The Thousands Project

Listen to the audio version of this short story here . Saving Private Nicholas 1800 hours. Lt. Brennan reporting in from recon to command. Repeat, this is Lt. Brennan 1224 reporting in from reconnaissance to command.  The night air is still young and fresh. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to this gig. No movement yet on the field. For now, it’s a simple waiting game. God knows if I’ll even make it to the end of this in one piece. Rumor mill is buzzing that Sgt. Jackie was forced to move from her post after the infidels spotted her position. She’s not even able to see the target from her new landing zone. Prison can be a real struggle, but she knew what she was getting herself into when we started. This is just a sacrifice that has to be made. The insurgents on my end have been assigned to some special mission titled “delta alpha theta epsilon,” so the coast should be clear until at least 2200. That’s when the real challenge starts, but I can do this. I have to do this. For t...

Want to hear the audio version of this selection? Click here . A Bouquet of Flowers Had Died It had been three weeks since Sean had slammed her apartment door shut. Hard. Hard enough that the landlord had no doubt heard the ruckus and considered checking in on the matter at hand - if not for Iris’ sake, then for the abused doorframe. Fortunately, the metal frame of the door had held up fine. No more than the usual menagerie of scratches and dents. A new coat of paint and that door would look as good as new. The same couldn’t be said of Iris. It had been three weeks. Nearly a months worth of salty tears, chunky monkey (low fat) ice cream bin(s), and wine - mostly wine. Iris’ recycling bin overflowed like a green volcano, slowly oozing out loud, clanking glass that reeked of grapes. It had gotten to the point that the overly enthusiastic clerk at the local grocer toyed around with the idea of selling the cheap bottles of merlot by the crate. Or even a by-the-bottle rewards program....