[LNHY/ACRA] The Daily Super Short-Short Story #38

[Saxon Brenton]

The Daily Super Short-Short Story #38
 
A Devil Came Down to Georgia 20
 
Last Time: A quick look at TJ's psychosis
 
     Martin spent the much of the remainder of the night trying to get 
his body under control. The results were mixed. He still looked like a 
scrap heap, but at least he didn't seem to be unstable and responding to 
adolescent panic like Tetsuo from 'Akira' anymore.
     .oO( Eew. Violation of other people's bodies and souls. Ick. ) he 
had thought when that image had first occurred to him.
     He had also wondered whether he should try talking with any of 
the other shapeshifters who were about. The 'mutant town' district of 
Net.ropolis wasn't that far away. There was a dichotomy there, however. 
The people living in mutant town might be the most immediately accessible 
but they also tended to be ones with the least amount of control of their 
abilities, if they had 'powers' at all. He recalled one wag making the 
distinction that the superheroes had powers, but the folks in mutant town 
had a condition.
     Martin frowned in embarrassment at that. The reaction wasn't borne 
out of anything so simple as political correctness but more of a sense of 
personal hypocrisy. There were lots of people who had a non-human 
appearance, and here he was worrying whether he'd be able to regain his 
handsome features. He realised that he had been hoping that he could play 
'superhero', using his powers for good but being able to slip back into a 
secret identity when it was convenient for him.
     He toyed with that notion. Deliberately he probed at the idea that 
perhaps he'd never get these shapeshifting powers under control to the 
extent that he could pass himself as a normal person again. He considered 
the prospect of being given a parish in somewhere like mutant town and 
administering to those with three heads. Father Bioborg. Could he cope 
with that? Well, if that was what God willed, he supposed he'd have to.
     What day was it? Friday? He tried to recall his timetable. He had 
classes later in the afternoon. He should go home and try to get some 
rest and maybe meditate and pray some more to try and get his mind 
focused. A bit more practise in control might be useful. If necessary he 
could bunk off classes by pretending to be sick, or something. He could 
also see if he could find any references on the internet to anybody in 
mutant town who might be able to help.
     Just before dawn he set out back to his dorm room.
 
Tomorrow: Okay, I admit I'm stalling for time and at the moment don't 
know what will happen next.
 
The Daily Super Short-Short Story series created by Arthur Spitzer, and 
used with belated permission.
 
-----
Saxon Brenton    University of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia
     saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au 
The Eyrie Archives of Russ Allbery which collect the online superhero 
fiction of the rec.arts.comics.creative newsgroup can be found at:
     http://archives.eyrie.org/racc/