dreamszilla

Three boys - Mitch, his foolhardy big brother Danny, and Danny's friend Kyle - go fishing along an Ohio river on an ordinary day that will change everything. Image generated with OpenAI "Wait for me!" yelled Mitch at the two low-slung bikes growing smaller and smaller between the houses on Prospect Street. He drummed his fingers on the ledge of the Dairy Bar window, waiting. The scowling teenager on the other side thrust his ice cream cone through, and Mitch scrambled onto his Mongoose Legion Freestyle, setting in motion the precarious grace of boy, bike, and ice cream cone. His brother and his brother's friend Kyle would beat him to the creek, but carrying all the gear was an important job, so he didn't mind. He parked his bike under a sycamore tree. He grabbed the crawdad bucket, wiggled each sneaker off by the heel, and walked barefoot down the sloping bank. Kyle took no notice of him except to hold out his hand for the bucket and continue his sea...

In an alternate history with stunted technology and strange sexual mores, Coby enlists the help of his schoolmate Jaecar to write a story inspired by a retired science fiction author. Image generated with OpenAI Jaecar told quality lies. He said he'd screwed a girl named Edie Thaw. There was quiet brilliance in that name. Edie was commonplace enough, but Thaw stood on the edge of believability. Some body had to be named Thaw; plausible consonants bracketing the reliable vowel. Coby had never encountered it as a proper name, but Edie Thaw could be a real person. If you didn't know Jaecar. If you weren't sure he was as virginal as every other fourteen-year-old at President George S. Patton Middle School. Even the details surrounding the girl were exquisitely credible. He and Edie had only screwed two and a half times. The number wasn't absurdly overstated. And that half - what a dramatic hook! It intrigued, forcing the question, the answer to which Jaecar w...

Foggy-headed elder Michael Lessup, having not been intimate with a woman for years, dares to dip his toes into a new relationship. Image generated with OpenAI Present Day Michael sat on the green-painted bench at the edge of the small city park fronting the grade school. He was dressed warmly, despite the late spring warmth of the sunny May afternoon. He watched as youngsters played kickball and skipped rope and tossed a rubber ball against the wall of the elementary school. Their presence barely registered with him. His life had become an unchanging cycle of sameness that was stultifying. The playground monitor took notice of Michael and, after a moment's hesitation, made her way in his direction. As Michael watched her approach, he gave nothing away; this, he thought, should at least be interesting, perhaps even entertaining. "Sir?" she said, standing beside him. Michael closed and then opened lugubrious eyes. He could barely stay awake. Over the las...