Story Fragment #20: Monique

Monique was having the most harrowing day she had experienced in quite some time. Anything that could possibly go wrong was doing so, in a big way.

First, there was no hot water when she turned on her shower, then she had to forage through her kitchen cabinets for a jar of instant coffee since she had apparently forgotten to buy K-cups yesterday. Getting dressed was no easier, as she went through four pair of hose before finding one without a run or hole.

All of this meant that she was fifteen minutes late leaving for work, so rather than walking she hailed a cab and managed to drop into her desk chair at precisely 9 AM.

Ten minutes later, Derek, her supervisor, strolled into her office. "So--ready for the big presentation at 10?"

"Sure thing," Monique responded, reaching toward the space beside her chair to grab her laptop bag. In that instant, she felt her stomach churn and her entire body go weak. Her laptop--with the only copy of this morning's presentation to a major client--was somewhere out in the city, in the backseat of a cab.

Story Fragment #19: Agatha

When Agatha went to the flea market, she never expected to see so many unusual objects and people. One of the first things she noticed was a mime wandering among the shoppers. Not really all that strange, she supposed--until you noticed that all he was wearing was a pair of rubber underwear.

The next thing that caught her eye was a booth selling candy pigs. They were molded in pink chocolate, right down to their little curly tails. She snapped a picture of the entire booth, then bought a dozen of the cute little porkers to take home.

The next aisle was even more bizarre, not to mention sinister. One seller advertised poisonous bunnies, claiming to have blended the DNA of a rabbit and a rattlesnake. To demonstrate the rabbits capabilities, the seller put a rat into the cage. The rabbit immediately opened its mouth, displaying large fangs, which it sunk deep into the rat. Within seconds, the rat convulsed and died. With a shiver, Agatha hurried on her way.