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At First Sight 2007-02-24 11:29:53 It was the rattling that got his attention. There was an irregularity to the sound that allowed it to stand out over all the similar sounds that occupied a space like the one they were in. He still had trouble adjusting to the idea. He was at Charles de Gaulle airport. On his way out. Paris, Europe, it all seemed so unreal and yet there he was doing his thing in a city that didn't speak any of the languages he knew. His reverie about Paris and his being in the city was interrupted by the rattling, simply because it was not like all the other rattling that wove its way around him around the busy airport. He followed the source of the rattling with a frown that quickly turned into an expression of avid interest as his eyes rose from the bag with the irregular wheel to the girl with the incredible legs who was dragging the bag behind her. This much he could tell, the legs were long, the skirt was short, the boots took no prisoners and the sleeves of her deep green sweater were pulled up Read more:First
, Sight
Taketh Away 2007-02-23 05:19:49 He got fired while waiting in line. At the bakery, not for a Star Wars or Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The latter might have been fine but the former was just not done. The boss wanted his bagels from the organic bakery sixteen blocks away from the office. He had chosen to take his business to the whole grains bakery six minutes walking time from the main door of the medium-sized ad agency he worked at. For a person employed by the advertising industry he wasn't much of a liar so he wasn't automatically programmed to utter falsehoods every time he opened his mouth. Which is why, because he was staring at the very impressive buttocks of the neo-Goth with black fingernails and what looked like a molten safety pin in her right ear when his boss called, he neglected to lie about where he was.
He could imagine the spittle that had flown all over his boss's mobile phone and his nearby desk when the yelling began. The high volume squawking through his phone had finally caught the gi
The Report 2007-02-22 04:27:02 She didn't inhale.
Okay she did inhale but it was only because she was more focused on watching than she was on not smoking.
Yes she knew it was a stupid thing to light the damn cigarette but she really was beginning to get bored and playing with matches seemed like a good idea at the time. What else was she supposed to do? It wasn't like she was busy and had chosen to interrupt herself to smoke a cigarette. She was just sitting there. She had been sitting there for fifteen hours with barely any breaks. He had no idea what it was like to sit there for that long knowing her ass was spreading and varicose veins were firing up their blue hues as she waited and watched.
Nobody checks the colour of a girl's lungs but they sure do pay attention to her cellulite! Yes she knew it was the fault of the magazines, yes she knew better than to place too much stock in what they said about beauty and self esteem. So what the hell right? You only live once, do whatever you like. That's what
Kink Stink 2007-02-21 05:15:40 Mama had taught her well. She had taught her how to play the helpless femme when there were bags to be carried or jars of pickle to be opened. She had also taught her how to keep the men at arms length while promising them the pleasures of everything that was connected to her arm. All she needed was the right ring on the correct finger attached to her left arm and all they saw and everything she promised in her songs could be theirs. Mama was not the only teacher she had, so she chose what she practiced from all Mama taught her with the careful abandon of the average twenty-something girl who thought she knew best.
And now he had violated her trust, again.
When he had let on that she had certain proclivities, the press had descended like flies on shit and since her particular kink extended to a certain bodily function not widely associated with carnal pleasures, the analogy was not misplaced. She had been forced "underground'. In her final telephone call to him she had used every Read more:Stink
Done And Dusted 2007-02-20 06:02:40 "Why the hell did you do that?" she screamed.
I didn't immediately know what to say. I was just responding to the moment. She ran over and squatted by the result of my "that' and asked him if he was okay. He was spitting blood onto the street and tugging at his teeth. He was clearly not okay and his frown at her said as much. She glared at me with one arm on his shoulder. It was her "look what you've done now' glare. I was immune to it. The guy on the other hand was not immune to the slope of her chest as it hung at eye level. She could feel him calm down under her grip on his shoulder. She looked at him and smiled.
"He didn't mean anything really"
"What, he punched me by accident?"
My fingers didn't like the belligerence in his tone so they curled up into a fist. I wasn't angry, yet. I was watching the scene unfold. Even though it was dark and the lights on the street were doing little more than illuminating the puddles by the kerb I could tell that he
Timing 2007-02-19 02:19:59 It all came down to timing. Robin knew how important timing could be. Her mistimed bid for Karthik's affections had cost her dearly. Apart from losing the one man she had imagined being able to grow old with she also lost out on an important career advancement. Another woman had emerged victorious on two counts. She had been able to celebrate publicly that she was engaged to Karthik and privately when Robin was instructed to resign voluntarily for seeking a romantic relationship with a co-worker. Robin knew everything about timing and how important it could be. She was determined to time the jump just right.
The trouble with leaving the armed forces without an adequate excuse was that it left a girl with few choices other than going into the private sector. Robin chose the other alternative. Within hours of having resigned and stepped off base, she was approached by a man. He told her about his unit, one of several the government mobilized on a weekly basis to protect the nation's Read more:Timing
Trolling For Columbine 2007-02-18 04:56:08 She knew it, she knew I liked her and she did nothing about it. I guess I could have done something about it but I would have to be better looking, with clear skin, muscles that allowed me to lift things and push things until every girl within, I don't know, a mile's radius was lusting after me. But I was not. I had asthma and if I ate for a hundred years I wouldn't put any more meat on my bones than I already had. I don't know where all the food went. Mum said it all went to my brain but I don't feel particularly smart. If I was so smart I would figure out a way to let her know how I felt and find out what she thought about me.
Actually I think I already know what she thought of me…I'd probably work to change that if I was as smart as my mother said. Mothers do that, tell you you're the smartest guy in the room and then kick your ass in front of family and friends for how you forget to do things and are always sitting around the house doing God knows what. Mothers sh Read more:Trolling
, Columbine
On The Market 2007-02-17 02:23:03 "I am in the market for a property," he said to me with a knowing smile. Unfortunately I didn't share his knowledge. My expression must have clarified this because he hastened to explain. "We're looking to invest in a couple of domains and we thought you might have something of interest for us"
I saw one man, where did "we' come in? And why did "they' think I was the person to see?
There I was, seated in the food court of a shopping mall that specialized in unnecessities that overweight matrons bought by the bagful, possibly for the singular purpose of delivering heartburn to their husbands with the arrival of the monthly credit card bill. I happened to be there because the place had a decent bookstore and the food was affordable. I didn't know the man who had taken a seat beside me and I did not have a "for sale' sign on my t-shirt. There was actually no text on it at all.
If he hadn't asked my name before launching into his string of cryptic pearls I Read more:Market
The Return 2007-02-16 10:31:52 She called out of a clear blue sky. One moment he was going through life the way he had been living it for nearly four years. The next he was answering his phone and feeling his heart drop as her voice came at him like no time had passed since they had dated for what seemed like a single moment in time. In truth they had been together for six months and had spent another six breaking up. The mess of emotions that washed over him did not allow him to actually hear the first few words she said to him. It would have prevented him from hearing the next few paragraphs as well if it hadn't been for the fact that her usually confident, unbelievably sexy voice was being punctuated by sobs.
Against his better judgment he asked her what was wrong.
She asked if they could meet and he hesitated. She said she understood if he wanted nothing to do with her but she didn't know whom else to call. Embarrassingly his mind flashed over the many nights he had drunkenly masturbated to her memory aft Read more:Return
Chance Encounters 2007-02-15 06:20:46 "It's only just now that I've begun to understand what is expected of me," he said while trying to find a comfortable but impressive looking resting spot for his elbow on the bar counter he was standing beside. That he needed to look impressive should have made it clear that he was talking to a woman, one he wanted to impress, and if that wasn't clear before we can assume that it is clear now.
Men like him seldom feel the need to bow to the whims of heads of state, men of taste or people who have made nations tremble. Men like him are above all that simply because men like him are ghosts. To threaten an arms dealer with harm, physical, financial or mental is to threaten the average dictator's hold over his seat of power. The average dictator was smart, or paranoid, enough to know not to tread on such shaky ground. No, the average dictator was careful to avoid the obvious landmines, only to eventually be felled by the complacency that sets in when a poker player of long sta Read more:Encounters
A Fresh Start 2007-02-25 08:59:57 He walked out on his wife and kids one Sunday morning before summer had properly set in. There was no "other' woman or man involved in this decision. He had simply tired of family ties and adult responsibilities. He prepared for his children's future for months before he made the move. He ensured that his wife had the necessary money available to cover the months it would take for her to adjust and find her feet. He cleared out his bank account and left for cooler climes from where he could begin a new life.
He had made the decision after a particularly bad day at work. He had ceased to enjoy what he did years ago. He had stayed on because the periodic raise made it seem like a bad idea to give up the steady arrival of a comfortable sum of money. But it also made little sense to him that a boss who was his superior merely because he spent a larger portion of his life working for the company was allowed to make him feel the way he did that day. He also failed that day to justify Read more:Start
, Fresh Start
The Price Of Waiting 2007-02-26 07:50:38 I am just tempted to ride off right now, into the sunset, into the next life whatever…this is depressing and not even because I am doing something wrong or because I broke someone's heart. This waiting is murder and I am just tempted to stop waiting.
Aren't we waiting all our lives? For love, a promotion, marriage, death? What's the big deal about waiting? I'm sure there's a statistic about how much time we spend waiting every day and I don't think it would be a fun number to find out what portion of the average life is spent waiting in the limbo between tasks or events. I'm sick of it and I want it to stop.
His mind was several decades away as the words poured out over the telephone line into his headphones. He was thinking about another time, another place when he had been guilty of thinking the same thoughts. He was working very hard to avoid the eyes of the other man in the room. He needed time to be able to word this as succinctly as he could because he knew how h Read more:Waiting
Twenty Four Little Hours 2007-02-28 09:14:12 She was terrified. All alone, in the dark and suffering from a sore throat, she was certain there was no way out for her. For one fleeting moment free of terror she thought nostalgically of that morning, not so long ago when none of this was even a hinted possibility. Her name was Aarti and she was very, very fucked.
It had started like most other days, with breakfast, a train ride and the short walk to work from the station. She had traded barbs with Vishal while waiting for the elevator, ignored him with a smile while in the elevator and flounced off towards her cubicle after he'd held the door open for her without a single backward glance. As she waited for her computer to come on she knew that things would have to go beyond their current riffing soon or one of them would lose interest. As soon as her computer came on the desktop wallpaper she had installed the night before reminded her that it was Priya's birthday. She swore to herself, cursed for not being able to retain a sin Read more:Hours
Sunburst On A Car Bonnet 2007-02-27 10:29:34 It was the night before Holi. He needed this, he needed it like most others need a hole in their heads. He didn't think of the second half of that sentence, he always stopped himself after the first bit and went for it; hell for leather and all that. He prided himself on being sensible about the decisions he made, most of the time. The jury was out on this particular decision but he didn't believe in the American legal system anyway so he didn't think twelve strangers would have been able to judge him any better than a single judge could accurately assess the actions of a man in his peculiar situation.
A peculiar situation it most definitely was and he had done very little to extricate himself from it. In fact he had done more to throw himself to the wolves than most of his enemies could ever be credited with doing. Hell, he had developed enmities by following this brand new path he had placed his life on. It was a journey towards truth, if it is possible to call any one man's Read more:Sunburst
, Bonnet
Can Opener 2007-03-02 06:44:13 They called him the Can Opener
. It was both a compliment and an insult. The man was notorious for an investigative streak that left no myth, legend or scripture free of doubt. He had opened up so many cans of political and moral worms that people had developed an uncanny ability to lose the gift of speech the moment his distinctive carriage was recognized from a thousand feet away. He liked to call it his blessing and his curse. Mayank Girdhari had been born with a leg shorter than the other. Which is why they also called him Pisa, as in Leaning Tower Of, which made a sum total of two names he was called that could be repeated in polite company. Girdhari had more enemies than most rich people had extended family members and he was proud of each and every one of them. He liked to say, “friendships can be like unwanted pregnancies you learn to love but enmities always come from something being fucked intentionally.”
Nothing was really above the Can Opener. He would just as gladly ge
Falling Apple 2007-03-01 07:59:36 “You know it’s all about the music darling, it’s all I’ve ever been good at.”
“You can’t do this to her, you can’t do this to me.”
“I’m sorry love, it’s already done. She’ll thank me for not having been around to expose her to the drunken rages and the angry sex.”
“What about me?”
“The angry sex would never have been with you.”
“I don’t care about them.”
“Neither do I. All I care about is the music. I want to say it’s my music but it’s not. The music is everyone else’s but it’s my legacy.”
“She’s your legacy.”
“Someday maybe, today, this year, the next…she’s just something that was the result of the sex we had. I thought I could settle down when you told me we were to be parents. Nothing good comes of settling. Turmoil is where the excitement is, where the energy comes from. You know what I’m saying is true.”
“It’s not fair Parvaiz. You cannot leave us like this.”
“Someday you will thank me Catherine.”
Her Read more:Apple
Communication For Dummies 2007-03-03 07:36:45 “Tell it like it is.”
I didn’t know what he meant.
“Not how it should be.”
I still didn’t know what he was saying to me.
He refused to say anything more. He just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. I’m thinking he needs a gift certificate to Body Language 101. while he’s waiting for me to understand what he meant.
I took a stab at it, “You’re feeling defensive…?”
His eyes went very wide. I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone’s eyes as white circles around the pupils before, except in cartoons.
“Not me, you! Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“Nothing right now. Why?”
“See, that’s my problem, how can anyone feel nothing?”
“Well, not nothing nothing. It’s sort of chilly in here so I’m cold. I wish I hadn’t worn white with green so I’m unhappy about my fashion choices today. I’m also in some pain. I’ve been standing for a long time today, work was murder so my feet are killing me and I could really use a back massage. Read more:Dummies
Facial Reconstruction 101 2007-03-04 05:01:43 It was that kind of morning, cold when he was hoping for warmth, dark when it should have been well past sunrise. His cold was doing little to improve the mood he was in. Normally he was thrilled at the prospect of riding through a still sleepy city. He liked knowing that there were fewer people capable of angering him with their lack of road sense at that time of the morning. The cold was seeping in to chill him through two layers of clothing. Inside the helmet his eyes were crying rivulets as tendrils of cold insinuated themselves through gaps between the plastic visor and the rest of the helmet. It was cooler than the city’s inhabitants were used to and at fifty kilometres an hour, his exposed fingers felt ready to fall off. He had covered fifteen kilometres in approximately twenty minutes and estimated arriving at his destination within the next ten minutes placing him at his destination half hour earlier than required.
Even his jeans were falling short in their ability to pr
Divine Prankster 2007-03-05 04:16:45 He liked to think of himself as God and like the all-seeing one, he sometimes liked to fuck with his subjects. This involved insinuating mistimed beats into the collective consciousness of the heaving, throbbing mass that he only ever saw as flashes of raised arms and heaving flesh for instants at a time depending upon the mood of the dude at the lighting console. He was the DJ and sometimes he liked to mess with the people dancing to his music. Literally.
He could always muster a chuckle for the time the wide-arsed blonde with more teats than a cowshed at milking time had taken it upon herself to become his single most visible spectator that night at the Roxy Live in September. For the few moments she had taken to adjust to his rhythm he had allowed himself to be amazed that a girl as large as she could move with the facility required by the arduous beats he was dropping that night. There she was in her shiny belt, tighter-than-skin jeans and a white tank top that left very little to Read more:Divine
, Prankster
Superstar Retribution 2007-03-06 07:27:57 He just wanted to be left alone. It’s all he asked, it’s what was expected of everyone around him. They knew why. They knew how he got at times like this. They knew and they thought they could do better. All he asked was that he be left alone at a time like this and it seemed to have been too much to ask.
It made him crazy to think that people didn’t have the decency to understand. He let them have all the other times. He made it about them when he won his first major award. He made it about them when he won that big contract that sealed his place in the pantheon of stars that had gone supernova before him. He made it about them when he found her. He always made it about them and that was his big mistake. They were always around, the fans, the media and the minders. The latter he treated with the respect they deserved, the former he gave his love and gratitude to for allowing him to live the life he did by supporting him with their money and fervour. He didn’t however have any Read more:Superstar
Haute Headed 2007-03-07 02:48:43 Soledad was mad. She thought she had every right to be because she rarely considered the possibility that she might be wrong. What concerned her more was the potential effect her current state would have on the new procedure Dr. Weber had performed on her face a week ago. He had been quick to assure her that she would be fine under the stress of Fashion Week but Dr. Weber didn’t know what Soledad could become when she got angry.
The girls were at fault. Even as she tried to find an ounce of composure in the chaos of back stage she realised that it had always been the case. They started binging right before fittings, had violent sex the night before a show and arrived at her doorstep bloated and bruised. She had cared for them for so long she’d forgotten that they were more like misbehaving children than focused professionals. They took little pride in being part of one of the oldest professions in the world. They cared more about their rich boyfriends and developing a drug habit t Read more:Haute
Fisherman Smackdown 2007-03-08 08:49:27 He liked the idea of picking fights. He inherited the trait from his father, Aatmaram Gaekwad who was the most dreaded inhabitant of the little fishing village they lived in, slap bang in the middle of the city. Papa Gaekwad had been known to use an incredible array of weapons to help him win his many battles. His ability to turn anything into a weapon was what had earned and sealed his reputation. The thing that bothered their neighbours and friends about Aatmaram the most was that he was always completely sober at his meanest. He didn’t attempt to strangle his wife or kick the shit out of his sons while drunk. He went for them when he was sober and angry. And Papa Gaekwad was angry a lot.
It could be anything. Politicians, Muslims, fishermen with motorboats, people in cars, men riding bullock carts, other men’s wives, other people’s children, taxes (even though he didn’t pay any), the municipal corporation’s ineptitude, temple priests, traffic police…at some point or the Read more:Smackdown
Vendetta Warriors 2007-03-09 10:42:43 Her name was Stiletto Sally and she was waiting. Ever since she was a little girl Sally was not known for being a patient girl. The longer she had to wait after deciding she wanted something, the angrier she got. People who knew her never kept her waiting because she wasn’t just called Stiletto Sally because she liked to wear impossibly high heels.
His name was Bad News Bill and he was also waiting. People who knew Bill called him Job because that’s how patient he could be. Which is funny because he already had one nickname. Bill got his nickname through a series of unfortunate circumstances that had been witnessed by most of the people that knew him. He was six years old at the time. It was June and the clock had barely struck six in the morning when it happened. People might have known that Bill was patient but they were very careful to not test him because he wasn’t called Bad News without reason.
Mattheus Wadlow was the sheriff of his town. Actually the town didn’t actuall Read more:Vendetta
, Warriors
Confessions Of The Angry 2007-03-10 06:35:43 “They say, ‘All the world’s a stage…’”
“Maybe, but who died and made you the fucking stage director?”
“Come on, you know there’s no need for that kind of hostility?”
“Really? And what kind of hostility is there a need for?”
“Why don’t I show you!”
He pushed the chair back, so hard, it smacked into the back of a chair at the next table. A woman was sitting on it so the man with her stood up to assert himself as her protector. But Tom had already launched into his example, so he wasn’t paying attention to Sir Galahad. He dragged Michael to his feet by his shirt lapels and hit him. No soft-pedaling the issue. He went for it like the only heterosexual at the Playboy Mansion on Full Nudity Day. When Tom’s first fist connected Michael lost a tooth and it all went downhill from there.
I watched Mr. Chivalry with his glasses and his long sleeved shirt buttoned at the wrist. I wasn’t close enough but I would bet he was wearing ‘masculine’ cologne. He
Marital Blitz 2007-03-12 06:30:32 She ripped open the floor. Literally. She had ripped up the floor and was sitting in a corner rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around herself. When I wrapped my arms around her she was shaking and her sharp intakes of breath rattled her head against my chest. I looked at the floor and then I rested my chin on the top of her head, closed my eyes and waited for the shaking to subside.
I couldn’t imagine where she found the strength to rip up the floor.
His name was Martin and he had been our best friend since we’d moved into the house six years ago. Martin made it to all the birthdays and anniversaries. It was like a revolving door for his dates but Martin was the constant. He brought wine, the good stuff, and he let me know when I might be missing a really good game on TV.
We stood outside the living room, at the foot of the stairs while he tried to find words for the ripped up floor and my sedated wife in the bedroom upstairs. Eventually he said, “What I gave her s Read more:Blitz
Conflict Dimebag 2007-03-11 08:54:02 His orders were to head south and even though there was little indication that that’s where the trouble was, he knew better than to start questioning orders. Questioning an order did little other than make his superior officer mad. He didn’t need that right now. Not with the pending investigation about the substance abuse. He would do as he was told and hope for the best. It just didn’t make sense though. The dark plume of smoke that threatened to blot out the sun was rising from the north. It’s where the last small arms fire had been heard. It just didn’t make sense but then what, about any of this, made sense?
He thought about Maria and the beautiful babies they had planned to make before he got called into active duty. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, his father always used to say. It was easy for his father, the old man never had to go into war. He avoided Nam and was too old by the time Kuwait came along. Sure a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do especi Read more:Conflict
Diamond White 2007-03-13 07:38:14 She was sitting there staring. And smoking. She always stared when she smoked, not really seeing anything nor properly relishing the smoke circulating in her breathing. This time she was staring for a different reason. It wasn’t proving to be as difficult as she had imagined something like this being. She didn’t get it and there was a part of her brain that reminded her of something Werner Herzog said in a documentary called The White
Diamond…something about certain things being so alien to people they exhibit a selective blindness that actually prevents them from even acknowledging that the thing exists. So she sat there and she smoked and she wondered whether what she was looking at was even possible.
The nature of a computer screen made it difficult for her to turn the thing around so she couldn’t really look at it from all angles. Was there something she was not seeing? Was that why she was so calm? What could she be missing? As far as she could tell there was only one set
I Was Driven 2007-03-14 07:08:05 "This is the problem right here, this incessant need to compare"
"No it simply becomes the problem you focus on because it's easier to blame my comparing you to someone else rather than actually become something worthwhile in your own right"
"You need to shut the hell up"
"You need to grow up. Life is not all fantasy. The sooner you wake up to reality the sooner you might actually be able to make one of your dreams come true"
"What is this, another tough love speech?"
"There's not going to be much love left if you carry on like this Mohan. You have to change"
And that's how it went, day in and day out. They argued and he walked away and she hated him a little bit more each day. She didn't think it was fair. She shouldn't have to be the one shouldering the burden of his anxieties and bad moods. It wasn't her fault that things weren't working out for him. Hell she could argue that things weren't exactly working out for her either. She hadn' Read more:Driven
The We In Wedding 2007-03-15 08:23:42 Mohan was certain that Sai was sleeping around. It had been a concern of his even before they were married but he had constantly pushed it aside because of the way she made him feel. For one thing, she refused to have sex with him while they were dating. When he asked her to marry him she made him wait for six weeks before answering his question. During the time she didn't see him or speak to him even once. When she agreed to marry him he was so relieved he came.
Most of his friends had told him, at one time or another, that Sai was wrong for him - during the time they were dating, when they announced their engagement and even after they were married. They told him so after every single time she yelled at him in public for being unfocused or clueless or too wrapped up in himself. His friends thought of him as a gentle soul and they didn't like they way she made him feel. Most of the girls and a few of the guys were certain that Sai wasn't a woman who understood the concept of
Nocturnal Rendezvous 2007-03-16 09:13:39 He thought he knew her type. He liked to think he knew what women like her wanted. On the nights that he played his game he left his wedding band in the pocket he requested for all of his suit jackets. It was well hidden and whatever was in it wouldn’t be found even if a thorough examination was undertaken. He further sweetened the pot against discovery by leaving items of interest in the jacket’s other, more easily accessible pockets. There were credit card receipts for extravagant purchases, money, expensive cigars and an even more expensive cellphone with pictures of exotic places like the Galapagos Islands, a flea market in Turkey, the coast of Belize and a villa in Spain. All of this after he had allowed the valet to park an exquisite, limited run Ferrari and greeted the staff at the exclusive bar in the basement of the hotel by name.
He knew what it took to look like he belonged and his appearance as well as the cut of his suit, the shine on his shoes and the glint off his Read more:Nocturnal
, Rendezvous
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