Category: Light-Years In The Dark
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Reflections
She might just as well have been her cat chasing after a reflection of light dancing across the wall. The mercurial vision of who she was kept eluding her. In a flash traveling backwards she glimpsed herself timeless as a child. On the surface of the mirror she saw her renewed face. The bandages removed,…
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Survivors
Survivors of the last war were gathered in a small circle to discuss their luck. Each argued his or her case. Each claimed to be innocent victims of an inevitable systemic breakdown, but bargained for their share of guilt. Each told their side of the story and was accused of lying to the others. Regretting…
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Conception
At the time of her conception she was floating on a ship in the arctic waters. Her parents had consumed far too much champagne the night of their fiftieth anniversary party and they let this tidbit of information slip out about their amorous meeting on a cruise to Alaska. It happened so unexpectedly, innocently, they…
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Transition
Once, actually several times, I was stranded in a place where people came and went. They never stayed for long. They had schedules. They had arriving and departing flights. They traveled with changes of clothing and currency to exchange. They often appeared lost and tired and in need of direction. They passed the time listening…
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Wings
She was a child not a pet, and a girl not a toy, but his tormenting bordered on cruelty only man knew how to inflict on another. They first met as children. He pulled her ponytails. He made her laugh until she cried. He called her brain dead, vegetable head, along with all the other…
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Prophecy
The poet had gone insane. Ingesting a chemical substance believed by pundits of religious esoterica to be the forbidden route to God. Discovered near a dead sea were scrolls of his work written under the influence with his senses heightened and deranged, was how they came to be. Found in a vision – picture this…
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Prayer
At the edge of a cliff lived a man who sang praises to the wind. What kept him alive was the desire to reach the ultimate dream of perfection which he hoped he might someday achieve. In a house built of stone and wood he prayed for answers while awaiting guidance in the colors of…
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Omniscience
On route to experience the paranormal, I walked for days through a downpour of incessant wind and rain, climbing out of the storm by traversing the face of a cliff to its uppermost ridge. I found myself standing at the rim of a dormant volcano, an island high above an ocean of clouds. I was…
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Blame
Three men sat at a table to analytically dissect the reasons for their lives going to hell. After numerous drinks and several helpings of the house specialty of lamb they found many people to recriminate besides themselves. And when asked to leave because of their boisterous conduct they blamed the waiter and unanimously agreed not…
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Devices
I was detained and held captive by a man who sought to conquer the world. He had stockpiled an arsenal of weapons dating back to the birth of civilization – Babylonian spears, Roman catapults, Samurai swords, medieval crossbows, grenades, missiles – a virtual museum. These trophies of war were hung from ceilings, displayed in glass…