novel 00 - 6. good night

by little mike

part 6 of ?

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dave and mona waited for edgar or herbert to come home and edgar finally did. did you have a good time? mona asked him. yes i did, thank you. how is what’s her name? you mean cinderella-melanie? she is doing great, just rolling right along in her usual way. henry is not answering when we knock on his door, dave interjected. yes, he is like that some times, edgar agreed. we are not sure he is even in there, mona added. you mean you think he might have gone somewhere? yes. where would he go? that does not sound like the henry we know. we thought you or herbert might have some idea. do you think we should break the door down? dave asked. that sounds kind of extreme. what is this about breaking a door down? herbert asked, so he closed the front door behind himself. did you enjoy your excursion to burger king with your friends? mona asked. yes, i did. they even had fresh packets of ketchup for once. now, what is this about breaking down a door? mona patiently explained the situation to herbert, who listened patiently until she finished. i will see if he is in there, herbert asserted confidently. after taking his coat off, he walked down the corridor to henry’s door and knocked on it. henry, are you in there? no response. herbert put his ear to the door. he is not in there. how can you tell? mona asked. i just can. maybe we should go around and look in the widow, edgar suggested. we are on the fourth floor, dave reminded him. we can aak guillermo for a ladder, edgar replied. if he has one, herbert put in. he is supposed to have one, mona insisted. dave, edgar, and herbert all laughed. anyway, i know henry is not in there, herbert repeated. do you think we should we call the authorities? mona asked. we will look pretty foolish if we go to them and he is in there all along, edgar asserted. so what? it is their job to look foolish, not ours. should we call them now? mona asked. no, in the morning. good idea, dave agreed, maybe henry will show up one way or another by then. what if henry is dead? mona asked, or in some kind of coma? henry is all right, herbert insisted. if you say so, mona sighed. on that note, they all said good night went to their respective rooms. to be continued

novel 00 - 5. the room

by little mike

part 5 of ?

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i would like a martini or a margarita. martinis and margaritas are obsolete, the interrogator replied firmly. henry was disappointed. he had read and heard about such things all his life and had long looked forward to experiencing them. then i would like a mineral water with a twist of lime. those are obsolete too. would you like a glass of warer? i suppose that will have to do, henry sighed. have to do? you insolent puppy, i do no must say i do not care for your attitude. i apologize sincerely, henry replied humbly. aplology accepted , let us get on with it. henry just nodded, afraid of further antagonizing the sensitive interrogator . do you know why you are here? you mean on this earth, or in this universe? no, in this room. i had a vision of eternity. a vision of eternity. can you describe it? it is this room. with you in it, henry wanted to add, but did not. very instructive, i am sure. actually, you passed out on the side of the highway and were picked up and brought here by the petrol. oh. i am sorry if i caused anybody any inconvenience. we get dozens of cases like yours every day. just in this processing center. that seems like a lot. there are tens of thousands of cases like yours, all over the world, every day. interesting. i had no idea. so do not get any idea that there is anything unique about yourself., do you understand? i understand. now can i have my glass of water? i am thirsty. next

novel 00 - 4 . eternity

by little mike

part 4 of ?

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the vision of eternity was not what henry had expected. it was just a room with two chairs, one of which he was sitting on. the other chair was behind a table. the table had nothing on it, the room had one window, with blue sky outside it. and a door, which was closed. the door did not open. it has to open sometime, henry thought. but maybe not, if this is eternity. henry started telling himself a story, in the way that he had. once upon a time there was a mighty barbarian. henry did not think of himself as a mighty barbarian. but he liked to read stories about them. and tell himself stories about them. the barbarian’s name was xaxo, he was a man of the burning south. which had been destroyed in the great defeat. xaxo was forced to take his sword to the frozen north. which was riled by the velvet hand of the beautiful queen - before henry could settle on a name for the queen - the door opened and a person entered. henry expected the person to say - is eternity anything like what you expected? but instead the person said - would you like something to drink before we begin the interrogation? yes, henry replied promptly, i would like a martini or a margarita. next

novel 00 - 3. adventure

by little mike

part 3 of ?

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henry walked down the side of the highway. he was ready for adventure. he was ready for a truck driver named mac who would tell him tall tales about the good old days. he was ready for a beautiful woman - maybe a movie star - in a long black or gold limousine. or an ordinary looking woman in an ordinary black car or suv. or anybody at all in anything at all who wanted to talk about anything at all. or anyone who would give him a lift even if they never opened their mouths. he was ready for dr frankenstein to take him to his laboratory. he was ready for an alien to take him to another planet. he was ready for ted bundy or john wayne gacy or hannibal lecter. he was ready for the richest man in the world . he was ready for the prophet of a new religion. he was ready for the saddest story in the world. he was ready for the happiest story in the world. he was ready for yeti. he was ready for teddy. he was ready for the highway patrol to ask hm why he was walking down the highway.. he was ready for the sun. he was ready for the rain. he was ready for the wind, he was ready for a bottle of water. if he could find a place along the highway that sold one. a gas station, a mcdonalds, whatever. there had to be one. he felt in his pocket to make sure his wallet was in it. suddenly henry had a vision of eternity. a highway patrol car pulled up beside him. next

novel 00 - 2 . behind the door

by little mike

part 2 of ?

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mona had one of the last nine to five jobs. when she came home she always knocked on henry’s door. one day, to her surprise, henry did not answer her. are you in there, henry? you always have been before. but henry still did not answer, to mona’s bewildered astonishment. she had always believed strongly in respecting all people’s privacy. i will wait until dave comes home, she finally decided. dave had had a long day at the international corporation. when mona told him about henry, his mind froze over. he reverted to his all purpose answer to all questions. which was - do what you think you got to do. i think we should break the door down, mona replied. how exactly does one go about breaking a door down? i don’t know - i have never thought about it before. neither of them were good at dealing with the unexpected. we could call that handyman service - the one from before. it’s late - wouldn’t they charge some sort of emergency rate? we could wait for edgar or herbert to come home. edgar has that new girl friend - with the funny name. and it’s herbert’s night to go to burger king. one or both of them will eventually make it home, you are right as usual - we will wait for them. have you thought about dinner? mona asked with a sigh. i don’t want any - i went to domino’s with charlie. henry was wandering down the highway free as a squirrel. life stretched out before him - a blue and golden dream. next

novel 00 - 1. henry

by little mike

part 1 of ?

henry hoover was born a human being, one among many. he had a dad named dave and a mom named mona. dave was a small man and mona was a large woman. henry had two brothers - edgar and herbert - and one sister. the sister’s name was holly and she was a handful. holly was born under the sign of the sabretooth tiger. when she was twelve she was kidnapped by white supremacists. dave, mona, edgar and herbert never saw her after that. but henry thought of her every day - almost every day. and resolved to track down the varmints who stole her. dave was a man of peace - he had other ideas. edgar and herbert heeded his counsel - henry decidedly did not. edgar got a job at mister williamson’s supermarket after school. mister williamson thought edgar showed promise and would go far. herbert knocked on people’s doors offering to do odd jobs. dave and mona were very proud of edgar and herbert. henry was a different story and stayed in his room. he dreamed of conquering the world and totally remaking it. dave and mona were tolerant with henry in his room. they thought he would get bored and get a job. dave had a job at a large so-called international corporation. he could never describe the job to another human being. he was never really sure what the job really was. or what he was , or what any so-called human was. > he spoke when he was spoken to or ordered to he took life one day at a time, how about you? next

red moon over west virginia - 36. morning

by jeremy witherington

part 36 of 36

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trixie was back in the department store, but this time she had plenty of money. her share, and tony’s share and joey’s share of the billions they had scored after the latest caper, when tony and joey had mysteriously disappeared after they had made their getaway. she hoped they would not think she had double crossed them, if she ever ran into them again. anyway, here she was, in this grand department store, and she decided to buy herself a yacht. after a few wrong turns, she found herself in the yacht department in the center of the store. the yacht department had an ocean in the middle of it where customers could take the yachts for a spin. trixie selected a nice looking blue yacht with green trim and took it out into the deepest part of the ocean. she came to an island. the whole island was surrounded by a golden beach. trixie saw some people she thought she knew on the beach. people like cinderella, little bo beep and her sheep, hillary clinton, and joey’s sister jennifer. jennifer waved to her and trixie moved the yacht a little closer to shore. suddenly the beach was covered with fog… she felt she was going to crash onto the shore… people on the beach started to run… trixie woke up. in the motel in west virginia. she had decided before going to sleep that if it was a nice day, she would not buy another bus ticket, but start to hitchhike back to atlantic city. she pulled the venetian blind back and saw that the sun was shining. she dressed, packed her toothbrush and toothpaste in her little bag and went downstairs. there was a clerk she had not seen before at the desk, and she gave him the room key and checked out. she went outside. there was a bench beside the door and pete pickering was sitting on it. pete stood up when he saw trixie. he had a book in his hand and he held it out to her. you forgot your algebra book, trixie, he said. you have a test on tuesday. the end