Doing Free Time
Will opened the letter from Stupendous
Stories. He had just sent "Revenge of the Kudzu-Eaters"
two days ago, and here was the reply. "Dear Mr. Stockton. It
is with profound regret that I write to inform you..." A
rejection! Well, he'd revise the story and send it to Daring Tales.
He was pondering "which" vs "that", when the
phone rang.
"Hello."
"Hi Will, want to go to the
movies?"
"Aw, Mary Ann, I'm in the middle
of a story..."
"But I didn't see you at all last
weekend. What's the new story about?"
"I'm revising Kudzu-Eaters."
"SS didn't like it? That story
was great!"
"Thank you. Look, I'll call you
when I get done. Promise."
A new story. He did have an idea about
a sequel to the classic "Mole Men" tale.
"The black needle ships
descended in their thousands, disgorging the sinuous bodies of the
Mustelid Marine. Ambush predators by nature, they made the ideal
guerrilla warriors...."
He quit working on "Attack of the
Space Weasels" when he got too hungry to think.
10:30. Too late to call Mary Ann now.
He assembled a turkey sandwich. Then he made a second one.
In the morning, he kept his eye on the
mailbox. As soon as the postman arrived, Will was out there to get
the mail.
Not counting junk mail and bills there
was a letter from Stupendous Stories and one from Daring Tales.
The envelope from Daring Tales
contained "Kudzu-Eaters" – which he had only put in the
mail that morning. Stupendous Stories had accepted "...Space
Weasels." He looked over at the computer, where the unfinished
story showed on the screen.
"I wonder how it ends," he
thought.
He reached for the phone. "Mary
Ann? I've got some time tonight; still want to see that movie?"
Before they left he jotted down a note: "write something about
an empire in an underground lake."
The next day he received $350 payment
for "Empire of Darkness," and another $275 for the sequel.
Will quickly settled into the practice
of coming up with story ideas and collecting checks for the unwritten
stories.
Three months later he was arrested for
the murder of his wife Mary Ann.
"I haven't even married her,"
he protested.
"You will," Sheriff Sims said
grimly.
Publ. Daily Cabal 2008
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