savor

They’ve covered the wrong one with mud, I used to say, and my fellow shit-sweeper would laugh at me. You feel emasculated, he said, only because you really aren’t. Have the surgery, and find peace.

the train

The driver’s negligent babble enticed the maulers to wind their garrottes onto the drums of the brakes. The sound of their protest hypercharged the lies being told in the cabin, where the preacher enthralled the passengers with imprecations to be thankful for the absence of roasting embryos.

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reuse

She found an animal in the ocean which looked like it had a piece of plastic attached to it. It was holding on to the plastic with a couple of its appendages. The plastic was scalloped, because the animal tore shards from it to throw behind, to confuse predators the way submarines launch countermeasures against torpedoes. It reminded her of the local artist back home who bemoaned the closing of the garbage dump because he found so much material there.

apocopate

He was brought up to be de-rated down to Youth for failing to keep the platform clear of snow during a large windstorm. he populated his plea with four-syllable words, but his habit of leaving off the final sound made his speech incomprehensible. 

winter

lindsey started a campaign in her apartment building to find out whose vomit and possibly other bodily fluids was frozen in the courtyard. “look i don’t want to judge or shame anyone,” she told robed, befuddled neighbors at their doors in the early morning, “i just want them to clean it up.”

disqualified

he arose from the field dripping with exertion, and saw his rival standing next to the official, trying to wear a look that showed even more concern than was in the official’s face.

tines

a group of refugees encounter several obstacles which force them to divide, each time into three groups. as the groups get smaller it gets harder to decide who will go with whom.

the new sausage

a small company, founded by four friends, develops a wildly popular artificial meat that, unknown to the public, has been developed based on cancer cells. part if their product development is to search out patients with forms of cancer they haven’t seen before, and obtain samples, which requires a release signed by the patient. they include a non-disclosure clause and a large payment, sometimes including royalties.

prefigure

He should have detected her betrayal earlier, even before it happened. He went back over all of his photographs of her looking for signs. He started taking photos of all of his friends at regular intervals, looking for the same signs – a combined preemptive defense and comparative study.

fossil

I took apart the equipment and blew the dust out if all the interior parts. The ground dropped away as the ship entered the canyon of the loss of you. Some of the components had started to ossify, so I put them in the chemical kiln and set it up to finish the job. I promised myself that if I could, I would gradually replace you in my heart, bit by bit. I just needed to find the right material.