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Thunder Rider

Remember when you were a kid and played that game where one person started a story and passed it off to the next person? With all the talent and diversity on the board, I thought it would be interesting to see what happens.

I'll start it.

The rising sun poured in the kitchen window as Ash enjoyed his morning coffee. Trouble was that his morning coffee was actually his evenings coffee. Truth be told it had been two days plus since he had slept. The letter had arrived the day before yesterday and after reading it he had been in such a state of anticipation that his mind would not slow down enough to allow him to relax.

Trixter perched on the chair next to him preening his tail feathers as was him habit. Ash reached over to the bird and scratched him behind his head.

"Trix, how bout we just hit the door and fly away, the two of us? It'd be easier that way."

Ash drained his coffee cup and again picked up the letter. Part of him wishing that somehow, some way, the message had changed.

.....next.....

Prisca

****

It was a sunny afternoon. Ash was on his way home from school, trying to count how many ants he could step on as he walked along the dusty path. He heard a sound and looked up. The sight he saw drew his breath away...

A girl, maybe 10 or 12, was walking on the opposite side of the road to him. Her golden hair was glistening in the sun, blowing across her face as she looked at him. He looked back at her, and instantly knew the meaning of love at first sight. For once, the class clown was lost for words. He could only stare at the beautiful young girl staring back at him.

***

Ash sighed whilst he reminised about the first time he met Zara. It was, what, some 20 years ago? A childhood romance that lasted a couple of years, before fizzling out when Zara's family left town.

Somehow, she still remembered the address of the family home he once lived in, and had re-established contact with him. And now it was only a matter of days before he would see her again. A million questions fluttered in his mind. What would she look like? Would she still be as beautiful as she was as a child? What would she think of him? He looked down at his beer gut. Hmmm, a few too many nights out with the boys had caused that. He breathed in, wondering what he should say.

My God, he thought, I'm still in love....

Nosferatu

Ash figured he'd be better off trying to keep Zara off his mind. He went and got the morning paper off the doorstep and brought it back to the table. The headline read "Jehovazoids declare intergalactic battle on Earth". Ash wasn't surprised. The Jehovazoids were always pissing off the American government with their alien cross-breeding experiments. So far, 114 humans had been artificially inseminated with alien sperm.

Just then, the phone rang. Ash jumped a little as the ring from his rotary phone had frightened him. He picked it up.

"Hello?"
"Ash, It's Turner!"

Turner was Ash's good friend who was helping the American government build weaponds in preparation for the intergalactic battle.

"Listen Ash, I need a really big favor. Do you have any cloves?"....

SheilaM

btt

ADubsFriend

Ash's heart sank...hearing the code words "Do you have any cloves". That meant immediate service. Ash had been a secret agent for 15 years and still he was not used to dropping what he was doing and proceeding directly to The Office to report for duty. It was the reason he was single. It was easier being single than being married. Too many unanswered questions if you were married.

If Ash admitted it, the reason he joined the Agent's was because he only wanted Zara. Once she left, the part of him that cared about much of anything went with her. He dated through school, had his flings, but his heart was not in it. For the last 10 years it was him and his African Grey Trixter. And the Agency.

He could have cried. Why now??? Why must he report when finally after all these years, she was returning? He sat frozen at the chair. He could not move. But, finally, with a heavy sigh, he packed up Trixter, brought him next door and left in his car to report. His neighbor knew only that he would be gone an indetermined amount of time. She would keep his place clean, her husband keep up the yard and they would be paid well.

Four hours later, Zara rang the doorbell. Her heart pounded in her ears. Could she be a silly fool for thinking it was still real? No, she knew the promises they had made to each other. She knew Ash. Ash was not a liar.

She rang and rang on the bell. Suddenly, the woman next door came out and said "Maam, Ash is not home. He went away on a trip and won't be back for quite some time. If you want, though, you can leave your name and number for him. I will see he gets your message when he gets back."

Zara's heart fell. She was a fool after all. "No, thanks" she said "I, well, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I would stop by. No problem....at all..." She hurried away.

The neighbor noticed Zara's tears and Zara quickly turned away and ran to her car.

Big Tex

"Cloves? Dude, I've told you! I'm not into that stuff anymore!" With that Ash slammed the phone down.

There was only one way to calm his tortured mind. He had to have answers. He grabbed a Coke bottle and whistled to Trixter.

"C'mon Trix. Let's go outside."

The little bird hopped up on Ash's finger and he walked out to a tree stump just a few yards from his back door. He sat the bottle down and then carefully stepped out 10 paces. He took off his Spiderman cap and set it down on the ground to mark the spot. He gently placed Trixter on top and began to slowly scan the ground.

"I need 3 rocks Trix."

The little bird tilted his head and chirped softly. Ash turned and smiled softly.

"Do you know where dreams come from, Trix? Acetylcholine neurons fire high, voltage impulses into the forebrain. The impulses become pictures, the pictures become your dream. But no one knows why we choose these particular pictures."

He bent over and picked up a good sized stone.

"The ancient Buddhists used a tantric technique of intuitive deduction. I awoke from a dream I had once about Tibet realizing that I had subconsciously gained knowledge of a certain deductive technique, involving mind-body coordination operating hand-in-hand with the deepest levels of intuition."

Ash came back to the spot and placed the 3 rocks next to the little bird perched curiously atop the blue and red cap. He picked up the first rock, closed his eyes and held it close to his cheek. The question came in a low, guttural voice that caused Trixter to shiver:

Would she still be as beautiful as she was as a child?

Without opening his eyes he instantly threw the rock at the bottle, knocking off the stump. Ash ran over and picked it up.

"The bottle was hit, but not broken Trix. Very interesting."

He came back and picked up the second rock and again closed his eyes. Again the question came, almost painfully eerie:

What would she think of him?

With his eyes shut he quickly threw the rock and this time he heard a loud crash as the rock tore through the kitchen window.

"Hhmmmmm", said Ash. Trixter flapped his wings.

He picked up the last rock and cleared his mind of all thought. He closed his eyes, and saw the hideous images he had tried so hard to forget. His head jerked slightly as he softly almost imperceptibly, uttered the unthinkable:

Why didn't Charlie Brown age in over 50 years of the cartoon strip?

With his eyes closed, he threw the rock and shattered the Coke bottle.

"Oh my God."

Trixter fluttered his wings and hopped down to hide under the Spiderman cap.

Somewhere an owl hooted.

Mac

baboons

ballistic

Ash stirred in his sleep cruising at 16,000 ft on his way to The Office and realised he had been dreaming, "hmmmm dreaming about dreaming", he thought, "how interesting". He thought for a moment he knew the meaning behind the bottles... perhaps he did know where dreams come from after all, but after that small gap between sleep and wakefulness had passed, he couldn't remember. He pondered for a moment feeling slightly anxious over his next assignment, knowing fully well it probably involved spying on the Jehovazoids who had declared intergalactic battle on Earth.

DanTheMan

Once again his thoughts drifted back to Zara. In the 20 years since he had last seen her, she had become the one pure object in his mind, everything else was tainted by his cynical outlook. He longed for the simple days of childhood, when love was true and real and fighting aliens was just a fantasy. Now it seemed that the opposite was true. He heaved an enormous sigh and soon was in a deep sleep.

The jolt of the plane hitting the runway at Ronald Reagan brought an end to his slumber. Soon I'll be seeing Turner, he thought. He and Turner had met as young recruits at the Agency's boot camp. They became quick friends. Turner played the comic and Ash was his foil, nobody could make Ash laugh like Turner. But the direness of the situation with the Jehovazoids would probably put a damper on their comedy routine.

mouthy

Ash looked down at his featherd friend & thought "A bird on the hand is worth two on the bush"

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