Prose
#8: Please use it in a sentence
March 1998 There was a spelling bee at Young Pixel’s school and Young Pixel decided that he wanted to participate. Unfortunately, too many students were participating, so they decided to split the total in two. Pixel’s group would compete first. The best five would then go up against the best five of the second group….
#7: Yes, We Can Change the Channel
February 2008 Pixel decided to catch the results of the latest presidential primary before heading home. He trudged to the local university’s student union. He entered the building and noticed that the flat-screen television was turned on but tuned to some sort of important basketball game. Around the TV was a crowd of large men…
#6: The birds and bees also fuck
Young Pixel’s mom wanted to educate him in her Catholic faith. “Young Pixel,” she said, anachronistically, “I want to educate you in my Catholic faith.” “Okay, mommy,” Young Pixel responded, “I have a question!” “Anything,” she responded. “What does ‘virgin’ mean?” And so Young Pixel’s mom decided to send him to the local Catholic church…
#11: He’ll be identified by his works
Scene: Mayra and friend Brian are in a car, driving to the lyric opera (or some other equally mind-expanding snoozefest like a museum or an abortion clinic) Mayra is talking about how graduate school is going, Brian is listening intently. Mayra looks down and sees a miniature journal. It seems odd to her because Brian…
Microfiction in a flash: 6-word stories
This is based on Hemingway’s greatest: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” My own flash fiction attempts follow: This is a six-word story. . . . Damn! He’d never lie to his mistress. “Running away beats suicide,” he lied. He and his clone always bickered. “Sucks to be you,” Job said. Thousand tears streamed like…
#29:
December 2005 Pixel hadn’t gone to sleep that night. He couldn’t. It was his last night in Australia for who knows how long. He had no idea when he would come back or who would still be here when he did. He had had a fantastic time, everything had been perfect. His mate Ex_Cal came…
#10: Eternal recurrence, eternal recurrence, eternal recurrence
Pixel looked up, a little jaded.73¤!¿ looked back, eager. “Are you him?” Pixel inquired. “You mean me?” 73¤!¿ countered. “You realize that this is going to be an eternal recurrence?” Pixel said to his future self. “A what?” “An eternal recurrence. Eternal recurrence. Eternal recurrence. It’s a concept developed by the Egyptians that Nietzsche uses……
#1: No punchlines in the delivery room
Baby Pixel came out of the womb and looked around, afraid and cold. He saw blurry shapes and heard fuzzy sounds, but did not know what or where they were. He wanted to go back. More than anything he wanted to go back. When he was in the womb, he hadn’t thought of it. He…
Ironically, he didn't see it coming.