meditation stone

His father sent him out before they left to harness the mules. He calmed them down by feeding them a little angelica from the garden. As they chewed he listened to the moos from the barn. He took a small stone out of his pocket and looks at it. As he looked at it he imagined the death of the mule. Then the death of the cows in the barn. Then the death of his father, and the rest of his family. Finally his own death. He called it his death stone. He found this exercise gave him a fresh perspective on any situation.

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walk off

He worked hard at giving up. He was addicted to the feeling he got when walked away from an uncompleted project; the shirking of responsibility gave him a thrill he could get no other way. But, the thrill he got was directly proportional to the disappointment he caused in others, which depended on him betraying a strong confidence they had in him. So he had to work a balance, being diligent for a long enough period to build credibility which he could then destroy. He found that he had to work longer and longer and more and more diligently as he craved an increasingly spectacular disappointment.

fund raiser

Through his private network of spies, the government minister learns that the queen he serves will be deposed within the month. He needs funds to set himself up abroad, so he holds a campaign fund raiser. Standing over the spice-rubbed pork, he pledges action in the next legislative term that he knows will never come.

sculpture

Even the gardener’s young children think the lieutenant is being too pretentious when he wants to figure out how to add skin to the animals in his topiary.

flare

Emily’s science fair project on solar ovens comes in handy when the gas is shut off due to a gas line explosion in the neighborhood. The first rumours are of a terrorist attack, but it turns out to be somebody trying to set up an underground meth lab. Emily’s dad said that was worse – which is debated in Emiily’s social studies class.

abjure

J is attending a boarding prep school convinces his friends to set up a formal secret club in imitation of fraternities or secret societies – however it has no affiliations, no creed, and no charity – just oaths of secrecy and loyalty. he falls for a local girl who is working in the school kitchen, and abandons the club to spend time with her. the remaining members begin to let the club lapse until they recruit a new member, who enerizes them around the idea of punishing J for his disloyalty. Showdown at the aquarium.

hook

A bail bondsmen hunts a fugitive surfer. more than once he has found his gear on the beach while the suspect was out catching waves, and waited for him to come back to shore. But it seems he can always sense when the bondsman is waiting for him, and lands somewhere else, abandoning his stuff. He ponders going after him in the water, fantasizes about harpooning his board and towing it behing a jet ski. Some weeks later he gets a chance to try it, and ends up hitting the surfer with the harpoon gun.

spill

The baron had found a large deposit of phosphate mineral on his land, and had set up an operation to produce fertilizer. He was shipping in a lot of hydroclorhic acid for this operation, and the transporter had a spill, which severely burned one of the workers. The baron gave him a light-weight domestic position in the house, taking care of the cats. He opens the cans of catfood using the pole-axes hanging on the wall. But the workers cousin, who is clerk in the city, brings a lawyer in to seek damages. He can no longer work at the estate and must wait at home on the outcome of the suit.

deficit

An auditor visits a forest ranger and finds a deficit, not in the accounts of his supplies, but in his observational notes of flowering trees. He has noted a smaller population of a particular tree than previous rangers. The auditor orders him to come up with an explanation within a month, when he will return for a final review. Otherwise he will be held accountable for the decrease. He could be fired or his wages garnished to fund the re-planting efforts. As he knows the patroness of the forest service is especially fond of those flowers.d

no surrender

Every 5 years the king surrenders to the people in a ceremonial re-enactment the victory of rebel forces which established the rights of commoners and the people’s assembly. This year however the king takes a stand against the corruption of the assembly by private corporations and foreign interests exemplified by the deforestation in the northern province. This tests the loyalty of the army, who constitutionally still obey the king, but for generations have taken orders from the minister of arms, who has sided with the assembly. loyalties are decided at the company level, and some soldiers who don’t agree with their captains defect to other companies.