slaughter deacon

As part of the historical reenactment, they performed actual animal sacrifice and examined the entrails to decide which side should be victorious that year.

manumission

He freed everyone that he knew for certain were not his children. Those he had doubts about he sold with contractual riders they not be freed for at least fifteen years. Those he were his, he sold into service in the merchant ships or mines, which were exempt from any slavery regulations. The proceeds of the sales went into a scholarship fund for those he had set free.

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entanglement herald

Before he could lose his temper it was diffracted through several emotional prisms he wore strung on a necklace. They channelled all of his insults into a feed that he could review later with a therapist or with his friends over a beer. They later became part of the police and court records. He never contemplated a situation in which they would prevent rather than enable his reacting appropriately.

strong force

The prison’s rusty bars demonstrated the disdain the hegemony had for us. By the time we arrived we were too dehumanized, too neurotic to think of escape.

horizontal visibility

The divorced kid crept along hiding under a small animal skin. and when his liquids started to ooze out over the ground, he growled to cover it up.

decapitation parade

The racks each held eight people, suspended from their necks. They were carried by two poles. It took several people on each pole to lift one rack and carry it down the street. I didn’t count beyond four racks. I’m sure there were more. More people trod along to the side of the racks, holding the cables. They needed special gloves to hold the cables without cutting your hands. Those that couldn’t get the gloves helped by pulling the arms of those who grasped the cables. They pulled from both sides of the street, tightening around the neck of one of those hanging, until the cable went through and the body dropped to the ground. The head remained on the rack, which was suddenly lighter and easier to carry down the street. The crowd lining either side cheered. One of those hanging from the racks, he was probably fourteen, kept calling for his father. “Dad, dad, dad, dad! Nobody’s helping me. Why aren’t you helping me? Dad, dad, dad!”

shell model

Stem cells implanted in the cactus spurred the growth of legume-like structures. They were delicious, especially with a little garlic and oil, but after every time I ate them I was overcome with uncrontrollable shame.

twenty-five horrifying hours

Because the brush was too close to the wires. Because I didn’t do the pruning I should have. Because I was scared by a stupid bug and didn’t want to go near it anymore. A spark when I switched on the deck lights started a fire which burned down the house.

maximum usable frequencies

They stopped the ambulance when they realized the patient had been trying to modify the instrument to release it from approved the household format.

tunneled

Their pet dog dug up a large eggshell on the beach. The weird thing is it was wrapped in mosquito netting.