"Edwin The Crow" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

From his perch on a light pole, Edwin spotted the new car coming into the parking lot before the other crows did. Hoping to score some food, Edwin quickly descended to the pavement beside the car.

Instead of food, the driver flicked a burning cigarette at Edwin who expertly dodged the butt. Taking to the air again, Edwin dropped one on the windshield and hood of the smokers car. The smoker cursed at Edwin who laughed silently.

 After returning  to the light pole, Edwin noticed Julie's car coming into the parking lot. Julie was the closest thing to a friend that Edwin had and she always had good food to share.

Julie emerged from her car with a plate of goodies and even a bowl of clean water. "Good afternoon Edwin" she said putting the dishes down. Edwin didn't understand what Julie as saying, but he loved the sound of her voice.

After he finished eating, Julie put the dishes in her car. "I will see you later Edwin. It's time for work." Edwin watched Julie head into the large building where all the humans came and went.

Edwin had spent his entire life at the Walmart and he was a witness to all the odd little dramas that occur in parking lots: Old people struggling to walk, babies crying, a young couple kissing and later on arguing. The next day it would be  a similar tableau of human behavior.

After several hours, Edwin watched Julie emerge from the building, but he immediately sensed that something was wrong. A man in dark clothing followed his friend. Edwin flew over to Julie and warned her of the danger with several loud "Caws". In response to Edwin's warning, Julie ran back into the building. The stranger following her ran in another direction.

After making sure that Julie left the parking lot safely, Edwin returned to his light pole and tried to get some rest for the day ahead.

"Tell Me a Story" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Thomas Nelson had read every physical book in the shelter and everything in the computer as well. Without a book to ponder, the days were impossibly long.

When constructing the shelter, Thomas had thought of everything: food, medicine, clean water, power for everything, and plenty of books.

The problem was that the war had done more damage than he could have imagined, and he was stuck in the shelter for at least several more years.

One particularly dull morning, Thomas came up with an idea: "Computer tell me a story" he said into the air. "I am not constructed to perform such a task" The computer responded.  "Just try" Thomas insisted. The computer let out a mechanical sigh. "All right," it said.

"Once upon a time, there was a fish that liked to play Baseball." The computer began. "That is lame, how can a fish play Baseball?" Thomas asked.

 The computer began again: "Once upon a time there was a fish that liked to play Tennis." "You suck!" Thomas yelled as he threw a greenhouse-raised Tomato at the computer. The Tomato splattered nicely over the computer's control panel.

The computer let out a mechanical growl "Once upon a time there was a fish that liked to play Hockey" Thomas threw a heavy bottle which resulted in The Computer going silent.

"I want to hear the rest of the story!" he yelled into the empty room.

"Canvas" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Admiral Becker- commander of the deep space vessel "Athena" was frustrated. After several weeks of exploring what appeared to be a promising solar system of twenty three planets, he had almost nothing to report.

The first six planets surveyed were nothing more then barren rocks with no life whatsoever. The seventh planet did not look much better, but his original  orders were to check each planet thoroughly.

After establishing an orbit around the planet, Becker put his science crewmen to work and then he went to bed. After sleeping for a few hours, the Admiral was awakened by his communication device buzzing loudly.

Becker answered the call and was told he was urgently needed on the bridge. Once on the bridge, the Admiral was told that there was some some kind of disturbance  in the vicinity of the tenth planet of the system.

Becker ordered that they leave the orbit of the seventh planet and set a course for the tenth planet. As The Athena approached the tenth planet, the ship's sensors detected several high energy beams being directed at the planet from a craft in orbit.

The Admiral ordered that The Athena maintain its' current position until he could find out what was going on. The last thing Becker wanted was to stumble into an alien war.

A quick survey of the tenth planet showed no signs of life, but it would take days to verify that. Becker ordered that a general greeting be transmitted to the alien craft. A reply was received in moments, but it was in the alien's language. The message was put into the main computer for translation.

Several minutes later, another message was received from the alien ship, but in this case it was in the form of images rather then a written language. All of the images were of works of art, some from Earth and some that were clearly alien.

Becker struggled to understand what the aliens were trying to communicate and then it hit him. The surface of the tenth planet was being used as a painter would use a canvas. The Admiral transmitted photos of the Egyptian Pyramids to  the alien craft to show that he understood.

The Athena remained in the solar system for several months and gradually established a friendship with the art-loving alien race.

"The Abandoned" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Jason noticed the old man walking around the Simmons place when he was feeding the chickens. The Simmons farm had been abandoned since the 1960s. Jason had heard stories about the broken down house since he was a toddler.

Apparently, The Simmons family had just vanished one day and left everything behind. The police had investigated but found nothing. After so many years, the house was now a ruin. Sometimes kids would go in on Halloween and tell scary stories about what happened to The Simmons family.

Jason watched the old man for a moment and thought it might be a good idea to warn the stranger that the old house wasn't safe. Jason had been hurt the previous Summer when he fell through a rotted floor.

As Jason approached, the old man began speaking. "I was only ten years old when they came " he began. "Who came?" Jason asked, but the old man continued as if Jason wasn't there. They were called "The Zor" and they herded us into their ship in the middle of the night.

"In the ship were other people and creatures that I didn't recognize.The journey took months. My mother and father tried to keep me and my sister calm, but it was miserable.When we arrived at The Zor world we were put to work doing senseless chores. I learned later that The Zor didn't need slave labor, they were just trying to keep an old tradition going. My parents and my sister died for that tradition."

The old man continued: "Not long ago, The Zor government decided to abolish slavery and return all remaining captives to their home worlds. The stranger looked at the ruined farm. "They brought me back here."

"The Prophet" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Merrick was driving down 101 when he saw the girl hitchhiking on the side of the road. She looked like one of those "Hippies" that he heard about in Vietnam.

Merrick pulled over and the girl got in. "Where are you headed?" he asked her. "To a place in the hills outside of L.A." she replied. Merrick nodded. "I can take you part of the way, but I have to be back in San Diego tomorrow"

"Were you in the war?" the girl asked. Merrick was out of uniform and wondered how she knew. "I just got back a few days ago." he said. He waited for the inevitable questions about "what it was like" but the questions didn't come.

The girl touched his arm. "I'm sorry." was all she said. The year Merrick spent in Vietnam went through his head and he longed for a place of peace.  The girl seemed to sense his pain. "If you need a place to rest, you can come visit the commune where I live." the girl said.

Merrick automatically felt that this was something he needed. The girl wrote an address on a slip of paper and handed it to him. "I know you'll like it there" she said. "We all help each other and everybody gets along."

"Is there a leader of your group?" Merrick asked. The girl nodded "I call him "the prophet" because he's always talking about the future, but his real name is  Charles Manson.

"Henry" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Henry was eating dinner when he heard the knock. He put down his fork and opened the door. A beautiful young woman stood in the doorway.

"Can I help you?' Henry asked. The young woman smiled "May I come in?" she asked. Henry shrugged and opened the door wider. The woman came in bringing the scent of perfume with her. He also noticed that she was wearing a very revealing dress.

The woman looked around his cabin with distaste. It was a bit messy, but Henry liked it. "Did you hear about what happened?" she asked. Henry nodded. He had heard the news about the epidemic for months on his shortwave radio. A few weeks before all transmissions had stopped, and Henry had surmised the rest. "It's possible we are the last people on Earth." the woman said. Henry shrugged "maybe." He was starting to get hungry again.

 "So don't you think we have an obligation to repopulate the Earth Adam and Eve and all that?" The woman said impatiently. Henry thought about it for a moment. "Nah, I'm good." he said.

The woman left in a huff and Henry went back to eating his dinner, The beans were sure tasty.

"Teacher" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

In a fraction of a second, Teacher took attendance, reviewed the complete scholastic records of all of her students, and set up the days lesson plan for each of them.

Teacher didn't have much of an ego, but she nonetheless  felt slighted to be assigned to a class of humans.Compared to her own kind, the humans were glacially slow to learn and they often forgot a great deal.

Teacher began with reading, Most of the class were progressing, but she found herself becoming annoyed with a student who stumbled through the passage when it was his turn to read.

Teacher quickly reviewed the record of Jonathan Schumer. The boy had scored well on previous tests, but his grades were poor. A counselor had  come to the conclusion that the boy was just unmotivated.

During the math lesson, Teacher instructed Jonathan to go to the whiteboard and solve the equation. The boy seemed to take forever with the problem and Teacher thought it was a good time to apply some discipline.

Teacher started with her mildest physical reprimand and was surprised to see the human crumple to the floor. Teacher checked the boy for signs of life and found none. 

For future reference, she noted  how fragile the humans were and then went on with the lesson.