That special chill was on the air again. He felt it weave through his branches and rattle the leaves on his antlers.
The king of the forest opened his knothole eyes and looked around. In the distance he could see wood smoke rising from the chimneys of nearby villages. Crops were nearly ready for harvest. Soon the feasting would begin. The trees were still a vibrant green, but he could feel their anticipation. They were ready for the change, and the long sleep that would follow. All they were waiting for was his command.
He stood with a creaking of wood and a crunching of bark, shook the leaves from his antlers, and raised his
The Intergalactic Ice Cream Parlor by Tobaeus, literature
Literature
The Intergalactic Ice Cream Parlor
Ace pored over the sales figures, hoping desperately that something would come up that he had missed, and balance out the massive debt on the other side of his ledger. Nothing was forthcoming.
Daria crept up behind him and tsked at the figures over his shoulder. “I told you this was no place for an ice cream shop.”
“It’s hot enough out here.”
“But honey, it’s the middle of nowhere. Location isn’t enough. People have to actually come out this way.”
She was right, of course. But there wasn’t anything in savings for a move. If they left this, they’d be
Kimber pulled the drapes back just enough to see him. He had almost caught her this time, on her way back from the grocers.
Dr. Ramsay's bones clacked and cracked, his skin desert dry and pulled too taught. The sun was an unforgiving mistress, most of all to the dead. If she was sentient, it would have been known just how deep her hatred ran.
Ramsay had been something once, something more than a shell of a man. He had ha office and a practice, a family and friends, and an iguana who thought she was a daughter. Anyone who was anyone visited him when they had an illness. They didn't bus out to the big city for antibiotics and stitches.
He ha
It couldn't move. Not even what was left of its eyes. The thick layer of ice trapped it where it had slumped, probably the night before. One ice covered mound among hundreds. Thousands.
It struggled even though what remained of its muscles were bloated, stringy, rotten things. Useless, dead flesh in unyielding ice.
Kimber never thought she'd be grateful for a blistering cold winter, but she was. For the first time in many months she could walk down main street. The only threats were the monsters trapped in doors when the storm hit. Anything that rushed out would slip and fall. They wouldn't have a chance to get up again.
Something warm flu
Once upon a time, there lived the princess of a small but wealthy kingdom. Now this princess was very beautiful, as princesses are usually supposed to be. The problem with this princess, however, was that she knew it. She was incredibly vain. She had two enormous looking glasses hung in her bedchamber; the better to admire her silken curls and porcelain complexion. Her opinion of herself was very high indeed. She vowed she would marry only the richest and handsomest of princes. Her standard was exacting, and she had rejected many suitors in the past. None had she deemed worth even a moment of her precious time, she had scorned them all.
Now