Lights out

You stumble upon a random letter on the path. You read it. It affects you deeply, and you wish it could be returned to the person to which it’s addressed. Write a story about this encounter.

Today’s twist: Approach this post in as few words as possible.


 

First Stellar Power Company regrets to inform you that due to arrears payments and lack of response to final collection notice, Sol will be turned off at

 


How do you simulate darkness in a story without describing it?

Anyway, my first instinct was to do something romantic/tragic, like:

On some solitary rock
A desperate lover left his mark,
“Baby, I’ve changed. Please come back.”

–Don Henley, New York Minute


 

Then I remembered Knock by Fredric Brown:

“The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…”

And science fiction just offers a ton of ideas that can be brief as all get out, SF is made for short-shorts.

Thank god I’m not a fan of Victorian bodice-rippers, or something…that would be challenging!

RecDave Seal

 

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The Mustang (II)

Between Beauregard and Rochester, there was the Mustang.

It didn’t have (or earn) a name; I didn’t have it nearly as long, nor did it make much of an memory. My really only remaining impression of the car was…crap. It wasn’t even a Real Mustang; it was an early-70s Mustang II. A Pinto with a Mustang-inspired body.

The Top Gear guys picked the Mustang II among the Worst American cars ever made (S5E16), and I must endorse that choice.  All I remember about the Mustang II was how quickly it fell apart.

Ford committed larceny on a grand scale producing this…thing, and they should be ashamed. Less than six months from a car to a piece of yard art. In between, it was a money vacuum, sucking up dollars and producing only smoke.

RecDave Seal

Part III: Rochester