[LNHY/ACRA] The Daily Super Short-Short Story #40

[Saxon Brenton]

The Daily Super Short-Short Story #40
 
A Devil Came Down to Georgia 22
 
Last time: Martin explained the purely mundane(!) part of the story-so-
far as he gave a run down of how he developed superpowers to Delroy.
 
     "So what are you going to do now?" asked Delroy.
     Martin rubbed his hands over his face. "That's a good question," he 
said finally. "I was thinking of heading over to mutant town. There's 
supposed to some a doctor there who's got some concentration focusing 
techniques that are useful for people with out of control powers. Or not 
fully controlled powers. Whatever."
     Delroy frowned. "And why would you want to go to some place in a run 
down neighbourhood that might be shonky when you could go see a specialist?"
     "Telzan is supposed to be a specialist. And, not to brag or anything, 
but I seem to have gotten things under control pretty well and it's hasn't 
even been a full day yet. It's not like I'm pressed for time or anything. 
So, you know, I thought I'd just wander down and see if they've got 
anything that might be useful."
     "Uh huh," said Delroy. He had a strong suspicion that embarrassment 
was playing a strong part this choice, but he decided not to press it. 
"And where is this place, exactly? Is it in the safe part, close to the 
city, or on the far side near the industrial estates and brickworks?"
     "It's just around the corner from the main drag, right near the 
train station. It should be safe enough. You want to come?"
     "Now?"
     Martin sighed. "First thing tomorrow morning. It's not a 24 hour 
crisis center or anything like that."
     The other student looked profoundly dubious.
     "Look, you don't have to come if you don't want to, I'm just asking. 
But I want to get some more information, and this'll be a first step."
     "Can't you get the type of stuff you want off the Net?"
     "Yes... But, remember Sturgeon's Law: Internet Recension? '90% of 
everything is crap, and that's being generous where the Net is 
concerned.' The worldwideweb is a fine starting point, but it's only a 
starting point. In the end you have to talk with somebody who you're 
pretty sure knows what they're talking about."
     Delroy threw up his arms in surrender. "Fine. If you're going, then 
I'd better go too. Somebody has to keep an eye on you." 
     "You're not my mother, Del."
     "Good! That means I don't have to feed you chicken soup when you 
catch cold," Delroy snarked.
 
 
     The next morning saw the two of them walking through mutant town. 
Martin had considered asking Shane if he wanted to come, but Delroy had 
nixed the idea. "He's got a paper due on Monday, and he was lucky to 
wrangle an extension for it in the first place. He can't afford to be 
distracted."
     "He'll be pissed when he finds out that we've gone off without him," 
Martin had warned.
     "Yes, I know," had said Delroy.
     Now Martin was checking building numbers. "This should be the 
place," he said, and they went in.
     Inside they talked with the receptionist, and then sat down to read 
some pamphlets while the waited for Dr. Telzan. Since it was early in the 
day, and the place wasn't a trauma clinic, it was less than five minutes 
later that the doctor came to see them. She was a rather motherly, 
somewhat dumpy middle-aged woman with four arms. "Mr Wryce? Would you 
like to came in now?"
 
Tomorrow: A doctor's consultation. I admit I'm spruiking for time until 
mid-week when I said I'd produce the results of the 'What Is Tsurlich?' 
contest, so the origin version of the consultation - which was to have it 
happen off panel and have Martin reading some pamphlets on the way home - 
will be padded out to one or maybe two episodes of more dialogue before 
the inevitable fight scene.
 
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/