Short Story- The Siren Of The Sound

The following is a short story that I just wrote.: "Tim watched the Seabirds with envy. It was just two years ago that he had run on that beach. He could run for miles and not get tired.

Tim turned away from the window. He should never have come here at all. His parents thought it would help his "recovery" if he spent some time at the family's vacation home on Orcas Island.They even hired a physical therapist to work with him. The question was: how does one recover from a missing leg?

After Tim graduated from high school he was full of patriotic fervor and he joined the army. A year later a roadside bomb in Iraq took away whatever naive patriotism that he had left.

A light knock on the door downstairs brought Tim out of his dark thoughts. That would be his physical therapist Julie. Tim gathered his crutches for the trip downstairs. A slight mis-step and Tim crashed down the stairs.

Upon hearing the noise, Julie came in and helped him up. Tim was not seriously hurt, but he was angry. In the old days, he could run those stairs without thinking. "you were lucky"Julie told him. "yeah lucky" Tim repeated bitterly. "How about we skip the PT, and go into town and get something to eat" Julie suggested. Tim nodded. "I need to get out of here."

Dinner did little to brighten Tim's mood and he immediately went to bed when Julie took him home. Tim dreamed that he was watching the water as he often did, but this time it was different. A beautiful woman rose from the water and floated toward him. The woman touched his leg and he was healed. He had two legs again. It was all so real, but in the morning, he was still crippled.

 Tim told Julie about the dream. "It is not unusual for people with injuries like yours to have dreams like that." Julie said in her best clinical voice. That night, Tim dreamed of the woman again, but this time she spoke to him. "I can give you anything you wish." she whispered in his ear. Tim decided not to mention the dream to Julie. she might think that he was losing it.

The third night, the woman came to him again. This time the woman wanted Tim to follow him.Tim got out of bed and went outside. He did not feel the cold and continued to follow the woman to the shore. Tim began to wade into the surf, the freezing water did not bother him.

 Tim heard a voice behind him, he ignored it and continued to follow the beautiful woman deeper into the water. The voice on the shore became more urgent and Tim stopped for a moment. It was Julie yelling at him. What was she doing here? Tim looked toward the beautiful woman floating above the water and back at Julie.

Time began wading back toward shore. When he stepped on the beach, Julie hugged him and looked in his eyes with a serious look. "Suicide is not the answer, Tim." Tim looked out at the dark water, "I was not trying to commit suicide. She was going to heal me"

Short Story- A Good Secretary by Craig Zimmerman

From the deck of her new cottage on Orcas Island, Caroline looked at the deep blue water of the Puget Sound with wonder. She had been lucky to get the cottage for such a reasonable price. Of course sCaroline would still have to keep her tiny apartment in Seattle for work, but on the weekends the cottage would be home.

Unknown to Caroline, a creature with blood red eyes watched her and clicked its claws in anger.

On the following Monday, Caroline resumed her job as a legal secretary for a large Seattle law firm. While she was sitting at her desk, Tony Rubin, one of the firms newest attorneys came up behind her. "How about we take my boat up to your new cottage." he whispered in her ear. Caroline knew that Tony was a skirt-chaser, but it would be fun to go to the cottage by boat instead of the ferry so she agreed.

Tony turned out to be an expert sailor and his sailboat efficiently  cut through the water of the sound. Caroline lay on the deck in a red bikini. She had no interest in being Tony's next conquest, but the weekend might be fun and the office gossips would have plenty to talk about on Monday.

After several hours of sailing, Tony maneuvered his sailboat next to the small dock on the rocky beach below Caroline's cottage. The creature watched the sailboat arrive and hate filled it's crimson eyes.

After a terrific Salmon dinner, Tony made his move and Caroline had to set him straight. "Lets just be friends this weekend." she told him firmly. Tony looked a little hurt,but he agreed.For the rest of the evening,they played Scrabble and Caroline easily won. Around midnight, they retired to separate bedrooms.

Sometime in the night, Caroline awoke to the sound of splintering wood. She quickly put on a robe and ran into the living room. A huge crab was attacking Tony.Caroline grabbed a fireplace poker and hit the massive crab. Nothing happened. Tony was desperately trying to keep away from the deadly claws.Suddenly, Caroline had an idea and  she ran into the bathroom. Caroline returned with a can of disinfectant and sprayed some of the liquid in the creature's eyes. The huge crab immediately backed away from Tony and headed for the smashed door. Caroline sprayed the creature once more and the animal fled into the night. Later, they heard splashung noises as the crab went back into the sound.

Fortunately, Tony was not seriously hurt. "What the hell was that thing" he asked "It looked like a giant crab. I have heard of some species that large, but I didn't think we had any. It must have thought we were invading it's territory"

"When I graduated law school my father told me that an attorney is nothing without a good secretary. Tony said" Caroline smiled, "does this mean  I get a raise?"she asked innocently

Short Story- "Scream Of The Fly."

This is a short story that I wrote just for the fun of it. It is called "Scream Of The Fly."

  "Susan generally disliked spiders, but she didn't mind the big brown spider that lived in the window because it took care of the hoardes of bugs that invaded her small apartment during the long hot Missisippi summer.

 One night, when Susan couldn't sleep because of the heat, she heard a fly get caught in the brown spider's web. The fly let off a pitiful high-pitched shriek as the spider approached and then the sound abruptly ended as the spider sunk it's venomous fangs into the fly's body.

Unknown to Susan, a man in the neighborhood had been quietly watching her with hard gray eyes. The man had plans for Susan.

Susan was dozing lightly when the man with the evil gray eyes entered her bedroom. Susan woke up just in time to a huge brown shape moving toward the man. The man screamed and Susan realized that it was the same scream she heard from the doomed fly that day. After the scream ended, Susan turned on the light and found the ghost-white body of the gray-eyed man with two large puncture wounds on his neck."


                       Craig Zimmerman