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Friday Flash Fiction: FTL Dilemma

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How about a SciFi story for today?

FTL Dilemma

Aubrey sank to the floor of the engine room. He’d just put the last body in the maw of the main recycler. He leaned his head against the bulkhead and closed his eyes. Two hundred and three bodies. He ran a hand through his curly black, close cropped hair and groaned. Every muscle hurt. He struggled to his feet. It was time to check on the kids.

Patyn Polanski was the oldest of the three remaining children. At thirteen, she helped him get water and food to the other two but she was newly recovered herself. When he entered the cabin, she was asleep. The ten year old Hal Corliss was asleep too; arm thrown over his black-haired head and so was eight year old Bree Webber. Her long blonde hair a tangle spread across her pillow. The kids knew each other, but he didn’t really know them. Twenty-two years old, he didn’t hang with the kids anymore.

He left the cabin and went to the galley. He needed some broth and time to rest. Two days ago Aubrey managed to find the dehydrated stock, added it and water to a pot, and left it in the galley. Patyn could just get some, heat it and give it to the others. He scooped a mugful and heated it in the microwave then slipped into a chair to drink it. He jumped at her voice.

“Is it done?” Patyn leaned against the edge of the galley door. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her shoulder length, dark brown hair was nearly as tangled as Bree’s.

Aubrey motioned her to a chair. “Yeah. Just finished. Want some broth?”

She nodded as she slid into the chair opposite him. He levered himself up and got her a mugful and sat it on the table.

“Have you told the kids?” he asked.

She shook her head as she held her face in the steam from the cup. “They barely wake up. I gave them some broth and they went right back to sleep.” She looked up at him, concern on her face. “Can you fly the ship?”

“I think so.” He drained his mug and put it back down. “I’ve had my turn at the controls like everyone else.” He sighed. “That’s next; to go to the bridge and get us to the nearest station. I need to sleep first.”

“I’ll be with the kids till you get up.”

#

Aubrey sat in the Captain’s chair where very system on the bridge could be accessed. He pulled up the operations manual and reviewed the checklist for starting the engines. Patyn wandered in.

“Is it alright that I’m on the bridge?” she asked from just inside the doorway.

He turned to look at her. “Why not. All the rules are out the lock now anyway.” He went back to the manual.

She came in and sat in the Communications chair.

“Do you have any training on the bridge yet?” he asked her.

“No. I just started Ship Systems training, in the galley.”

“Too bad.” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to start this baby up.” He punched a number of buttons on the board in front of him. He checked the manual to be sure he had the sequence right. “Here’s the last button.” Aubrey punched it and waited.

Patyn looked around. “Should we feel the engines working?”

Aubrey rubbed his face with both hands. “Yeah, something’s wrong.”

She paled, eyes wide.

“It’ll be alright. The Chief Engineer probably did something. I’ll call up the Engineering manual and look for it.”

She swallowed and nodded. “I’ll check on the kids.”

An hour later, Aubrey stumbled into the galley. He made a sandwich and dropped into the nearest chair to eat it. Patyn was watching from a nearby table, a sandwich in front of her too.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He chewed and swallowed. “I can’t find the problem. I was too hungry to think.” He took another bite. “How are the kids?”

“Awake. I put a vid on for them.”

He nodded and finished his sandwich. “Can you leave them for a few minutes?”

“Yeah. I’ll check on them then I’ll be ready.” She wiped the table in front of her with the napkin and shoved it into the kitchen recycler.

Aubrey got a glass of water and drank it down. She was back in four minutes. “They’re fine. I told them I had to help you.”

He turned his gaunt face to her. “You told them about the rest of the family?”

Patyn rubbed an eye. “Yeah, they said they knew.”

He wondered how they knew but the kids always seemed to know what was going on with the ship. He sighed. “Let’s go to Engineering.”

At the Chief Engineer’s console, Aubrey brought up the manual. “I was hoping the Chief would have left a note or something. Check his log, can ya?”

She slid into the second console chair and tapped out commands. “I see an Engineer Log,” she told him. “I can’t open it.”

Aubrey switched screens. “Let me try from here.” He tapped a few keys. “I see it but it won’t open.” He slumped back into the chair. “It’s password protected.”

“I was hoping it would open from that console,” she said.

They sat, shoulders drooping, staring at the screens. “How did you get into the Captain’s files?” she asked after a minute.

“The manual had an emergency code, you know,” he snorted, “in case of catastrophic emergency.”

“Will the same code work on the Engineer’s files?” she asked.

He brightened. “Let’s see.” He tapped the code into the log in. He whooped. “It’s open!”

Patyn grinned.

He punched several keys on the console. They felt the reassuring vibration of the huge engines starting up. “I didn’t realize I was missing that sound,” he said as he watched the monitor show engine performance steady into the green. “Tell the kids we’re going to be alright.”

997 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

End of November 2013

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I finished my National Novel Writing Month challenge. It’s the last book of my Gulliver Station series. I’m pretty excited about it. I release the first book of the series at the end of January so stay tuned for the announcements.
December is a grueling month for me. I need to edit/revise the first book of the Gulliver Station series. Why, do you ask, have I waited for so long? I wrote the 1st book in April of 2013. I’ve been in a steep learning curve all of this year. I want the book to be the best it can be at my current level of writing expertise. So, I’ve delayed and delayed. Now it’s time. I have to put up the book. Stick with me people. I’m getting better all the time. I also need to design book covers, write my Flash Fiction Friday posts and oh, yeah. Do all of the family Christmas stuff, like baking, candy making, putting up Christmas decorations. Oh, yeah, presents. People like presents to be under the tree!
Above all of that, it’s my husband’s birthday and we’re having a host of people over for a party. Well, I’ve got a lot to do!
Links:
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. http://conniesrandomthoughts.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8c24bb15bdf9245512f722298&id=0a097feea0
I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.
Christmas Tales released November 17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!
Links:
Kobo: Still loading.
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-tales-connie-cockrell/1117497310?ean=9781494200572
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tales-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1494200570/ref=la_B009O6199C_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385963121&sr=1-4
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379010
Apple: Still loading

Flash Fiction Friday: Food for Thought

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Bel unloaded the butternut squash from the shipping box. A good load today. She picked one and put it in her own box. She and her husband, Todd, hated taking charity but she could volunteer one day a week at the food bank to pay for her weekly box of food.

When she finished she had to run her box home and put it away before she went to her job at the big box store. She sighed. Todd’s job was hardly better. Neither of them worked full time. She snorted. Yeah, Todd’s job was listed as full time, but they only gave him 32 hours. Short of enough hours for healthcare insurance. His pay barely covered sending the baby to the nursery while they worked. Thanksgiving was coming up. She hoped they’d get more hours to cover the holiday rush.

#

The next week Gail pulled dead squash vines from her garden. It was a gorgeous November morning, the sun shown down out of a cloudless blue sky. She paused to watch a flock of geese fly by.

She felt at loose ends since her last child, Emily, had gone off to college. The house seemed too big after her daughter left. She surveyed the patch. There were quite a few squashes. More than she needed. I should take them over to the food bank. She picked them and put them in her basket.

#

The first rush of customers after the food bank opened was over. Bel got a cup of coffee and let her mind wander as she waited for the next customer. It would be nice if Todd could get a full time job. He works too hard. We hardly ever see each other anymore.  A wave of sadness washed over her as she thought back to when they were dating in high school. She realized it was only a few years ago. She felt so old.

The door opened and a middle aged woman entered carrying a box of vegetables. “Hi. I’m Belle, can I help you?”

The woman nodded as she put the box on the counter. “Hi there. I’m Gail. It’s just my husband and me now. We don’t need everything I grow so I thought I’d donate it.”

Bel peeked into the box. “We appreciate that Gail. We love to get fresh produce. So much of what is donated is canned or processed food.”

“I’m glad I can help then.” Gail looked around the huge room. Several people were unloading boxes and putting canned goods and boxes of pasta and cereal on the shelves. “Are you all volunteers?”

Bel nodded. “Yeah. I have a job but it’s only part time. Same for my husband. I volunteer to pay for my box.”

Gail’s eyebrows rose. “Oh. That’s too bad.”

Bel shugged. “It’s the economy I’m told. No one is hiring. Not for good paying jobs anyway.” She sighed then put on a happy face. “Thank you for the donation. We’ll get it into boxes right away.”

Gail nodded. “You’re welcome. Have a good day.”

On the drive home she couldn’t stop thinking about Bel. How awful for them. I didn’t ask if she had children. Imagine working and still not being able to afford groceries.

That night over supper she talked to her husband, Evan. “I heard the saddest story today.” She proceeded to tell him about Bel.  “Can you imagine? What if that was us, or God forbid, our kids? I should do something.”

He wiped his plate with the last bit of his bread. “What can you do, Gail?”

She stabbed the last green bean on her plate. “I don’t know. But they’re both working and can’t afford food. That’s not right.” She popped the bean into her mouth and chewed, scowling. “What about your place?”

Evan put his silverware on his plate. “What about it?”

“Can’t you hire them? It’s a big factory. There must be something.”

He scratched his head. “I don’t know. We don’t have any openings right now.”

Gail leaned forward. “No janitors needed, material handlers, some sort of low level position that they can take and then get trained for other jobs?”

He sighed. He knew his wife. She’d pursue this until she got what she wanted. “Let me think about it.” He picked up his plate and headed into the kitchen. “I’ll go in tomorrow and look around.”

Gail nodded. “Thank you, honey.”

#

The next Saturday Gail went back to the food bank. She didn’t see Bel. “Hi, I met a young woman here last week, named Bel?”

“Oh yes,” the elderly woman smiled. “She’s in the back. Shall I get her?”

“Please.”

A few minutes later, Bel came out to the counter. “Hi again.”

“Hi. I’m Gail, we met last week.”

“Sure, I remember. Is there a problem?” Bel pushed a lock of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.

“Let’s talk outside,” Gail said. She led the way out of the door and into the parking lot. She faced Bel. “I have some news.”

Bel became wary. In her experience news was always bad.

Gail grinned. “I talked to my husband this week about you and your family. He’s the manager of the factory over on Glebe Street. Do you know it?”

“Yeah,” Bel said. “They make parts for cars, don’t they?”

“Yes, that’s the one.” Gail beamed. “My husband thinks he has a couple of jobs, for you and your husband.”

Bel stared.

“Full time,” Gail added. “It’s low level work, for now. But you could get trained, get promoted to higher paying jobs.”

Bel’s face crumpled. Tears began to flow. “I…I don’t know what to say.”

Gail pulled a tissue out of her purse and handed it to Bel. “Oh my. I’ve botched this completely.”

“Oh no,” Bell sniffled. “I’m happy.” She reached out and took Gail’s arm. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”

Gail hugged her. “You’re welcome.”

The End

993 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

Reprieve

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Reprieve

“Mrs. Hunter,” Dr. Chandra began as he entered the exam room. “The mammogram results are why I asked you to come in today.”

My heart began to beat furiously and my palms began to sweat. It’s never good when they call you in to discuss the test results. I swallowed and nodded as he slid onto his stool. He opened his netbook and turned the screen to me. On it was a fuzzy picture of my breast.

“Right here,” he pointed at the screen and looked back to me. “This is suspicious. You can see it’s different than the surrounding tissue.”

I nodded, a voice in the back of my head repeating “Oh my God, Oh my God,” over and over again.

“What I’d like to do,” he continued, “is have a biopsy done. We’ll take a sample and look at it. It may be a cyst, totally benign.”

I grasped at that straw. “So, it’s nothing?”

He shook his head. “We won’t know until we take a sample and look at it. I’d like to do it sooner rather than later, Mrs. Hunter.”

What could I do, I nodded again. The blood drained away from my head. My head spun.

He shut the netbook and looked at me. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Mrs. Hunter. We’ve found whatever it is early. We’ll take a look and see what it is.”

I swallowed, trying to get some moisture into my mouth. “Sure. No worries.”

At the front desk the scheduler opened the doctor’s calendar. “We can get you in on Monday, Mrs. Hunter. Does that work for you?”

I pulled up the calendar app on my phone. “Yes, that’s good.” We spent the rest of the time going over what I needed to do before the procedure.

I just sat when I got into the car. My mind was a jumble of panic and things to do. Thanksgiving was next week. My son, Jeff, and his wife and kids were coming on Wednesday. Would I have the results by then? The procedure itself was an outpatient thing. No lotion or deodorant, just lie on the table and they’d stick a needle in to get a tiny sample. Still, I could feel the blood pounding in my ears. I wished Jack were still alive. He’d have hugged me and made a joke and allayed my panic. I wanted to cry.

On Monday, I went into the hospital. The procedure went according to plan and I was out in an hour and a half. They told me they’d get me the results on Friday. I thanked them and left. I really wanted the results sooner. I didn’t want to go through the holiday with this hanging over my head.

Jeff and his family arrived on Wednesday afternoon. It’s so nice to have the house full of the sound of kids again. It is too quiet all by myself. I didn’t tell them about the biopsy. Really, what is there to tell? There’s no need to worry them. We spent the rest of the evening making pies and catching up.

Thursday was a rush of cooking and preparations for dinner. The turkey in the oven and everything prepped we took a walk around the neighborhood at eleven. As Jeff pointed out items of interest to the kids and his wife, I looked at the trees. They were bare, only a few random leaves still on the branches. The trees looked cold, the way I felt.

At two in the afternoon, before we served dinner, the phone rang. “Hello?” I said into the kitchen phone as I pulled serving spoons from the drawer.

“Mrs. Hunter?”

It was Dr. Chandra, my heart sank. If he’s calling me now, something must be very wrong.

“Yes, Dr. Chandra. This is Eleanor Hunter.” I put the spoons down and gripped the counter.

“I wanted to call and give you the news, Mrs. Hunter. The biopsy came back clean. It’s just a cyst.”

There was a rushing in my ears as I struggled to understand. Joy washed over me. “Nothing’s wrong?”

“The results were definitive, Mrs. Hunter. We can schedule a visit later to discuss the cyst. I wanted to give you the new so you could enjoy Thanksgiving.”

I grinned, “Thank you, Dr. Chanda. Thank you. Yes, I’ll call your office to make an appointment. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy Thanksgiving, Mrs. Hunter.”

I gently put the handset back into its cradle. Just a cyst. I took the spoons into the dining room, still grinning. Yes, a very Happy Thanksgiving.

The End

765 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

How I Did for October 2013

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Hoo! Four days into the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Just settling into my rhythm, getting words onto the page. It’s an exciting month.

October was also killer, so to speak. Lots went on so let me show you how I met the goals for the month.

– Write 4 Flash Fiction Friday Stories (one per week)

– Done. Not only the four needed for October (and all of them with a Halloween theme!) but 5 for November, all Thanksgiving themed. I need to be able to focus on the novel so I got all 5 Friday flash fictions written and scheduled on my blog. You won’t miss a one.

– Update my Blog and Facebook Fan page (Both are titled ConniesRandomThoughts) weekly

– Did all of that. Indeed, I made quite a few changes to my blog. I changed the background color from boring gray to a more festive Autumn color. I added some new links to friend’s blogs and to a sign up for a newsletter for my fans. (See below for more about the newsletter sign up.) Not in the goals. I also update my Google+ page and my Twitter account, twice a day. If you aren’t a follower or friend on those sites I’m looking to build my communities there as well.

– Continue to revise short stories

– Did that.

– Continue to submit short stories

– I submitted one short to the Tucson Festival of Books and one to the Arizona ONE-BOOKAZ Goes Digital eBook Writing Competition.

– Finalize outline for November NaNo

– Done. I’m writing to that outline now. It’s the last of my Gulliver Station series. I wrote the first one last November (which has turned out to be book 3 of the series). I’m pretty excited about writing the final book. It’s taken me a year to do it.

– Other things

– I have begun looking into marketing for my books. I looked at some free training video’s by Jeff Walker, recommended by Holly Lisle. I was not able to take his course. But, based on the free information he published, Holly has put together an author-centric, free, self-monitored course on marketing. I’m going through the steps of that process as we speak. Most of the changes to my blog were based on the lessons of this marketing course.

– I put together a collection of Christmas themed stories. I already have the cover for it drafted and all of the stories. Also part of the marketing course, I plan to release the collection by the end of November. I had to write a couple of short stories to go into this collection. So I had plenty of daily writing practice for November’s NaNo.

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/halloween-tales-connie-cockrell/1116995365?ean=2940045288972

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/halloween-tales-collection/id716418558?mt=11

MGR Tour: Inspiration

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Inspiration is a funny thing. There are a lot of connotations to the word, inspire.

I could be talking to someone and say “You inspire me.” That person lives their life in a way that makes me want to do the same. They’re generous, or they’ve overcome extreme hardship in their life but it hasn’t made them angry or bitter.

Then there’s the way a writer thinks about inspiration. That’s the flow of ideas, concepts, tiny bits of what if. An example. A few months ago a blogger put up a picture of a bench that he’d taken. In the background was an old abandoned factory. Weeds were evident around and between the bench and the factory. He posted the picture, one he’d taken himself, as a writing prompt. I’ve been saving that post and a few days ago I pulled that picture out and wrote a Halloween type flash fiction story to that prompt. You could say I was inspired.

In interviews I hear reporters ask the interviewee, usually an author or artist, “So what inspires you?” I hope no one ever asks me that question because to be honest, I don’t know how to answer. “Nothing? Everything? The sun, the moon, the stars? A bench sitting in front of an abandoned building?”

As to writing books, I think my favorite is whatever one I’m currently studying. Each time I pick one up, a particular aspect of the advice pops front and center. Some tidbit is relevant to me in my particular point of ability. What is it that’s most important to me in my writing right this moment. As I grow as an author, that relevance is going to shift. Right now advice about how to write a full, rich paragraph that gets into the charater’s situation using showing not telling. That’s what I’m working on now so other aspects of good writing aren’t catching my eye. Oh yes, they’re all important, but my brain can only absorb so much at once. So, for the moment, showing not telling is my focus.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines inspiration as a sudden, brilliant or timely idea. In the Forward Motion group, we call those plot bunnies: story ideas that pop into our heads in the middle of mundane conversations, while doing housework, standing in line at the supermarket or mowing the lawn.

As to who is my inspiration, it’s my mom, my husband, my daughter. Where would I be without them?

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara!

How I did with September’s Goals

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How I did with September’s Goals

September

– Write 4 Flash Fiction Friday Stories (one per week)

Completed.

– Update my Blog and Facebook Fan page (Both are titled ConniesRandomThoughts) weekly

Completed. Did the Merry-Go-Round Blog tour too!

– Continue to revise short stories

Completed. Revised the stories for Halloween Tales and wrote a fifth one so there would be 5 stories in the book.

– Begin submitting short stories to publishers

Sent Where the Brown Things Are to WotF (World of the Future: a science fiction magazine that has a quarterly contest to select the best stories for the mag.) I won’t know until January if it is accepted.

A side note: I should find out in the next week or so if I won the contest held by the Southwest Authors. (The story is The Reunion.)

– Begin outline for November NaNo

I didn’t get the last Gulliver station book: Revolution, outlined. I’ll have to do it in October, 1st thing so I have time to let it mellow before I begin writing in November.

-Other things accomplished

– Released Halloween Tales on September 30th.

– Began planning my late November book release, a collection of Christmas stories. One story more story was written and another was planned and outlined.

– Took a mini-marketing class. The planned and outlined Christmas story is a teaser for my Gulliver Station stories. Trying to make the work do double duty here. The marketing class has also decided me that I need a web site, not just a blog. So that is planned for no later than the end of December.

– Signed up for a Holly Lisle challenge related to the mini-marketing class. Again, one of the items in that challenge is to release a book. My Christmas book is that project. The course is about how to do a new product launch, so the book and the web site are part of that launch.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: Not showing when I looked but search on Connie Cockrell

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: Not found when I looked.

Flash Fiction Friday: The Doll

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It’s October and my mind is firmly in scary story mode. What do you think of this?

The Doll

Bert reached over and hit the blaring alarm. He had to have it loud so it would wake him but the noise was too much to bear first thing in the morning. “Hun,” he reached behind him to touch his wife. “Honey, time to get up.” He felt around behind him. Nothing. He rolled over, Madge was gone. He felt around in the blankets, the bed was cold. Must be she got up early, he thought. Just under the edge of the blankets, he felt a lump. He pulled it out.

It was a little doll, no more than a foot high, dressed in a nightgown that looked a lot like his wife’s. She must be in the bathroom. He chuckled. “Hey, pretty funny!” he called out to her.

There was no response. “She’s downstairs getting coffee,” he mumbled to himself as he pulled his legs out from under the covers. He pulled on his tatty robe and doll in hand stumbled down to the kitchen. “Hey,” he held the doll up and rubbed his eyes. “Pretty funny joke.”

He stopped at the kitchen island, the coffee wasn’t on. Madge wasn’t in the kitchen. “Madge?” He wandered into the living room. He checked the downstairs bath. She wasn’t in either place. “Madge!” He scratched his head. “Not funny now, Madge. Where are you?” He checked the garage, the garden, the front yard. She wasn’t anywhere in the house or yard.

“What the…” He looked at the calendar, maybe he forgot about an early appointment. No, nothing on the calendar. Bert started to panic.

An hour later, the cops were at the house. “Mr. Blake, when was the last time you saw your wife?”

Bert was at the kitchen table, an untouched cup of coffee in front of him. The doll lay in the center of the table. “Last night. We went to bed about 10:30pm. She mentioned she had to stop for gas first thing or she’d run out on the way to work. Then we went to sleep.”

The detective jotted a note in his pad. “You sure she went to sleep?”

Bert rubbed his face with both hands. “Yeah, I mean, what else would she do at 10:30. We get up at 6am.”

“Hmm,” the officer acknowledged and jotted another note. “What about the doll?”

“I don’t know.” Bert reached out to pick it up.

“Please don’t touch it any more, Mr. Blake.”

Bert jerked his hand back. “Oh, yeah. Finger prints.” He sighed. “It was on her side of the bed this morning. I thought it was a joke she was playing.”

The detective nodded as he wrote. “She play a lot of jokes?”

“No, never before. That’s why I thought it was funny.” He started to reach for the doll but stopped himself. He clasped his hands in his lap, eyes on the table. After a moment he looked up at the Detective. “Where is she?”

The Detective flipped through his notes. “There was no sign of forced entry. You’ve told us nothing is missing except Mrs. Blake. There’s no sign of a struggle.” He tapped his pen on the notebook. “You have an argument last night?”

Bert shook his head. “No. We watched TV, some spook show. It’s October, so all the shows are about Halloween.”

“And then?”

Bert shrugged. “And then nothing. Madge doesn’t like creepy shows. When we went to bed she said she wouldn’t be able to get to sleep the last show was so scary.”

The Detective sighed. “What was it about?”

“A voodoo movie. Some crazy witch woman in Louisiana, turning people to dolls for not believing. Madge said she’d have bad dreams all night.”

“Did she?”

Bert pulled at his hair, tears forming. “I don’t know. I went right to sleep and I sleep sound,” he looked up at the Detective, “ya know? I always have. It’s a joke with us about how hard it is to get me to wake up.”

The Detective motioned a nearby police officer to bring a box of tissues over from the kitchen counter. Bert took one and wiped his eyes and blew his nose. “I didn’t hear a thing.”

“So what did you say to her when she said she’d have a hard time sleeping.” He pointed at the doll and an office came over and put it in an evidence bag.

Bert played with his coffee cup, still full of now cold coffee, twisting it back and forth on the table. “I told her there’s no such thing as witches and voodoo was a religion. No one was going to turn into a doll.”

The Detective nodded and took a last note. “We’ll check the doll for finger prints, Mr. Blake. We’ll also put out a Missing Person’s alert.”

Bert nodded. “What should I do?”

The Detective tucked his little pad and pen in his inner suit jacket pocket. “Stay home today, Mr. Blake. She may come home or call. We’ll be in touch.”

Bert nodded. He didn’t get up to show the police out. He waited for her for months; lost his job, then the house. She never turned up. The doll remains in the police evidence locker.

The witch, she still cackles about it.

The End

875 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

If you enjoyed this story, perhaps you’ll also like Halloween Tales: A Collection of Stories. Available now at most on line retailers.

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: Not showing when I looked but search on Connie Cockrell

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: Not found when I looked.

Halloween Tales Release Day!

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Halloween Tales, is released today, September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: Not showing when I looked but search on Connie Cockrell

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: Not found when I looked.

Here’s a snippet from the book. This time from the story Rats.

“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Alex Monroe asked. “I shot it last night, getting into my chicken house.”

Albert Wayne nudged the dead body on the ground with his toe. “It looks like a rat.” He took off his Animal Control hat and scratched his head. “But I’ve never seen a rat the size of a beagle before.”

“Look at the teeth. No wonder I’m losing chickens. Where did it come from?”

Albert took a plastic bag out of the back of his pick-up. “I don’t know.” He scooped the body up with the bag and tied it shut. “I’ll take it to the lab in the capital. They’ll do some tests.” He dropped the bag in the back of the truck.

Alex walked to the door of the truck and the two men shook hands. “Call me, will ya, when ya find out? If there are more of these things, I want to be prepared.”

You can get the rest of Rats and 4 other stories starting today. Enjoy!