Short Stories
Two short stories for your reading enjoyment. In WASTED MONEY, a traffic accident leads to tough questions. And in YOU LOOK JUST LIKE THEM, an exiled man searches for a reminder of home.
Wasted Money
Arnold Tower hummed along with the radio. Stuck at a red light with the A/C barely working, he changed the dial when the song ended and an ad began for Big Sun home solar panels. What’d he need with solar panels? If he didn’t have the money to fix his car brakes or get a haircut, what the hell did he need with solar panels? The other stations were all commercials too. This one about a pet fair in the park, that one about window tinting. The light went green. Arnold pushed the accelerator and spun the dial again. Finally, some music. Britney Spears was building to a chorus when SCREECH! BANG! CRUNCH! A beat up jalopy, two hubcaps already M.I.A. and a side-mirror adhered by bungee cord, slammed into his passenger door. Arnold bounced with his car, his head thumping off the side window. The cars lurched and came to stop.
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You Look Just Like Them
The judges stood on a darkened street. They were gathered in a half circle, suburban houses lit by street lights on either side. The centermost judge, her face obscured like all the others by a domino mask, read from an iPad.
At the center of the semi-circle a man begged from his knees. He sobbed and cursed and bowed his head, and when this accomplished nothing he turned to the others, pleading with each judge by name, promising them his body, his life, his anything.
Still, the verdict was read unopposed.
Exile.
He was to be gone by dawn, never to return home again.