An Ounce of Prevention
The crosses borne by the two-wheeled outdoorsman were two in number. One was sand and the lack of traction that accompanies it. Second was the confusion amongst the title held by those who enjoyed the sport of mountain biking. Those who preferred their...
A Stitch in Time
If there was one thing that irked Ewan Rickard, it was a rider who neglected to maintain their equipment. For several, biking was merely a hobby. An occasional dalliance upon which to spend a Sunday afternoon. He couldn't blame them though; most of...
You Bet Your Ass!
"Come on, I'll give you three to one odds, three to one!" Private Mack Stewart's pleas for another chance to swindle his fellow soldiers out of their hard-earned money fell on deaf ears. Groans and dismissing waves were all he got in response to...
Valium & Vodka: Chapter One
Reid Travis rolled half-asleep into the parking lot of his apartment complex in a dated Chevrolet pickup truck just before five AM. Roads, cars, and buildings warped around him in his drunken haze. In the morning, he would admonish himself for...
The Pussy's Panties
The sky was milk white, broken only by towers of thick, black smoke that rose into the air above the battlegrounds of dystopia. Distant pops of gunfire could be heard calling over the buildings of the decaying, urban metropolis. Somewhere, something...
Chelsea
Machine gun fire chattered in the distance, each rapidly succeeding sonic boom of a round fired from an RPK dying out in the rolling hills of Afghanistan's Korengal Valley; one of the deadliest locations in the country. This was the soundtrack to...
In The Doghouse: Chapter One
Every day was a new start for Reid Travis. The sunny, mild, California mornings greeted him with easterly sunrises and fair weather to which he could complete his morning routine, which now no longer consisted of alcohol consumption before noontime...
A Dish Best Served Cold
"Got anywhere else you have to be tonight?" It had been a good dinner, not just in the quality of the food, but also in that of the conversation that accompanied it. Mr. Schuler's outward appearance was betrayed by his affable personality and his...
Second Place
_"Yours sincerely, Thornton Blackwell."_ It was a regal sounding name, thought Riley Corbin. It was the kind of name a science-fiction author ought to have, pseudonym or not. A smile on his face, the Alsatian held the copy of _Second Place in the...
Valium & Vodka: Chapter Two
Reid's decision to hire the Shiba Inu as Doghouse's newest team member had been a hasty one. He found the process of interviewing potential candidates as repellent as most of the candidates themselves. He wasn't a people person. In fact, the...
This Charming Klee Kai
A fox trudged up the hillside with his bicycle beside him, the mode of transportation rendered useless by some sod's careless littering. A broken glass bottle. A nail, maybe. Whatever it was, he cursed its existence as he watched the flattened rubber...
In The Doghouse: Final Chapter
_One month later..._ _"Not a day goes by that I don't think about it."_ _ _ _ Reid sat on the couch in Dr. Soto's office as relaxed as he could be, his arms outstretched over the back of the overstuffed leather sofa. He wet his lips. Sighed....