Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 4 of 37
~ **Chapter 4 ~** Four-Thirty could not have come quickly enough. "I know, ma'am," I repeat myself. My foot eagerly tapped against a wheel of my chair at ten times per second. I shifted in my seat just about as often, too. "I... Yes, ma'am......
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 3 of 37
~ **Chapter 3 ~** Three-thirty a.m. on the dot as I roll over and reach for a cigarette. I barely have a sheet covering my groin in this heat. Out of what? Respect? Out of privacy? Neh, out of habit. No one's around here anymore for me to care if I...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 2 of 37
**~ Chapter 2 ~** Four Thirty and the day droned on. Handling irate customer phone calls wasn't my idea of a fun time by any length. After eight hours I was ready to suffer the mid-day heat to get out of the cool but cramped hell that was customer...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 1 of 37
**~ Chapter 1 ~** It is 3:24 in the morning and I had just scared myself awake again. My dream, my nightmare for the past three months has always been the same. I never remember it when I wake up but when I fall asleep it is as vivid, as dark, as...
Better Angels: Part 2
**Nubian Desert** Jack ached and his metal leg was starting to seize again. His fur was matted with a mix of desert sand and crusted salt from his and Ophelia's stowing away on a seafaring paddle steamer carrying scrap steel from London. Dust...
Better Angels part 1
London Jack stood aside from the other guests in the museum's grand reception room. He held a small plate of hors d'oeuvres given to him by an indifferent stewardmouse and favored his stiffening Vanderbilt leg; its fluids running low. Around the...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 32 of 37
**~ Chapter 32 ~** The best view of the city is, hands down, the Cliffside Promenade on Mt. Adams just East of the city. Mt. Adams was more of a giant, steep hill than it was a proper mountain. Despite the steep geography surrounding the...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 33 of 37
**~ Chapter 33 ~** "I'm going home soon," Becky said with conviction. "What?" I looked up from the checker board sitting on Becky's swivel-tray. She was red, I was black. She was winning, of course, but I almost had a piece on her...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 31 of 37
**~ Chapter 31 ~** Colins Avenue, where Kat and Tiffany lived, was a shaded boulevard lined with oaks and elms. Most of the shaded parking spots on the street were taken. I didn't blame the drivers, I could still feel the difference between...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 30 of 37
**~ Chapter 30 ~** Infinitá was packed this evening. I sipped a drink and watched the crowds from my seat at the booths. It allowed me to oversee a good portion of Infinitá's first floor while remaining unobtrusive. There were a few people I was...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 29 of 37
**~ Chapter 29 ~** I didn't have a car to take me to Chesim this time, but at least the day was hovering around a comfortable seventy degrees; actually a somewhat warm day after a cold spell. I chewed on a couple of mints and settled in for a...
Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 37 of 37 - End
**~ Chapter 37 ~** The hours that followed my escape up the tunnel, hell the days and weeks afterward are fading from my memory. Time goes, I grow, memories repose. Kat and Tiffany were waiting in the club. I said something to them, but I've...