James Pyles's Blog, page 173
January 3, 2018
She Treats Us Like Her Children
A moment ago, seven-year-old Danilo was holding his little three-and-a-half-year-old sister Marikit in his arms. He was sitting on concrete steps in a filthy alley in Tondo where everyone was poor and there was no one to help. “I promise little Mari, I will take care of you.” He stroked her hair knowing it wasn’t […]
Whatever Happened to Jamaica?
“What is it, Al?” “Beats me Enrico, but my calculations say we’ve got another twelve hours and nineteen minutes to find out before the next reality shift occurs.” “We wouldn’t be in this mess if that plane carrying MIT’s experimental quantum resonator hadn’t overshot JFK International and crashed in Queens. I wonder why only Jamaica […]
January 2, 2018
Remembering Two Lives: Expanded Story
Landon remembered two childhoods and this was the second time he had turned twenty years old. Sitting on a bench on the Greenbelt by the Boise River, he contemplated how ordinary life had become as a university student. Every night he dreamed he was someplace else. Every night he dreamed he was someone else. Contemplating […]
Remembering Two Lives
Landon remembered two childhoods. Sitting at the Lauderdale Marina, he contemplated his ordinary life as a twenty-year-old student. “Are you a crane or a morphing bloodslayer about to rip out my throat?” The crane ignored the NSU sophomore and waited for its next meal to appear. He had been nine and his sister Dani was turning three […]
The Unwanted Gift
The public hoped after the spaceship carrying Klaatu and the robot Gort launched from the Ellipse just south of the White House, that it was all over. The newspapers, radio, and TV broadcasts reported the full text of the speech the alien had given to the international group of scientists assembled at the park by […]
Connectivity
People assumed he saw everything all at once, but if that were true, clearly the sensory overload would have driven him crazy the first half-second he’d been connected. The only reason it was possible at all was because of his unusual brain structure, specifically a complex network of interconnections that “shadowed” the typical systemic neurology […]
A Brief Respite from Hell
Finally I can relax for a little while. It’s such a nice afternoon. I don’t own a boat but I love this marina. The bird doesn’t have a care. Oh to be like the bird simply standing in the water near a small tree waiting for lunch to swim by. I know the people on […]
January 1, 2018
Resolution by Time Travel
“We cannot start over, but we can begin now and make a new ending.” -Zig Ziglar Operation Tic-Toc physicist Dr. Anthony Newman couldn’t let Senator Leroy Clark shut down the Time Tunnel project. He’d devoted five years of his life working with an elite team of scientists and engineers to perfect time travel, but that […]
A Quiet Evening’s Conversation
“So you often find yourself on this galloping horse.” “Every time I’m asleep, Doctor. It’s terrifying.” The Psychiatrist’s office was what you would expect. His desk was near the window. It and the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves to the right were crafted from pink ivory. The desktop was immaculate. The calendar, clock, pen set all precisely and […]
Spectacular in Flaming Gold
Mila’s gown sparkled in effervescent gold as she entered the ballroom that was hosting the midnight gala. She held a glass of champagne in her hand as if she were royalty. From somewhere to her left, a flautist and guitarist were playing Schubert’s Ständchen. It was one of her favorites so he must have arranged it. She watched […]
