

Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not


He and his friend exchanged hellos. The follow up to his friend, “How you doing today?”
The other boomed a laugh. “Great. I can walk today.”
As both laughed, he said to his friend, “It’s interesting how your standards and goals change as you age, isn’t it?”
Rain and clouds are projected to be narrow winners over sunshine in the valley. The Precipitation Coalition, as it’s called, will help keep temperatures down through the day and have promised that it will not exceed a 48 degree F high. It’s presently ten degrees less.
Among other news stories, this is November 11, 2022. Next: today is Tuesday. Sunrise was at 6:54 AM, and sunset will be at 4:55 PM, once again limiting daylight hours. Scientists are concerned that the hours of sunlight are dwindling in the valley, but disagreement remains about what to do about it.
Turning to music, an unaligned political faction known as The Neurons has been driving the morning mental music stream selection of late. However, in a break from the recent past, a video of Led Zeppelin performing at Bath in 1970 has surfaced and now rules the stream. Zep is performing “Bring It On Home”. The film and sound quality are stunning. A local man listening to it on his computer was asked why he was listening.
“Well, this is the music, the style of music that I grew up listening to when I was a teenager. Beyond that, though, the recording is just, it just brings back so many memories of that era that I identify with, like the hair and the clothing style, you know? I mean, um, it was an exciting time, a time of change, especially for young people like me. I mean, that’s who I was, a long-haired boy with big, floppy bell-bottom jeans and two-inch heels looking to rebel against the system, as I suppose we all do when we’re young. I was fourteen but my mustache and goatee were already coming in. This stuff is me.”
“Would you say you were a Led Zeppelin fan then?”
“Oh, yes, oh yes, definitely.”
“Who else did you listen to at the time?”
“Oh, you know, Argent, CSNY, The Who and Stones, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, like that. Too many to name, really. It was a wonderful era of rock. That’s why we started calling that period ‘classic rock’, you know?”
“Well, there you have it. This fan is happy about this find. Back to you in the studio, Chet.”
“Okay, thank you, Valerie. Next up. One local man has built his dream home. It’s probably not what you expect to find. These stories and more, coming up. Stay with us.”
Stay positive, test negative, and so on. My coffee is steaming in my mug, enlivening my nose with its delicious smell. Time to start giving it some sips. Have a better one. Here’s the music. I must admit, the camera operator’s focus on shoes is peculiar at time.
Cheers
The Great Refloof (floofinition) – Conspiracy theory that claims that animals are secretly sabotaging modern society as part of a plot to enslave humans and dominate the world.
In use: “Under the terms of The Great Refloof, the animals plan to mount a takeover attempt when human activity grinds down due to climate change. Conditions won’t be ideal but floofs’ modeling shows that humans will take better care of animals than they will take care of pets during that period, putting the animals in a good place to succeed.”

I enjoyed this post and thought it worth sharing with others. Hope you enjoy it as I did. Cheers
(The poet carries a scar from the experience described below upon her forehead to this day)
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Recorded Reading: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qf00k47o4qntf8l/tail%20of%20the%20bear%202.mp3?dl=0
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Tail of the Bear
In midst of one of those series of sudden changes by which our personal worlds are cracked open to new possibilities, I found myself in deep consultation with my spirit guides late one night in the woods outside of Leadville, Colorado ~ asking what actions I should take to maintain right relationship with the couple with whom I’d driven cross country from Oregon, and been, for the past few weeks, sharing a camp.
“Time to leave,” Spirit said, “unless you want to start undoing all the good work you’ve done with and for these two people. To be on cosmic time, you’ll need to be on the road at dawn tomorrow.”
“Dawn tomorrow?” I asked in dismay. “If I do have to go back out…
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It’s a disheveled dream, with a complicated cast and strange twists. I start out in a parking lot, a young man. My wife drives up in her gray Honda Civic, the one driven in yesteryears. I tell her to park and to make sure she locks the car. I point out a parking slot and she drives away.
Others are met. I tell them I’m waiting for my wife to park, but I’ll see them inside. I’m by my car of yesteryear, my first RX-7, a light blue vehicle that we bought brand new. My wife comes up. I ask her to park the RX-7 for me and tell her where. As she gets into the car, closes the door and drives away, I walk off toward a building. I pass her car; she’s left the door open. I’m dismayed, asking myself, what’s wrong with her? Her seatbelt is hanging out of the door, so I theorize that its position prevented her from closing the door and she didn’t notice. I fix all that, and then head on to building, a multi-story, long, white modern edifice with black windows, one of those places seen in business parks across the U.S. As I walk the loaded parking lot, I see my parked Mazda. Its door is open. What is wrong with my wife that she’s left doors open and unlocked in two cars?
In the building, I enter an apartment. Mom is there, along with her boyfriend, Frank. She waves hello to me. I find my wife in the kitchen preparing food and tell her that she left the doors open and unlocked on both cars. She mutters something defensive back. I answer, “That’d be fine if it was one car, but it was two. You have a problem.” I walk off.
Someone comes by to give me the book I’m working on. It’s a big, clumsy book, totally unfamiliar. When I open it, I discover nonsensical words and phrases written in a large, sloppy style using crayons. I recognize that it’s Frank’s book. I protest, “This isn’t my book. Where is my book?”
I go through the house to find my book. As I search, I find sandwiches overfilled with meat, cheese, and lettuce. No one else is there so I wonder aloud but to myself, “What’s with all of these sandwiches.” I continue going through, looking for the book, confounded, picking up a sandwich and eating it as I go. I begin noticing piles of coins on end tables, coffee tables, window sills, and the floor. Someone else is walking through the room. I turn and ask, “What’s with all these coins?” They reply, “I don’t know, you left them there.”
“I left them?” I ask back, but I’m alone. I realize that I’ve eaten my sandwich. It’s gone but there are plenty more. There’s also many more piles of money that I didn’t see before. They’re everywhere, growing taller and wider, filling with silver coins.
Dream end.
Bad weather keeps floofs inside
Where they race around, slide, and glide
Kicking dust up with their paws
Damaging furniture with teeth and claws
Picking up speed, they race and jump
Making us freeze as we hear a distant thump
Leaving us to wonder and shake our heads
Wishing they’d calm down and go to bed