"The Weed" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Jason Taylor's lawn was his pride and joy. As usual, on Monday morning Jason made a slow survey of his yard to see if any imperfections had cropped up overnight. Everything was fine until he noticed the big-fat ugly weed in the center of the lawn.

Jason left his breakfast and rushed to the garage where he picked up a small shovel and some weed killer. Once outside, Jason quickly dug up the weed and sprayed the spot with weed killer. After work, he would try and repair the small hole.

Jason was annoyed by the weed for the entire day and had difficulty concentrating on his work. More then once his boss frowned at him. 

After work. Jason went to work on the damage left by the weed. It was nearly midnight when he went to bed. The next morning, Jason was enraged to find that the weed had somehow grown back in the same spot.

Once again, Jason went to the garage to get a shovel and weed killer. After removing the weed and spraying the herbicide, he also put a patch over the hole.

Jason spent much of the next workday researching weeds and at the end of the day, his boss informed him that he was going to be terminated. Jason didn't protest, he was anxious to get back home and check his yard.

Not only was the largest weed in the center back, but smaller weeds now covered the yard. Jason hacked the weeds to pieces and then dumped all of his remaining weed killer on the lawn.

For the rest of the night, Jason looked  on the web for the most effective weed killer. He finally found a product that was guaranteed to kill every kind of weed permanently.

Several days later, a case of the weed killer arrived. Jason sprayed his entire lawn with the weed killer. The herbicide killed every speck of life on the lawn. A rainstorm spread the poison to other yards and killed everything there as well. 


The area became so poisonous, that it was condemned by the EPA and the residents were forced to evacuate.

As Jason was preparing to leave his home, he noticed a big, fat, ugly weed growing in the bare ground that was once his lawn.

"Drone Love" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

They first met at the park. Ron was sleek and powerful in blue and Sarah was girly and feminine in pink. 

For hours, Ron and Sarah danced among the trees. They were having so much fun that neither wanted to leave.

The next time they met was at the college. Sarah realized that Ron had so much more experience then she did and she struggled to keep up.

Sarah was a little afraid to meet Ron again after what happened at the college, but she was glad that she changed her mind. After another amazing day, Sarah decided that it was time they left the drones at home and met in person.

"Mutant" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Martha thought the route through the mountains would be a short-cut to the city, but after many miles of empty road, she realized the decision had been a mistake.

Sometime around Midnight, Martha heard a strange sound and then the engine quit. She  maneuvered the car off the road and then opened the hood. The maze of wires and parts was a mystery to her. Hopefully, Martha looked at her cell phone, but there was no signal.

Martha felt panic setting in when a car came around the bend. An older man rolled down the window. "Are you ok?" he asked. "Engine trouble" Martha said. "Do you have a landline phone?" she asked. The man nodded and opened the passenger side door. Martha hesitated. She hated the idea of getting in a stranger's car, but there were few options available. Martha got in the car.

As they drove away, the man introduced himself as Dr. Wilson and said he was doing some kind of research in the area. Martha only half-listened, she was more worried about how much money the car repairs were going to cost.

Dr. Wilson had a large cabin about a mile from the main road. Being so far into the woods made Martha nervous and she was anxious to get going. Dr. Wilson showed her where the phone was and then he excused himself. 

Martha looked through a yellow pages by the phone and found a car repair shop in the nearest town. The mechanic she got in touch with promised to come up in the morning and look at the car.

The idea of spending the night in her car did not appeal to Martha but there was little choice in the matter. The mechanic showed up as promised in the morning and immediately looked under the hood.

After a few minutes, he poked his head out and informed Martha that it would cost about one thousand dollars to fix her car. Martha was stunned. She had maybe half of that and no one to borrow the rest from.

The mechanic agreed to tow the car to his shop and wait until Martha decided what to do. Martha began walking up the road to Dr. Wilson's cabin. He was her only option left.

The Doctor was doing some chores outside of his cabin when Martha arrived. "Is your car going to live?" he asked with a smile. "Yes. but it's going to cost more money to fix then I have right now." Martha answered. "How much do you need?" the Doctor asked. "About 500 dollars." she replied. 

The Doctor stroked his beard. "I could use a little help around here, and  for your labor I will pay the balance for you." "Thank you so much Doctor. I will do a good job for you." Martha said with relief.

The Doctor let Martha stay in a guest cabin on his property while she did her work. Most of the chores were routine such as cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry, but on the third day, the Doctor invited her into his laboratory to do some work.

The lab was much larger then Martha expected. A massive aquarium took up most of the space. The only inhabitant of the aquarium was bright-red spider- like creature the size of a Basketball. 

"What is that thing?" she asked the Doctor who was standing nearby. "A mutant. I call him Julius. I discovered Julius when I was on a field trip up here a few years ago." Doctor Wilson answered. "You mean that Julius is unique?" Martha asked. The Doctor nodded. He is the only one of his kind as far as I know."

As Martha watched, the creature descended to the bottom of the tank and started using some kind of device. "What is it doing?" she asked. "About a year ago, I created a simple language so that Julius and I could communicate. The device he is using sends messages in that language.

The Doctor walked over to a device similar to the one in the tank. "Julius is asking about you. He has never seen a woman before." Martha walked over to the Doctor and he showed her the basics of sending messages on the device. Martha typed in "Hello Julius, "I'm Martha." and sent it to the creature.The creature read the message and then swam to the front of the tank and stared at Martha. "I think he likes you the Doctor joked."

A couple of days later, Martha was serving dinner when the Doctor began speaking. "Julius has been thinking a lot about you." he began. Martha  "Is he in love?" she joked. "Actually, Julius would like to reproduce with you." The Doctor said. Martha dropped her tray of pork chops. "What?" she said alarmed. The Doctor continued ignoring the mess. "Not in the conventional sense of course, but he thinks it would be possible to combine his sperm with your egg and produce a new being."

Martha could not believe what she was hearing. "Absolutely not!" she shouted and headed for the door. "I'm afraid it's too late to say no, Julius has already decided" the Doctor said. Martha suddenly felt very dizzy and then lost consciousness.

Sometime later, Martha awoke in an unfamiliar room. She staggered out the door and discovered that she was in a motel in Nebraska more then a thousand miles from the Doctor's cabin. The desk clerk only knew that a man had dropped her off the night before and paid the bill for two days.

It took over a week for Martha to make her way back to the Doctor's cabin only to find that it was completely deserted. The Doctor and Julius had disappeared.

Film Review- "Ark"

"Ark"  is a science fiction film that is only about twenty minutes long. The  story is fairly simple: Sometime in a horrendously polluted, over-populated future, a lone man tries to preserve a part of the remaining natural world in a wetland habitat that he has created in his home.

To do this, he gradually collects surviving wildlife from the outside and transfers them to his home habitat. Everything seems to be going well until his preserve is discovered. 

I first watched "Ark" when I was 14 and it has resonated with me over the years. Whenever I see a crushed bird on the side of the road or a familiar wood destroyed for "development" this film comes to mind.