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 somethnig to drink before we begin the interrogation? yes, henry replied promptly, i would like a martini or a margarita. to be continued

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

red moon over west virginia - 35. the switch

by jeremy witherington

part 35 of 36

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as eleanor drove back to the new house, she did not feel at all sleepy. she decided to work on one of her memoirs when she got back. the one about her emotional dependency, and her painful relationship with gordon. her last advisor had suggested that she not make gordon too “cartoonish” a villain, but eleanor had resisted that advice. now, she thought, maybe i will try it. perhaps make an alternate draft of the book in which the portrait of gordon is softened a little bit. or, at least, bring out his hatefulness by attempting a more subtle shading than she had before. it was something to think about. there was almost no traffic on the road, and she quickly arrived back at the new house . she parked in the driveway and sat in the car for a few seconds. at last, she thought, i am finally alone. as she got out of the car she noticed, not for the first time, just how visible the house and car were from the road. somehow it seemed more obvious at night than in the daylight. she unlocked the front door and went inside and flipped the light switch beside the door. the light did not go on. next

red moon over west virginia - 34. old friends

by jeremy witherington

part 34 of 36

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later, when the sun had gone down, eleanor drove them back to the city in the u-haul truck and turned it in. eleanor then picked up her own car and drove herself back to the new house. marcia had to go to work the next day. she found herself too tired to work on her memoir, or to think about eleanor and the serial killers and wolves and bears out in the wilderness. she fell into a deep sleep. * marcia walked down an endless mall/highway/subway station. the center strip had a black and silver checkerboard pattern. marcia was walking in one direction. everyone else - a considerable stream of people including a lot of male and female - but mostly female - teenagers in school uniform - was walking in the other direction. most of the stores in the mall/subway looked closed. despite the safety the crowds provided, marcia could not wait to get through the station and out onto the country road with its overhanging trees. finally she did. another two or three miles and she would be home. there was no one else on the country road. most of the houses she passed had no lights on, and when she left the houses behind, the stars and moon went away and darkness descended. marcia heard a car coming behind her, and then a faint glow of headlights, and turned. the car was a gray 1936 rolls royce. little red riding hood was behind the wheel. the big bad wolf and eleanor roosevelt were in the back seat. marcia got in the front seat beside little red riding hood. marcia had known little red riding hood, and also had met the big bad wolf on several occasions and always found him a perfect gentleman. eleanor roosevelt she did not know so well. where are we going, marcia asked little red riding hood, to the vineyards? no, replied little red riding hood, we are going to the beach. that is all right , said marcia, i have always liked the beach. it should be pleasantly deserted this time of year, said the big bad wolf from the back seat. the rolls sped along through the night. next