"The Tree" A short story by Craig Zimmerman

Like a bullet traveling at thirty times the speed of light, Commander Deena Larson's spacecraft shot through the void of space. Because of the limited space for food and other supplies, Deena was alone on the ship.

Her destination was the exoplanet "Omega."  Omega had been discovered seven years previously and was about five light-years from Earth. A consensus of Astrophysicists had determined that Omega had all of the conditions necessary for life. 

All of the qualified pilots had been psychologically screened, but it was Deena who was thought to have the best chance of withstanding the terrible isolation of the trip.

While growing up, Deena had always been a loner. Her favorite pastime was going deep into the desert of her Eastern Washington State home.

About six months into the voyage, Commander Larson spotted Omega on her ship's long-range scanner. Another month and her spacecraft would be in orbit around the planet.

Deena examined Omega in detail with all of the sensors on board the ship, but it appeared that the planet had suffered some kind of environmental catastrophe. She could only find one faint sign of life.

That evening, Deena sent a message to Earth on her findings and prepared the shuttle for a landing on the planet's surface for the following morning.

The shuttle flight to Omega's surface was uneventful, but Deena was unprepared for the devastation she saw as she stepped out of the craft.

A once flourishing forest appeared to be completely dead. Miles and miles of lifeless trees and shrubs filled the horizon. Deena pulled out her portable sensor and scanned for any signs of life. The only signal came from an old tree at the edge of the dead forest.

Sure enough, the old tree was clinging to life. Deena thought about what to do. From her findings, she had concluded that some kind of plague had destroyed almost the entire ecosystem. She had some fertilizer in her supplies, but there was no way to know if it would help the dying tree.

The next day, Deena applied a small amount of fertilizer to the old tree and then spent the next few hours observing to see what effect it had.

At the end of the Omega day, it was clear that the fertilizer was helping.  For the next week, Deena experimented with the fertilizer and eventually found the optimum mixture and dose to help the tree recover.

After several weeks, the tree began to send out seeds and sprouts appeared among the dead trees. It would take decades for the ecosystem to recover, but it was a start.

Deena thought about the report she would have to send back to Earth. If it were positive, more explorers and eventually colonists would come and the ecosystem would be assaulted once more.

As she prepared to leave Omega, Commander Larson sent the following message to Earth:  "Omega is a dead planet and not compatible with human life."

"The Maze" A short story by Craig Zimmerman

Every year, Jenny looked forward to going to the Halloween festival at The Miler Farm. The Miller's always had the best corn maze in the area and Jenny couldn't wait to try the new one.

After picking out a good Pumpkin, Jenny asked her Mother if she could go through the Corn Maze. Her Mother nodded, and Jenny ran toward the entrance.

Jenny walked slowly through the corn rows finding one dead end after another. Finally, she appeared to be on the right path when a man in a Werewolf  costume stepped in front of her. Jenny pretended to be afraid and ran from the actor.

Eventually, Jenny stopped to rest. She should be just about through the maze, but it was hard to tell, the corn rows all looked alike. Jenny looked at her watch, she had been in the maze for two hours! 
Her  mother should  have been looking for her, but she didn't hear anything. 

Jenny tried to stay calm. The maze was only about an acre in size and should only take a few minutes to walk out of. Jenny chose a direction and began walking. After a half-hour, she still had not found a way out.

Jenny used her cell to call her mother, but there was no answer. She then called every number she knew. There was no answer from anyone. Jenny yelled for help several times, but there was only silence. There were mobs of people around before she entered the maze, where did everyone go?

Jenny sat down and started to cry. Suddenly, the Werewolf  guy was standing over her. Something about him scared her and she started to run, but he stopped her and pointed at a path through the corn rows. Jenny began walking in the direction he pointed and she was soon out of the maze.

"The Diner" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Brian had been driving for hours and he was ravenously hungry, but all he had seen lately is empty countryside.

Suddenly, he noticed a dim neon sign in the distance that said "Desert Cafe." Brian pulled over into the dirt parking lot and went in the crumbling building.

The place was surprisingly full so Brian took a seat at the counter. A creepy-looking waiter in a dirty uniform showed up. "Can I get a menu?" Brian asked. "Would you mind answering a couple of questions first? It's kind of a local custom." The waiter said.

 Brian shrugged "Sure why not."  "How much do you weigh?" The waiter asked with a weird smile.  "About two hundred." Brian answered. "And how tall are you?" "About six-two" Brian replied. 

"Just one more thing and then I will get a you a menu." The waiter said as he brought up a camera from behind the counter. Brian  grimaced as the waiter took the photo. He was rapidly losing patience.

A few minutes later, the waiter returned with a menu.  Brian opened the menu to find his photo under the dinner menu. "As you can see, we do things a little differently here. At the Desert Cafe, the patrons are on the menu."  The rest of the people in the Cafe turned to look at Brian and the waiter smiled, revealing sharp teeth. 

The Walkley's By Craig Zimmerman

The Walkley's owned the kind of small drugstore- gift shop that you rarely see anymore in this era of giant corporations.

Mr. and Mrs. Walkley were an older Jewish couple and their store was the closest place to get a candy bar or a comic book when I was a kid.

Mr. Walkley was always in his white smock behind the counter of the pharmacy and Mrs. Walkley was always at the cash register.

I remember them as always being kind even though it couldn't have been easy having a bunch of rambunctious kids in the store. 

I started collecting old coins when I was about ten and Mrs. Walkley would look through her change whenever I came in the store to see if she had any. I was always sure to give her the same amount as the old coins she found. That is still one of my favorite childhood memories.

The Walkleys retired sometime in the early 1980s I believe. I often wish that we could go back to those slower-paced days when money wasn't the only consideration in business.

"Abuse" a short story by Craig Zimerman

When Michael was young, he used to throw rocks at Fred. Sometimes Fred would cry, but Michael cared little, tormenting Fred was fun.

 When Michael was twelve, he  pushed Fred down a hill and broadcast the event on social media. The video got thousands of hits and for a while, Michael was a minor celebrity.

As Michael got older, he began to think of more creative ways to abuse Fred. In the middle of a snowstorm, he put Fred outside. Michael thought it was hilarious that Fred could hardly move after being out in the cold for two hours.

During his high school years, Michael began to lose interest in Fred except maybe to occasionally throw some food at him. He once posted a photo on the internet of Tomatoes dripping off Fred's face. Everyone loved it.

 Just before graduation, years of abuse finally took their toll and Fred just collapsed. Michael's parents were mad for a couple of days, but then went right out and bought him a new robot.

Education and Democracy by J.M. Tewinkel

The following was written by J.M. Tewinkel Principal of North Central High School, Spokane, Washington in 1949. Some of the statistics mentioned in his short essay have improved, but the message is still relevant:

"Everyone likes to think that the job he is doing is important. Sometimes a student wonders whether he is spending his enthusiastic years to the best advantage by finishing high school.

All the evidence proves that he will hold better positions and earn more money through his lifetime if he sticks to his high school course. That's the selfish side.

But our nation has a comparable interest in each one of you. America's chances for survival are better whenever a student moves over into the "upper one-fourth" in educational status.

America is a democracy and each votes counts once. but the number of voters who didn't reach sixth-grade education equals the population of 29 states. Sixty percent of American voters have not had a year of high school. They couldn't have had more than a smattering of history, civics, economics, and government.

LESS THAN 25 PERCENT of the American electorate have gone through high school! 

So, America says to each one of you, "stick to your education guns! We shall expect better judgement and better accomplishment from you then from the less-favored three quarters."

"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.