A.G.E's Joint

The parking lot was dark as he went across it. He heard the roar of the plane as it approached. It sounded like one he'd heard when he was in the military, a bomber. Looming over the roof of the building, the thing turned and dove toward the ground. There was no shockwave on impact, which struck him as strange. Just silence. The fire began under what was left of the nose. It grew exponentially. There was fire, but no heat. The others around him seemed unaffected, more spectators to the wreckage. He sat in wonder... Jimmy's eyes popped open. The same dream every night. Had been since the shop closed.  The bedroom was dark except for the slit in the middle of the curtain. The sound of Kathy's quiet snoring beside him was both soothing and disturbing.  He looked at the clock. 4:16. He knew sleep was gone for the rest of the night. Stay here or get up? He already knew the answer. With a practiced twist, his feet touched lightly and he made his way to the bathroom. He winced at

  "Breathe Deep, the gathering gloom..." 5:00 AM. I never had to look. 94-Q always played it the same time Sunday morning. Like Pavlov's dog, the gong seemed to give me energy. The poem matched my mood this morning. The paper drop had been late and I was at least a half-hour behind getting things done. It was humid and I was already sweating. I chug my old car into the open space and shut off the motor. Sunday sunrise wasn't for another hour, but noise didn't matter at Nob Hill. It was the pinnacle of the Swinging Singles lifestyle. 425 units done in a faux Mediterranean style, spread over 16 wooded acres. The parties had made it the place for up and coming image-makers. They were the Young Americans. The parking lot showed what was important, Morgans, Jags, and Mercedes. The only thing it didn't have on its main rival, Riverbend, was a river.  For a sixteen-year-old kid, it was paradise.  Buildings 10 and 11, by the small pool, had 18 customers and the crazie

 "The baby finally down?" "Yeah, What'cha looking at?" "Some weird video."  "Most of YouTube is weird. How weird are we talking about?"  "A condition called Cotard's Syndrome." "Cotard's what?" "Syndrome. As far as I can tell. This guy, Cotard, woke up one day and thought he had died, even though he was quite alive." "Say what?" "I thought the same thing. Maybe he wasn't happy with who he was?" "I was told you have to be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."  "I think he wanted attention, like an actress who poses with dinosaurs for a movie." "Or the fact your fly is open?" "Oops."  "That's OK. The kids are asleep and I like the view." "Rrrarwww!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Topic-Jay Sole Pic-Craig Fallon Pic guesses: dinosaur (in blog) Jurassic Park, crunchy, startling, T Rex,