by Quintin
You never plan for the worst of times. The real worst of times. You plan for the bad winters, the humid summers. The rainy springs and the windy falls. But not for the end of everything.
I spent a little extra on the windows, to spend less on heating. They are designed to trap the heat inside, the salesman told me, for colder climates, and they’d trap in heat in the summer too. I told him I don’t mind the heat. But I mind it now, the sun impossibly close now, the atmosphere frying me alive in my own home.
by Quintin
Frank was a big guy. Well over six feet and built like an oak dresser, nobody much bothered with him. It made his job, a bouncer at a small club, that much easier. Frank’s size made everyone just a little uneasy.
But try telling that to the tiny imps scaling him like the Alps. They didn’t use their hands to climb. They used their mouths, swinging upwards in a way that seemed to defy gravity. If they had been just a little slower, Frank would have had time to feel fear for the first time since he was a child.
by Quintin
Once the Professional Act passed, I was suddenly in high demand. I had earned quite a reputation with my non-human clientele for doing everything they desired. It wasn’t lawful at that point, mind you, but my discretion and open mind kept me working. No request was too weird, too disgusting. Some alien anatomy took a while to get used to, but that was just an occupational hazard.
But once everything became legal, that’s when the weirdos started coming out of the woodwork. The day I was handed a roll of paper towels and a bottle of Windex, I was done.
Mostly Heating
You never plan for the worst of times. The real worst of times. You plan for the bad winters, the humid summers. The rainy springs and the windy falls. But not for the end of everything.
I spent a little extra on the windows, to spend less on heating. They are designed to trap the heat inside, the salesman told me, for colder climates, and they’d trap in heat in the summer too. I told him I don’t mind the heat. But I mind it now, the sun impossibly close now, the atmosphere frying me alive in my own home.