The Princess, the Wizard's Daughter, and the Almost-Right Knight

Fact: Twelve children under the age of eighteen are killed by bats each year

The Gulf's Mystery

Betsy Toog sat at her desk in the Coast Guard station of Destin, Florida, reading a magazine. It was a quiet night, and her duties were few: if the phone rang, she answered it.
    She was twiddling a finger in her ear when it rang. She wiped her hands quickly and picked it up. "Destin Coast Guard Station, this is Betsy speaking, how can I help you?"
    Nothing but the whisper of the wind came through the receiver.
    "Hello? Hello?" Betsy asked. "Is anyone there?" She took a glance at her computer's screen. It showed that the caller was somewhere in the gulf. "Can you hear me? Please respond." Betsy's supervisor noticed, and walked over. "There's nothing on the other end," Betsy said to him.

The Freedom of Space

"Captain, there's something on the sensors," lieutenant Chambers said. He swiveled in his chair and looked over his shoulder at Mohinder Omja, Captain of the Blind Man. "It's big."
    "What sort of big?" Omja asked, rising from his chair in the center of the room and joining the lieutenant at his console. "Another ship?"
    Chambers shook his head. "Much bigger, sir. I'm trying to calibrate the sensors to pick it up better."
    "A planet?"
    "No sir. Bigger." The lieutenant tapped on his computer. He squinted at confusing numbers. "Good Lord."
    "What is it?"
    "According to this, sir," the lieutenant said, "the object in front of the ship is lightyears long."
    The command deck of the interstellar ship went quiet. "I'm sorry lieutenant. Did you say lightyears?"
    "Yes sir. The sensors can't grasp its full size," the lieutenant said. He pointed at the numbers on his screen. Captain Omja leaned in and studied them.
    "Kerrigan, come here," he called. The woman stood next to him. "Look." Omja pointed at the screen and the numbers. Kerrigan looked. Her stony face changed to confusion and mystery.
    "I don't believe it," she whispered, standing straight. "Captain, do we send a team?"
    "Of course we do! This is incredible! A structure this big! Get our best people ready to go. Lieutenant, how far are we?"
    "We'll be within landing distance in a day, Captain."

The Water Balloon Fight

On a small street, in a small town, two small gas stations sat across the road from each other. The fancy lights and utter convenience of the big city stations were far from there; here only was the dire need for a car's fuel, coffee in the morning, hot dogs at noon, and slushies for the kids at night. The fuel prices were controlled not by the electronic signs that you might see these days, but cards with numbers on them. Whenever the prices would change, each gas station's building would release a man to climb on the ladder and make the numbers correct

Low Notes

A man and his son sat together in a small office at a college, waiting for the woman across the desk to respond. The father wore a button down shirt and slacks, but the boy wore a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. The boy did not move or speak; in fact he seemed uncomfortable at all times.

Helpers LTD

Floyd S. Irving was not the kind of person to worry. His job, such as it was, did not worry him, nor did his simple home life. He lived on his own, in a small, tidy studio apartment where he cooked his soups and made his sandwiches and went to work as a truck driver for the libraries, carting books back and forth. He loved the books and loved the truck and loved the people he worked with. He was not a rich man, but he didn't worry about that. He didn't get out of his apartment very much, and some might have said he was antisocial, but it wouldn't have bothered him if he'd heard them. He was, simply, an uncomplicated man, self-assured that he enjoyed his life.

Intruder

Please note: The following story contains adult elements, and may not be suitable for children.

Mercedes drove a Mercedes; the coincidence tickled her. The new car felt full of possibilities and strength. It was a sleek, small thing with a black exterior and a plush leather interior. Chrome framed it, and flashed in the passing streetlights. She headed down the dark street toward her tall apartment building.