
She said I'd probably want to leave early; some relatives were coming to visit. She'd never met them before, and didn't know if I'd enjoy the whole 'family tales' thing.
I loved her for that. I knew she wanted me to stay, but didn't want to pressure me.
I told her I'd love to stay.
So I showered, shaved, put on my best non-dress clothes and waited for her family to show up.
They finally did, around two. I was in the other room, and thought the voices sounded familiar.
We had more in common than I'd thought:
Our relatives.
Andy: Reunion
Each year, Alice and Monroe’s families gathered at the lake for a long July Fourth holiday, and each year, Alice and Monroe renewed their friendship, one halted for the past twelve months by twelve hundred miles.
Now, they would not be more than twelve feet apart. They played games in the lakehouse, ate cheeseburgers and Ruffles at the faded picnic table, and tangled in the shallow waters by the shore.
Alice stood. Monroe saw that her soaked shirt no longer draped like his own. She crossed her arms, stared down. He looked away, red-faced, and waded back to the shore.