Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Prologue
The sounds of the construction site were deafening. Somewhere someone was using a pneumatic drill with unrestrained enthusiasm, every staccato machinegun blast seeming to rattle Stephen's hardhat. It didn't fit properly, he thought. It wobbled on his...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 7
Between the end of sleep and the beginning of wakefulness there is a moment as memory returns to the sleeper. In that moment Stephen felt content in the comfort of his mattress, and hugged his pillow tightly in the conviction to extend sleep just a...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 8
Wasn't it strange how you could tell someone's identity by how they did small things? That's what Stephen idly thought to himself as he heard the knock on the door. Two rapid raps of the knuckle that conveyed urgency, or perhaps a few coffees too...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 6
Lights passed by hypnotically as they sped down the highway. The driver wasn't a talker this time around, and Stephen didn't know whether to be glad for it or not. At least the radio was on to provide some welcome white noise, though he wasn't a...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 1
The weird thing about waking up was that he wasn't really waking up. Rather, Stephen gained a mounting awareness of the things around him, such as the fact that he was lying in bed, that everything around him was white, that there was a dull, but...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 2
“Do you have anything useful to say about this?" Conroy's voice was shocking to Stephen, even with his low expectations of the day, the baleful tone hitting somewhere in the middle between dour preacher and disappointed dad. That wasn't enough...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 3
After he unpacked himself Stephen found himself in a typical hall, with a coat rack, a place to put your shoes, and a little hip-high cupboard to put the stuff you want to keep handy. Of course, the coats and shoes were Franky-sized, everything was out...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 5
They were ushered past the floating feet and eye-level asses of the other guests, already perched atop their high chairs. Stephen spied no ladders on their chairs, the reason for which revealed itself as he was pointed to his own chair. It sat low to...
Proper Care of Construction Equipment - Chapter 4
“What about this one?" Franky emerged from her bedroom wearing something Stephen was honestly surprised she owned in the first place. A long-sleeved, button-up shirt. No ostentatious prints, respectable blue stripe, and mostly unwrinkled. The problem...
The Witch's Ball
Winter had lain a thick, white blanket over the village. The diminishing orange disc of the sun tenaciously hung above the horizon, stretching the world's shadows long and thin. A precursor of the season's long nights, which were growing longer...
In the Witch's Lair
Jarek stumbled along the path, his swaying lantern casting frightful shadows behind every bush and stump. His friends had gone home come dusk, but the drink had made him overstay. Well, the drink and the milkmaid with the bodice her breasts almost...