"A Flock of Crows" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

A severe meteor storm had damaged Commander Deena Larson's spacecraft, and she desperately needed a place to land in order to make repairs.

Fortunately, there was a small planet in the vicinity although the atmosphere was highly poisonous. Deena would need to wear her environmental suit in order to fix the damage.

Landing the crippled vessel on the planet was more difficult than Deena imagined it would be, and she was grateful for the clearing in the midst of a sea of strange rock formations.

After putting on the bulky environmental suit, Deena exited the spacecraft and surveyed the damage. She estimated that it would take several hours to complete the repairs.

While patching a tiny hole near the engine compartment, a hovering alien done appeared and silently watched Deena work.

Deena assumed that someone was curious about her presence and so she took no hostile action against the drone. 

Several minutes after the first drone arrived another materialized and also silently watched. Deena hurriedly finished patching the engine compartment hole and then moved on to the cargo hold repairs.

Eventually, a dozen alien drones observed Deena's labor and for some reason they began jostling and fighting each other.

The fighting became so intense that they began bumping into Deena's environmental suit and she knew that even a slight tear would be fatal.

A strange idea occurred to Deena, and she activated one of the ship's drones and set it on a meandering course towards the planet's northern pole.

As Deena had hoped, the swarm of alien drones followed her drone, and she was able to finish her work in peace.

She regretted losing one of the ship's limited supply of drones, but it couldn't be helped and once the repairs were finished her spacecraft lifted away from the planet without any complications.

After leaving the planet behind, Deena wondered about the alien drones. They acted almost like a form of life, and she immediately thought of a flock of crows.

 

"The Garden of Susan" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Danny Tyson looked around his new neighborhood and thought it looked a lot like his old neighborhood. Being an army brat meant moving a lot. Danny was only fifteen and had already lived in ten states.

Danny climbed on his bike and rode around the neighborhood looking for kids his age. At the end of the block, he noticed a cute girl tending a flower garden.

Danny had little experience with girls, but he forced himself to park his bike and go say hello.

The girl was watering a large white flower when Danny walked up. She seemed to be unaware of his presence and when he said hello, she looked up in fright.

"I'm sorry I scared you" Danny stammered. The girl looked vaguely in his direction and Danny realized that there was something wrong with her eyes.

"You didn't scare me; I sometimes daydream when I'm working in the garden. The girl held out her hand. "I'm Susan Hennessy" 

Danny shyly took the girl's hand and told her his name. "Did you just move here?" Susan asked. Danny pointed down the block. "We live down at the end of the Cul de sac."

Susan's eyes did not follow the gesture and Danny realized that she was blind.

"Would you like to help me water these flowers?" Susan asked. Danny felt a little scared for some reason but then said yes and they spent the afternoon talking and caring for the garden.

Danny learned that Susan had been blind since birth, but she didn't let it hold her back and she had dreams of working in horticulture.

One Summer Day, Danny was walking to see Susan when a freak hailstorm came out of nowhere. The large hail stones pounded the ground for several minutes and then it was over.

He rushed over to Susan's house to find her crying in the midst of the ruined garden.

Danny took her in his arms. "Your garden will be new again" he promised, and Susan held him close.

"The Motel Mecca" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Martin Rhodes needed an easy part-time job for his last year of college and what he ended up with was the night-clerk position at the "Motel Mecca."

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Motel Mecca served middle-class families traveling through southern California, but in the present, it was a magnet for the very poor and small-time criminals.

Sometimes it was hard for Martin to look into the weathered faces of men and women who had been crushed by poverty and a world that only cared about the young and well-off.

One night a teen-age girl came in the office and Martin immediately pegged her as a runaway. He wanted to tell her to go back to whatever home she had, because Los Angeles had nothing to offer young girls except heartbreak, but in the end he remained silent.

About two weeks later, a nervous and sweating middle-aged man came in the office for a room. After he left, Martin looked out the window and saw the young runaway going into the room with the man.

For reasons he couldn't explain-even to himself, Martin became enraged and kicked in the door to the unit. The man looked at him in shock while Martin grabbed his flabby arm and tossed him into the parking lot. The girl just stared at him with a mixture of anger and shame.

Martin was fired that same evening, but not long after the county declared the motel a public nuisance and shut it down.

The last act of the Motel Mecca occurred when a wildfire incinerated the vacant buildings.

"A Saturday afternoon cruise" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Jerry was watching Saturday morning cartoons when his buddy David pulled outside in his new van.

Jerry had to admit the new ride was impressive- especially the mural of a nearly naked young woman painted on the side of the van.

David pulled into the street, and it wasn't long before they found two girls hitch-hiking.

The girls piled in the van, but they wanted to stop somewhere and pick up their stuff.

The house the girls wanted was way down in the valley and David reluctantly agreed to drive them.

 As they arrived, the girls went in to get their stuff and the boys waited in the van. Twenty minutes went by and one of the girls came out and told David that they had changed their mind and were staying at the house.

David was furious and roared away from the house. 

The next stop was a taco stand near downtown where the boys heard about a party.

The party was out in the woods near a slow-moving river, but most of the kids at the party were from a rival high school and it didn't take for David to get into a fight.

Jerry pulled David off some guy that was twice his size, and they were back on the road again. 

David drove to an outdoor basketball court so that they could shoot some hoops, but the court was at a church and some guy didn't like the nearly naked girl on the side of the van.

Five-mile Lake was one of the few places left to go, so the boys headed in that direction. It was a hot day, and the beach was packed with people.

Jerry found a girl he knew and luckily, she had an available friend who liked David.

After swimming for a while, the two couples decided to go to a movie. 

For once David seemed to be in a good mood, but all that changed when they got back to the van.

Someone had sprayed black paint all over the mural on the side and David wept at the sight of the ruined artwork.

"Big Black Car" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

John Peterson stared at the traffic jam ahead of him and dreaded facing his boss when he came in late again.

As his car inched forward, John heard a low rumbling sound behind him and looked in his rearview mirror to see a pitch- black 1969 Dodge Charger.

The car looked exactly like Riley's Dodge Charger, but that couldn't be. Todd Riley had died in the wreckage of his car forty years before.

It had been the last day of high school, and Riley had challenged John to a race on Mud Mountain Road. John didn't really want to race, but he showed up anyway.

In the late afternoon, the road was deserted, and Riley called the start of the race by throwing a red handkerchief out his passenger side window.

John's 1971 Chevelle SS was keeping pace with Riley's Charger, but then something went wrong, and the Charger crashed into a tree.

Peterson debated whether to go for help. He already had several traffic infractions on his record and another one would sink him good.

Peterson quickly drove away from the crash and told no one about what had happened. Later on, he heard that Riley had died in the wreck.

The Charger behind him couldn't be Riley, but Peterson turned off the highway to ease his mind.

The black car followed him.

In a panic, John pushed down the accelerator, but the powerful Charger easily kept pace.

Peterson was so preoccupied with the car following him that he didn't notice the sharp curve looming ahead of him and lost control of his speeding car and crashed into a tree.

The pitch-black Charger stopped at the crash site for a moment and then slowly drove away.

 

"Christmas in Enumclaw" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Milena looked out the window in despair. She had been hoping for a white Christmas, but it had been raining for three days with no sign of stopping.

Milena went into the kitchen to help her mother with dinner. Papa would be coming home soon, and he was always hungry after working in the mine all day.

When papa finally did arrive, he was covered with grime, but Milena gave him a hug anyway.

During supper, papa announced that he didn't have to work on Christmas, and they could spend the whole day together. He also hinted at a special surprise and Milena could hardly wait.

In the morning, Milena awoke bright and early and to her surprise mama and papa were also awake.

Papa instructed Milena to put on her warmest clothes because they were taking a trip to the mountains and see some real snow.

Milena was so excited that she kept mixing up her mittens but finally matched the blue ones her mother had given her last Christmas.

Papa had rigged a canvas covering over their wagon to protect them from the rain and two powerful quarter horses were going to take them on the long trip to the mountains.

The roads were very muddy from all of the rain, but the big horses were able get through it easily.

As their wagon left the town of Enumclaw and headed east, the buildings became fewer and eventually all Melena could see were thick woods and tall peaks on the horizon. 

As the wagon made progress the air became cooler, and the first snowflakes appeared. Around mid-afternoon, papa stopped at a clearing and they built a snowman with a carrot nose and pieces of coal for eyes.

Later on, they joined a nearby logging camp for its Christmas celebration and had a supper of venison and beans.

Milena was having so much fun that she dreaded going back to rainy Enumclaw, but papa had to go back to work the next day, and he needed his rest.

Even into her old age, Milena would think of the trip to the mountains as the best Christmas she ever had.

"A Fair Storm" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

To Sharon, it had seemed like the perfect summer job: housesitting for a couple who was vacationing in Europe.

The home was located on a small island in the Puget Sound and Sharon hoped to use the isolation to finish her master's thesis.

Everything went well until a powerful storm lashed across the island cutting power and communication.

Sharon tried to remain calm during the storm but the howling wind and encroaching darkness began to frighten her.

The crashing of a falling tree brought Sharon to the window of her bedroom. 

It was hard to see anything, but there appeared to be a tall thin man in the yard, but when Sharon looked again the figure was gone.

Bundled up in her covers, Sharon tried to go to sleep and eventually fell into a light slumber.

A strange scuffling noise from downstairs awakened her and she reluctantly took her flashlight wand headed to the lower floor.

As Sharon entered the living room, a stark white face stared at her from the big picture window.

Sharon screamed and the face disappeared.

By morning, the storm was over and armed with a knife, Sharon went outside to check on the damage.

There was debris and broken trees everywhere but fortunately the house had not been hit.

Later in the afternoon, a group of rescue workers arrived by boat and Sharon told them about to white- faced creature.

To her surprise, the fire chief laughed. 

"That sounds like the captain. "He lived on this island about fifty years ago and shows up whenever there is a storm."

"Are you saying the captain is dead?" Sharon asked incredulously.

The fire chief shrugged, "Well yeah, but he doesn't mean any harm."