Wild Words, Volume 2

Wild Words

Volume 2

An Anthology of 155 Short Stories, Poetry and Essays

from 14 Brilliant Authors of the

Writers’ Kickstart Group

Compiled and Edited by Robert Holt,

Toni K. Kief and Lavon Clark

Cover Art composited by Robert Holt

ISBN: 9781311167071

Copyright Toni K. Kief Publishing 2015

Published by Toni K. Kief Publishing at Smashwords

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, ecording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owners of this book, or of the individual authors of the specific parts to be reproduced or stored.

The stories and poems in this book are works of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons, living, dead, undead, or in transition, or places, events or locales on Earth or anywhere else in spacetime is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the authors’ wild imaginations and are used fictitiously (and often humorously).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1: A CASE FOR REAL VIRTUALITY

The Case for Real Virtuality By D. Ellsworth Hoag

In Praise of Traditional Values by Bill Zettler

The Case for Real Virtuality by Robert Holt

Virtuality by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 2: THE BUS PULLED AWAY

The Bus Pulled Out by D. Ellsworth Hoag

It Was Just A Bar by Orion T. Hunter

And The Bus Pulled Away by Corry Reynolds

A Cancelled Ticket by D. Ellsworth Hoag

And The Buss Pulled Away by Laura Smedley

Redemption by Janice Bell Huddleston

Patience by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 3: COOKIE CONSPIRACY

It’s A Conspiracy by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Big Trouble on a Small Ship by Orion T. Hunter

The Cookie Conspiracy by Dave Overgard

The Bake-Off by Laura Smedley

The Cookie Conspiracy by Susan Brown

CHAPTER 4: THE HOKEY POKEY

Hokey Pokey by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Saturday Night in the South by Orion T. Hunter

Dear Inspector Waltham: by Toni Kief

Hokey by Karl A. Kummin

Deception by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 5: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Betwixt by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Between Two Worlds by Robert Holt

Between Worlds by Janice Bell Huddleston

A Convoluted Approach to Prompts by Laura Smedley

Master of His Universe by Toni Kief

Worlds by Karl A. Kummin

Blue Black Wing by Michael S. Winecoff

CHAPTER 6: SOMEWHERE I LOST AN INCH

Shrinking by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Lost by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 7: TWO MEN AND A FLAPPING TARP

Perception of Political Debate by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Eastern Wild’s Extreme Racing by Laura Smedley

Rebirth by Robert Holt

Two Men and a Flapping Tarp by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 8: LUST IS A MUST

Lusty by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Tarp by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 9: NORTHWEST SUNGLASSES

Paradox by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Northwestern Sunglasses by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 10: STARBUCKS SHORTAGE

Shortage of Star Bucks by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Starbucks Shortage by Michael S. Winecoff

CHAPTER 11: IS THERE PASSAGE AFTER DUSK?

Mystic Passage by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Is There Passage At Dusk by Janice Bell Huddleston

Passage by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 12: THE MACHINE DOESN'T CARE

Mechanical Indifference by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Machine by Karl A. Kummin

Machine Don’t Care by Janice Bell Huddleston

The Machine Doesn’t Care by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 13: GIVE HER THE USUAL

Give Us A Smile by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Give Her The Usual by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 14: THAT'S NOT FAIR!

Unfair by D. Ellsworth Hoag

The Trouble With Cat-alogs by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 15: SHE DIED WHILE FIXING BREAKFAST

She Died When? by D. Ellsworth Hoag

An Incremental Death by Janice Bell Huddleston

Eggs or Oatmeal by Toni Kief

Breakfast by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 16: WHERE DO YOU GO TO FIND PEACE?

Parent’s Dilemma by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Spirit by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 17: BEFORE THE BONFIRE

Before the Bonfire by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Before the Bonfire by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 18: LAST THING ON MY LIST

Last On The List by D. Ellsworth Hoag

The Last Thing On The List by Toni Kief

List by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 19: A STRANGER’S GOODBYE

Farewell by D. Ellsworth Hoag

A Stranger’s Goodbye by Janice Bell Huddleston

A Strange Goodbye by Toni Kief

Stranger by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 20: YOUR TEETH ARE ON THE COUNTER

Expected Outcome by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Bile by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 21: THINGS TAKE UP RESIDENCE

Place of Residence by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Drifters by Bill Zettler

Faces In The Doors by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 22: I'LL BET SHE WAS A NUN

Italian Prediction by D. Ellsworth Hoag

I’ll Bet She Wasn’t A Nun by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 23: HE HAS A DRINKER'S SUNBURN

Political Correctness by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Drinker’s Sunburn by Janice Bell Huddleston

CHAPTER 24: THE UNREACHABLE DESTINATION

Can’t Get There by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Unreachable Destination by Janice Bell Huddleston

Bed by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 25: THE NIGHT PRESSED AROUND HER

A Knight To Remember by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Naked Imagination by Janice Bell Huddleston

CHAPTER 26: A CLOSET PILLOW POUNDER

With Fists? by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Pounder by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 27: SHE SEES WHAT SHE IMAGINES

Imagine by D. Ellsworth Hoag

She Sees What She Feels by Toni Kief

The Book Worm by Dave Overgard

CHAPTER 28: THE RED BOX

Box by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Ghost of a Chance by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 29: BLUE EDGED SIDE OF DARKNESS

Eclipse Ends by D. Ellsworth Hoag

The Blue-Edged Side of Darkness Charley Horse Blues by Robert Holt

The Blue-Edged Side of Darkness by Janice Bell Huddleston

More Than a Colonel by Toni Kief

Patriot by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 30: WHITE MOON OF WINTER

The Nature Of Science by D. Ellsworth Hoag

White Moon of Winter by Janice Bell Huddleston

CHAPTER 31: WHEN I RULED THE WORLD

Reign Of My World by D. Ellsworth Hoag

AMTRAK by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 32: SHE TOSSED IT

Tossed It by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Tossed by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 33: THE BEST LAID PLANS

Plan On It by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Best Laid Plans by Toni Kief

Laid by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 34: DON’T GET COMFORTABLE

Watch Out by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Don’t Get Comfortable by Toni Kief

Comfort by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 35: GONE AGAIN

Gone Again by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Gone Again by Dave Overgard

CHAPTER 36: IN SURREAL TIME

Of Time by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Surreal to Real by Toni Kief

Surreal by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 37: WHISKEY BEFORE BREAKFAST

The Proof (70 to 90) by D. Ellsworth Hoag

The Adventure That Never Happened by Robert Holt

Whiskey by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 38: LOST IN THE PAGES

Tolstoy And Solzhenitsyn by D. Ellsworth Hoag

The Calling by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 39: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Pachyderm by D. Ellsworth Hoag

The Elephant in the Room by Robert Holt

Elephants and Alcoholics by Janice Bell Huddleston

CHAPTER 40: FALSE POSITIVE

False Positive by D. Ellsworth Hoag

False Positive by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 41: KELLY BLUE BOOK

Fake Book by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Blue Book Value by Robert Holt

789 by Dave Overgard

Bus Stop by Toni Kief

Kelly’s Blue Book by Mikelle Gaines

CHAPTER 42: DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM

Identification by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Know by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 43: BIZARRE BAZAAR

Funny Business by D. Ellsworth Hoag

A Passage to Carnalia by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 44: DEEP INTO THE MYSTIC

Mystic by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Deep into the Mystic by Dave Overgard

Mystic by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 45: HE UNFASTENED HER MIND IN HEARTBEAT TIME

Button down by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Unfastened by Janice Bell Huddleston

CHAPTER 46: SHE HAD A HORSE'S FACE

A Woman Of Many Parts by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Born in the Year of the Horse by Toni Kief

Horse by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 47: I'LL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK

Love And Hope by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Into the Dark by Dave Overgard

CHAPTER 48: LAST WORDS

Specialty Shoes by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Last by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 49: HARVEST MOON

I Can’t Stay Down by D. Ellsworth Hoag

The Quiet Kiss of Night by Toni Kief

CHAPTER 50: SHE LET HER HAIR DOWN

Rabbit Farm by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Jesus by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 51: MIDNIGHT BLUE

Mid Noc Cyan by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Midnight Blue by Janice Bell Huddleston

Midnight Blue by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 52: A MOMENT OF YEARNING

Longings by D. Ellsworth Hoag

A Moment Of Yearning’s Last Call by Janice Bell Huddleston

Reverie by Robert Holt

CHAPTER 53: DARK STAR SAFARI

Black Star Safari by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Following the Dark Star by Toni Kief

Operation Dark Star Safari by Robert Holt

Safari by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 54: PINES PIERCING THE SKY

Night Tide by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Woods by Janice Bell Huddleston

John Doe by Toni Kief

Pines by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 55: A LITERARY CHARACTER'S LETTER TO THE AUTHOR

A Letter To Louis (Carroll) by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Dear Dr. Doyle by Robert Holt

Dear Steph: by Toni Kief

Pooh by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 56: SEX AT 60

Sex at Sixty by D. Ellsworth Hoag

Sexual Segues by Janice Bell Huddleston

Sixty by Karl A. Kummin

CHAPTER 57: THEMES AND SUCCESSION

First three chapters of: A Plea In The Darkness by Robert Holt

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

Preface

Whether you are young or old, writing can be an enjoyable experience, a great hobby, or a decent job. Yet at times, writers need a little help generating ideas for things to write about. Doubtless, you have heard of writer’s block, the dreaded condition of being unable to think of anything to write. Sometimes, a writer, just like an old car, needs a kick-start. That’s where our group, The Writers Kickstart Group comes in. Twice each month, we gather and share short stories based on prompts provided at the previous meeting.

A prompt is an idea, usually given as a few words, or a phrase, and submitted to the group by its members. Usually, three prompts are presented, and the individual writer may use one as the basis for a short story, or combine them, or simply generate their own ideas. If you’ve been skimming through the Table of Contents, you have already seen fifty-six examples of prompts, our Chapter headings.

It doesn’t even matter whether the word or phrase appears in the story, the prompts are simply available to stimulate ideas for writing. And you will see that each writer derives wildly different stories or poems from each prompt.

For streamlining our group meetings, we have only one rule...a very loose rule...that each author try to limit the text to about five-hundred words, which technically makes it flash fiction (stories of less than 1000 words), so that everyone has a chance to read their story to the group during each meeting. That doesn’t always work, but we have found that up to twenty members can easily read their work to the group within a two-hour time frame.

Each chapter of our anthology provides one example of a prompt we have used within the past year, and some of the wild ideas our various authors have written based on that prompt. You will note that while some of the prompts generate a great many good ideas, some completely fizzle, and our authors choose something else to write about. You will also find that some of these stories could be assigned to more than one prompt, as their authors have combined two or more prompts for that particular story. It’s something that’s often fun to try, and sometimes it works amazingly well. At any rate, you’ll find quite a bit of variation in what different writers have written with each prompt. You’ll note that we have elected to begin each chapter with a short poem. Oh, you’ll also find that some of the stories and poems are definitely adult fare, and NOT for the children.

We hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER 1: A CASE FOR REAL VIRTUALITY

The Case for Real Virtuality

by

D. Ellsworth Hoag

God sat in his anteroom

And thought about man.

Now that was sure a flaw

In his master plan.

"He’s trying to recreate his mind

With wire and chips."

To stop a deafening belly laugh

God had to bite his lips.

He’s cloning life from building blocks

I gave away

I wonder if he’s clever enough

To make it out of clay?

He’s gotten awful pompous

With virtual reality

Doesn’t he know all things

Are just a thought from me?

Yes, he’d probably chalk it up

To pure absurdity,

If I pointed out I’d perfected

Real virtuality.

IN PRAISE OF TRADITIONAL VALUES

by

Bill Zettler

Proximity equals bandwidth equals intimacy. Distance equals individuality equals privacy.

These are the concepts which have defined our race for millennia. Their simplicity masks the deeper meaning they contain.

Since animalkind first walked upon dry land, and evolved to form Man, since he first started evolving himself, first by augmenting his animal senses artificially, and then by shedding the bonds of the larval form itself, allowing Brain to bloom, these concepts have been ever with us in one form or another.

With the shedding of the animal shell, early brainkind suffered its absence, until it once again overcame these obstacles, and the limitations inherent in animal brains, until all aspects of animal gender, hunger, and desire had been cast off.

Since then, Brain has continued to evolve, our morphology becoming changeable to suit mentation or style, and the organic animal synapses replaced by durable, immortal forms. Our communications evolved to embrace direct intercerebral contact via molecular chemical interaction. How our joy multiplied on discovering we could swim in each other's thoughts! And any brains wishing to reproduce, singly or in groups, could detach and combine their own tissues and allow them to grow in the community substrate, spontaneously forming new brains, new unique citizens.

Even then, the twin universal truths of intimacy and privacy were unchanged from animaltime. We could not taste the thoughts of those at a distance, and in those cases were forced to use narrow expository forms to give and receive data, to sip the thoughts of those not present, and to miss the comfort of their thoughts nearby.

So it is with great trepidation that I see some of our younger brains experimenting with newer morphologies, abandoning the very chemical basis of our experience, and risking, in their haste, the loss of the simple, timeworn principles that go beyond the physical reality of our construction.

I speak, of course, of the abuse of the sub-quantum relay. Developed to attempt communications with the Moloch Quasar, which we've long known to be sentient, the narrow-pulse sub-quantum relay takes proximity out of the equation entirely, rendering the 15 million light-year distance to Moloch irrelevant. We now learn that an earnest and brash contingent of younger brains, in their disappointment with the project's failure, intends to massively adapt themselves to the experimental relay on a synaptic level, and form a gestalt being, a combined brain greatly exceeding the informational/associative radius imposed both by the physics of chemical and electromagnetic propagation and common sense, for the singular purpose of attempting to saturate, through directed concentration, the secondary sub-quantum layer in a localized space, in the hopes that they might penetrate through to the tertiary, where it is believed wide-pulse instantaneous transmission might be possible, and where they might look into Moloch's eyes at last.

Allow this tired old Brain to theorize on the project's failure: when communications are instantaneous, infinitely wide, and no longer dependent on proximity, there is no difference between communicating with Moloch and being Moloch. Revelation and communication are not merely abbreviated, but fall away altogether, as one instantly crosses over from brainkind to Moloch-kind.

The only proximity that matters now will be the distance between the home mass of brainkind and this group, if and when they discover that the tertiary layer does not exist (in which case their saturation of the secondary layer, known forever thereafter as the zone of hyperdense stupidity, will only result in a massive quantum explosion), and that Moloch's silence is due to simple indifference or other unseen factors.

Were I to cease communications with this band of irresponsible souls, it would not be for lack of technological advancement.

But youth is ever headstrong, ever eager to disregard the wisdom of age. I fear my thoughts will find only ridicule.

Those of us steeped in the songs and dreams of our forebeings have to ask: Where will it all end?

The Case for Real Virtuality

by

Robert Holt

Donald’s mother was dying. Alzheimer’s Dementia was a cruel way to go. Over the course of five years her memories were stolen from her, one by one, as her brain physically shrank. She became less and less communicative as she lost mobility, her behaviors became more childish, and eventually, as death neared, infantile. Donald found it so distressing to watch, he rarely visited the care facility where his mother lay, awaiting an ignominious end.

When he did visit, Donald wondered whether there was anything he could do to ease her passing, to make her last hours, and her passing more pleasant. But he was just an electronics engineer, not a medical doctor, and knew nothing of the brain’s physiology, other than the fact that some electronic circuits could mimic the functions of the brain’s neural pathways. So his mother weakened and died, oblivious, unable even to recognize the presence of her son.

A year had gone by before Donald came up with an awesome idea. He’d been playing around with artificial intelligence, neural circuitry, off and on for some months, and had just discovered a safe method of connecting a computer to the brain of a rat, using his own design for a neural pulse amplifier. If he could create a virtual reality program that could be injected directly into the mind of a rat, causing it to follow the virtual scent of food to a virtual dish of food pellets, he should be able to program, say, a virtual day at the beach for a dying patient.

Donald took a month of vacation time from his job to develop his idea, and before three weeks had passed, he had not only a working neural pulse interface that would attach to a patient’s head with an elastic band, but he had recorded and programmed the playback of two separate scenarios; a two-hour segment of a person sitting on a chair by the beach, watching the sea gulls chase the waves and dig for food; and a two hour segment of sitting on the porch of a mountain cabin, watching and listening to the antics of the birds, the foxes and coyotes, and the breezes rustling the leaves of the trees. Donald sat through each scenario, an elastic band with transducers and cables from the pulse amplifier stretched round his cranium, his eyes closed, but seeing everything as clearly as he had seen it while recording it with his video camera. When at last he removed the head-band and stood up, his phone rang.

Donald Doyle? said the voice on the line.

Yes, this is Don Doyle. How may I help you?

Mr. Doyle, this is Dr. Nolan at Mercy West. Your father has been in a car accident. Yours was the number for next of kin on his emergency card. I just got out of emergency surgery, and I’m afraid there’s not much we could do for him. You’ll want to get down here as quickly as possible.

You’re saying he’s dying?

The collision caused cranial hemorrhaging, and though we were able to stop the bleeding and clear away the blood, the swelling of the brain has put him into a coma.

I see. I’ll be there as soon as I can.

Hanging up, Donald looked around the room and made a rapid decision. He packed his laptop computer, the neural pulse amplifier, the cables, and the original and spare neural interface bands into his backpack, and left.

At the hospital, the charge nurse at the surgical desk pinged for the doctor, who met him at the door to his father’s ICU room.

Now before you go in, you need to know his stats are dropping, there was also extensive damage to his chest from being crushed by the steering wheel, and the collapse of the dashboard. There’s an airway inserted, because he’s not breathing on his own, so even if he were to awaken, he wouldn’t be able to speak. But his coma has deepened. His lungs and cardiac muscle have been bruised and only time and, perhaps, prayer can help with that.

You’re saying he won’t even recognize me, my voice? Don asked.

He might be able to hear you, so you should definitely talk to him, and hold his hand. If you can get him to pay attention, it could stimulate his recovery; but I have to be honest with you, he’s not particularly stable. I don’t have much hope. Dr. Nolan led Donald into the room.

The nearly unrecognizable man on the bed had cables and tubes connected to his bandaged body, though there were brainwave detector tape disks on the sides of his forehead. An IV rig pinged regularly as two bags of clear liquid dripped into the tubes. A monitor displayed a slow heartbeat, and low, irregular brain waves. Donald moved to the side of the bed and took a right hand, the only part of Corry Doyle’s body that appeared unscathed from the accident.