Barry held the boy’s hand as they walked down the deserted road near the shore. His body was shaking from the cold, and he didn’t know how much longer he could keep up. All of a sudden, the boy gave a yelp. Barry looked up, and could just barely make out in the distance the shining lights of the destination of their years-long journey: Myrtle Beach.
The spunky little dog bounced along on happy feet, content in its mastery of its own little world. Little did it know that a typographical error in a secret communique from the Syrian Defense Ministry would soon embroil it in the deadliest of international intrigues.
Like Jesus and David Koresh before him, Alec was determined to bring his ministry to the world following his 33rd birthday. Then he realized he liked ice cream too much to die and discarded the idea.
Alec scribbled furiously as he rushed to commit to page the ideas flowing from his fevered brain. This new musical would be epic, a sweeping comic elegy on history, philosophy, and the human condition. It’s title: “Tolstoy & Twain’s Totally Tubular Time in Tibet with Tchaikovsky.”
Barry ducked behind the dumpster. He knew that he had one last chance to eat this Twinkie, and he wasn’t about to miss it.
Alec felt the familiar knot in his stomach as he waited in line. For a third of a century he had tried and tried and tried, but could not bring himself to say the words. This time, though, he would do it; he would ask Santa for a little red choo-choo train.
Alec built this place brick-by-brick with his own hands. Over so many years, he had spent thousands of hours constructing and perfecting his sanctum, this writer’s retreat in the countryside. Unfortunately, it was only 2 foot square.
Although customs officials would ultimately forgive Alec for attempting to bring more than $400 worth of food items back from Japan, his wife would not.
As Barry passed through the sliding glass doors at his official residence in Kensington Gardens, he reflected on his long life — all the rewards and successes that he had been blessed with. As he stood there at the window peering down on the empire that he had built, he suddenly realized that he had forgotten the most basic thing: a pet rabbit.
Extremely Short Stories 