101 Words

Kaya’s ship entered its final orbit around Tau Ceti. At long last she could activate the portal, ending twenty years of solitude.

With a crackle, a doorway opened to the distant Earth. In came a man in a suit, wearing a smile. “Well done. You’ve opened up a whole new frontier for humanity. I can now remove the loneliness adaptations and restore your original personality, as agreed,” he said.

Kaya sighed. The woman who had joined up seemed distant and alien. The change might as well be death. “I’d rather go on another mission.”

The man nodded. All according to plan.

He slouched forward, the weight of fear pushing him. The restaurant surrounded him with clinking and buzzing and that only made him more nervous.

He couldn’t stop himself from thinking, What if she doesn’t come?

His heart plummeted into his roiling stomach as his mind floated to the picture he’d been fixated on for weeks. Soft blue eyes, luminous blonde hair, Diana…

He dared look up and beamed when he saw the woman of his dreams walk through the door. She looked around, eyes passing over him, and left.

He realized too late he had forgotten to change his profile picture.

Miss Judy limps into the storage facility I run, carefully cradling her bribe of freshly baked banana bread. Her husband, unaware of her stored second-hand treasures, likely wouldn’t care if he discovered her deception. Miss Judy is convinced otherwise.

“I’ll tell you what, God would thank me if I got rid of him,” she begins as I prepare to absorb her manic thirty-minute non-stop dialogue of the day. “That man worked in management, but he could never manage his own wife.” She proudly sets her newly purchased findings on display for me to admire and tells me I’m her best friend.

“Mr. Paldor would you like something else? You haven’t touched your lunch,” questions Melissa.

“No appetite, thanks.”

“Ms. Brunig asked after you this morning, concerned you aren’t eating.”

“Nice lady, tell’er I’m fine.”

“Bash was a lovely dog.”

Mr. Paldor raises his eyes to Melissa’s then says, “More’n a dog.”

“Never saw him run away like that before.”

“No, never did.”

“Seemed like, he intentionally jumped right under that bus.”

“Seemed like.”

“You don’t suppose he was sparing you the pain of having him put down?”

“I suppose that very thing.”

“Truly amazing.”

“Old friend’s final gift.”

“Lordy, it’s truly amazing.”

Down the street stood a pretty lady, and Danny began stumbling towards her. He stank from not showering, was hairy from not shaving, and his clothes had holes like Swiss. He was a tramp, and he was drunk.

But deep in his noggin, there hunkered a story his father used to tell. It was something ’bout a prey-less hunter who climbed one last hill and shot the biggest damn buck he ever saw.

So he kept going until they were four inches apart. He stared that lady in the eyes. And she stared back from the poster she was printed on.

I held her face to mine the first time she felt the air. I kissed her gently and wrapped her warmly. Her face giggled, wiggled, got tickled, and cried.

I watched her face grow, blossom, bloom. I knew her better than anyone else. I loved, I hated, I kissed, and, admittedly, at times, I slapped her beautiful face.

As she lies here today, I stroke her cheek one last time. There will be light in her eyes next time I see her angelic face. Until then, it’s her I will see nightly, daily, haunting my dreams. She’s every child to me.