I have joined the group "Blogging from A to Z" . This is a a month long challenge to write a short story everyday and each day corresponding to the letter of the alphabet. I have linked up the site - simply click on the name so that you might read any sort of short story from the huge line-up available. The stories are supposed to be short so that many can be read, quickly. Simply a titillation of talent. Happy reading, and thank you for joining me. My sister-in-law is writing under "Vicki's Place" currently her placement is #1259. If you are catching this on my Facebook or as an e-mail follower my number is currently #1324. (people drop out and the numbers contract)
U is for Universal
We sat sipping our
cocktails at the bar. Catching up with
old friends is absolutely the best thing to perk a girl up. We had chatted about our lives, our children,
our spouses, and the world in general.
As I ordered us a
second round, I slipped off my sweater.
My jacket was already on the back of an empty chair.
We had met during
the war. During the Great War. Not on the same side of the battle. Which makes our friendship even more
odd. And yet it has lasted most of our
lives. We meet once an Earth year to catch up in person or rather “live”.
The Great War, as
it has become known as. It was actually
an inter-galactic war. War of the
worlds. War of the beings. War.
From my history books I know that the phrase “Was is Hell” was
coined back in 1863 by General William T
Sherman from what was then known as The United States of America.
Things aren’t as
simple now. But, war is still Hell!
We met oddly. It was a holiday every world is required to
celebrate. The Grand Union. A universal celebration of the creation of
the union. A union of economics joining
several galaxies. It even included those
barbarian wildings from the moons of Jupiter; Europa, Lo, Ganymede and
Callisto. Unusual “beings” indeed! They were a frozen species from a frozen orb
they called home. But, I digress. I had begun to tell you why there was a “celebration”.
Out on patrol, on
a forsaken planet, our flight tanker had been shot down. Only one other, besides myself, of my unit survived the crash. Janelle was a spindly thing, she had enlisted
the same time I had. She was from a
planet I only knew as B45. They grew
tall and thin. Her skin, seemed to me,
like tree bark. With just the two of us
alive, we had only each other for moral support. We spoke using a vocal translator. She had
put on the translator and told me her planet was lush and tropical. I always imagined she must have had to grow so
tall and leggy to get close to the sun. By
my calculations, we had been stranded for two Earth months.
Our rations were
low. Quite literally, depleted. By now I was certain she would survive her
wounds, but I wasn’t certain either of us would ever survive that frozen planet. Hunger drove me out of our cavern we had made
into a shelter. I fashioned rabbit-traps
for whatever might stumble into them. I
foraged and fished. I gathered berries
and leaves.
Upon returning to
our hovel, I was met by another pair of eyes.
I dropped the frog-like thing I had fished out of the nearby river. Stepping on its hind leg to keep it from
hopping away, I brandished the pike I had fashioned. Janelle held up a limb, halting me.
This new “being”
was as different from Janelle as I was different from Janelle. I was a medium sized female from Earth. Janelle was a very tall female from B45. I had heard of flight beings, but never seen
one. It has wings. It was blue.
It was almost as big as my hand.
It had a unicorn horn sticking out of its forehead. I was ready to step off the frog-thing and
step on it.
Janelle had the
vocal translator on, “This is Dianthia, or at least that’s as close as I can
get to saying her name. She is a warrior
from the planet Xellio. At least that’s
as close as I can get to saying her planet too.”
“What the
Hell? Why is she here? Here?!”
I could not believe Janelle would allow the enemy into our sanctuary. She had let the blue beast into our safe
haven. My mind reeled. Trying to think of where we would or could go
to get away from the blue beast. My pike
was again at the ready.
“She too is
alone. She is the only one left
here. They have all perished in this
frozen forsaken land. We have won our
battle by default since the enemy cannot survive here, at least not for long. She doesn't know why she lives. She only knows that she is lonely. She has been alone for about a month and
known where we hid for most of that time. She
only just decided she had nothing to lose.
Waiting for you to leave, she snuck in here. Let her stay too. She will go crazy and perish if we turn her
out.”
Of course I wanted
proof. I demanded to see her fallen
comrades. I wanted verification she was
the last. Eyeing the frog-thing I was
standing on, she asked if we could eat first.
That was the start of our friendship.
Hardship. Every year when we
three regroup, we try to find a universal truth.
My face becomes
flush and I fan myself. Janelle laughs
at me and begins to blossom. The blue
beast, Rhondu, she begins to bloat much
like someone had blown up a balloon. Our
universal truth. A truth that is so on
every planet in the universe. We all
move past those reproductive years. All
three of us mark the passage of time; I
have a hot flash, Janelle experiences a
blossom, and Rhondu bloats. It doesn’t matter which planet you are from,
our bodies mark the passage of time.
leigh
While working in
Human Resources at UPS, one of my tasks was to teach new supervisors the
difference between a Job Description and Work Instructions. The Job Description tells you who does a
specific job. The Work instructions tell
you how to accomplish the task. As an
example, after dropping a cardigan sweater onto the floor, one of the new
supervisors had to talk me through putting the sweater back on. Needless to say, I didn’t divert an inch from
the vague initial instructions given, and often wore my sweater either on the
top of my head or as pants!
