Archive for the ‘Series’ Category
3 & Z
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
To celebrate our first anniversary, each of us here at the Cabal has come up with a story beginning with a line kindly provided to us by the illustrious Jay Lake. Click the link at the bottom of the page to see how Alex, Dan and have handled the challenge, and come back tomorrow to see what Kat Beyer comes up with…
Zoli liked to hang around psychiatrists’ waiting rooms to hit on the low self-esteem chicks. Being a ghost, he rarely got a reply, but he lived for the few he got.
‘Lived’ being relative.
First was Lily. He hovered behind Doctor Frost, reading that Lily had been raised by a mother that wanted her to be a model. Lily could not be thin enough, graceful enough, blah blah blah. Zoli rolled his ectoplasmic eyes.
She came out to the waiting room and stepped up to the receptionist’s window. Zoli made his move. He flew in front of her and said, “Hey, baby. Rub that lamp some more, because wish number one just came true!”
Lily screamed, clutched her chest, and fell, her soul flitting upward where Zoli could not follow. “Massive heart trauma,” said the EMT. “Never seen a heart tear itself up that badly.”
The next 312 women he hit on walked right through him.
Then came Dekanawida. Zoli poked his head through Doctor Yough’s chest to peer at his notes. Awful handwriting. Something about sexual abuse from her father, something about multiple sex partners, something about sabotaging her own successes.
She walked out of the doctor’s office to find Zoli waiting. “Hey sweetie,” he said. “If you give me the time of day I’ll give you the time of your life!”
Dekanawida stumbled back, tripped over a magazine stand, and cracked her skull open on a water cooler. DOA. Very DOA, maybe even VVDOA.
And Zoli got it. He totally understood. When a chick saw him, it meant she was about to croak. You’d almost think he was a jinx or something.
He couldn’t keep away. Something about haunting psychiatrists seemed just so right. Another thousand or so women passed through him.
Third, and last to be honest, was Melissa. When Zoli first saw her, it was like a bolt of lightning stabbed him right through his impalpable heart. He’d mimed lov before, but he knew the real thing when it hit him. He stayed in Doctor TenDening’s waiting room, suddenly not willing to intrude. He wanted to leave, he really ought to beat it, but he just couldn’t.
When she emerged, there he was. “Um,” he said. “Er, hello.”
She didn’t scream. She didn’t jump away. Unfortunately, what she did do was turn around and walk back into the psychiatrist’s office.
She committed herself to the asylum that very night. Zoli happily followed.
Zoli Lends Himself Trouble
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
To celebrate our first anniversary, each of us here at the Cabal has come up with a story beginning with a line kindly provided to us by Jay Lake. Click the link at the bottom of the page to see how Alex and Dan have dealt with this Zoli person, and come back tomorrow to see what Edd Vick does…
Zoli liked to hang around psychiatrists’ waiting rooms to hit on the low self-esteem chicks. They would do just about anything for a little insincere praise. The only downside was that they bonded quickly and he was not interested in commitment. He got around that problem by dumping them in parallel worlds when they became tiresome.
Dr. Faro had a large waiting room. Zoli made eye contact with the brunette again over the top of his Field & Stream. She recrossed her legs, flashing an inviting view under her white cotton skirt. He got up, then slid into the seat next to her. “This seat taken?”
Everything was going fine until another brunette strode in the door.
“Hey baby, you got a sister?” he asked the one holding his hand.
“I’m not good enough for you?” She pulled away a little.
“Sure, but…”
The other woman (Brunette 2) stood in front of them, hands on her hips. “You! Here you are, picking up my twin in the waiting room, just like you did with me.” She turned to the other woman. “Don’t believe anything he says,” she warned, “he showed me a great time for a few weeks until he got bored, then he dumped me in this universe. I guess he never thought his twin’d be running the same game over here.” The woman sitting by Zoli (Brunette 1) took her hand out of his.
“Look baby, who you gonna believe? She’s acting crazy, which is maybe okay because she’s in a shrink’s office, but you and me, we oughta go someplace else where we can be alone together.” Brunette 1 stood up and took a step back. Zoli stood up too and held out an arm to plead with her. Then he dropped his arm. “You know what, that’s okay. Plenty more girls out there, you know what I mean.”
The door opened and two blondes came in. They looked like the doublemint girls. They made a beeline for Zoli, gave the two brunettes a once over, and then they grabbed his arms.
“You dumped my twin,” one of them said, inclining her head at the other. “We’ve got a whole club going, and they want to meet you.” Zoli gulped, and looked over at the brunettes.
“Can we join?” Brunette 1 asked.
The end