James Pyles's Blog, page 151
May 6, 2018
From Wind to Steam
Lee Guzman had been operating his small, hot air balloon business for five years, but he always got the same question. “You sure this thing is safe?” “You bet, Craig. As easy as riding a bicycle.” The latest pair to grace his gondola were Craig and Shawn Tucker, brothers who ran a parcel delivery service […]
May 5, 2018
Submersible Disaster
“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” –Abraham Lincoln “Ma’am, move!” Nine-year-old Josiah Covington pushed hard against Keisha’s stomach as she was trying to shield him from a barrage of bullets. Her back was to the door and she expected to be dead in the next few seconds, […]
The First Explorers to Return from the Moon
Cavor’s insane invention worked too well. In the year of our Lord 1899, genius (or mad) inventor and scientist Joseph Cavor convinced Arnold Bedford and his dear fiancée Katherine Callender, to join him in entering his spherical space vessel powered by a substance called Cavorite. Arnold and Kate did so on a lark, not believing […]
The President’s Ill-Fated Proposal
President Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Henry Seward stood at what was called the Temple of the God of Wind at Tulum gazing northeast over the waters toward the island of Corzumel. Mexican President Benito Juarez summarily dismissed Lincoln’s proposal for American freed slaves to be relocated to that small bit of land off the […]
May 4, 2018
Desperate Attack
“A child needs a grandparent, anybody’s grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world.” –Charles and Ann Morse The elevator was rocketing downward so fast, Keisha thought she was going into free fall and grabbed the ornate wood and ivory safety bars that were attached halfway up the walls. Forcing panic and […]
May 3, 2018
Police Pursuit
Some people don’t believe in heroes, but they haven’t met my Grandpa. –Anonymous Keisha sat frozen in the pilot’s seat of the airship Graceful Delight as the image of her Grandpa, forty years younger than the day he died, stood like a living apparition just ten feet in front of her. “Did you hear me? […]
The Forest
The Beginning of the Saga of the Davidson Children Five children abruptly found themselves at night in a dark forest being drenched during a thunderstorm. “Mandy! What happened? Where’s Mom and Dad?” Thirteen-year-old Amanda Davidson felt panic rise her chest. Where were her brothers and sisters? What happened to their parents? How did they get […]
May 2, 2018
Aerial Encounter
“Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.” –Alex Haley Keisha guided, or so she thought, the ornately decorated airship “Graceful Delight” out of the gigantic hanger set upon a massive floating derrick just off of Alameda. However she was about to discover there’s a difference between reading and memorizing instructions, and […]
The Family I Never Knew Before
“What’s that, Grandpa?” “Just stuff for the tourists, Jimmy. Come along.” Above his Dad’s wishes, eleven-year-old Jimmy’s first meeting with his Grandpa included a visit to the Rez at Pine Ridge. Dad left home when he was sixteen, joined the Air Force, got married, had a son, and never looked back. But eventually it was […]
The Retreat
“You’re building a cabin here, Grandpa? Why?” “There’s nothing here, Cece. I’ll have that wreck up top demolished and put my cabin there.” The eleven-year-old still couldn’t understand. “But no electricity, plumbing, or wifi? Yikes.” “Solar will provide electricity, and the water and sewage lines run this far out. No wifi’s the point” “I’d die.” […]
