HYPE/MISC/ACRA: Coming in 2007...

[Arthur Spitzer]

Once.



Once there was a girl who chased a great white grasshopper through the 
great green grass of the world.  She ran fast, but the grasshopper 
hopped even faster.

And as she chased, she tripped.

And as she tripped, she fell.

She fell.

And fell.

The grass turned grey.

The grass turned black.

*****

"You know what would be fun?"  That's how it always starts.  "I played 
this game back in college.  Of course there were Jell-O shots involved 
back then, but -- It's a fun game!  Really!  You see -- in this game one 
person starts a sentence, but they don't finish it and the next person 
finishes it and starts another unfinished sentence and so on and so on." 
  There were a couple of sarcastic "That sounds fun," in the background 
and someone else shouted, "The point?  How you win?"

"Well, this isn't really a game, which people win or lose.  It's just -- 
you know -- fun!  Some rules though.  No naughty words, or naughty 
anything for that matter.  Let's keep this G-rated."  A few snickers in 
the back.  "And, you know, try to keep it short.  Let's see how long we 
can keep it going before Salty tells us to shut up."  Mrs. Harmony 
smiled.  "Okay?  Okay, I'll start and then Robby will go next and we'll 
sort of go counter clockwise around the bus."  Mrs. Harmony made some 
gestures.  "Okay?"

"Okay."  Mrs. Harmony paused for second.  "How should I start this? 
Hmm.  Okay, here it goes.  There was this bus full of school children 
driving in a blizzard..."  Where do you get your original ideas from, 
Mrs. Harmony?  Rose rolled her eyes.  "When all of a sudden...."

"When all of a sudden, a kid pulled out a gun from his jacket and 
interrupted Mrs. Harmony's story," said a kid who pulled a gun from his 
jacket interrupting Mrs. Harmony's story.  It was Stan.  Book nerd Stan. 
  He had stopped reading Flogg the Barbarian and was now pointing a gun 
at Mrs. Harmony.  And the strange thing was that it could be easily 
seen.  It was no longer dark.  And no one, but Rose seemed to notice 
that daylight was engulfing the bus.  Stan who never ever said a word 
was now the only one talking.  And everyone was listening.

"Stan was sick of everything.  Sick of being called a loser, sick of 
being called a fag, sick of being..."

"Stan, please..." Mrs. Harmony said making calming gestures with her hands.

"No, shut up, Mrs. Harmony.  Shut the fuck up.  Look, you've got a 
choice.  You can either hear my story or you can hear the sound this gun 
makes when it blows your head away.  Got it?  Now sit the fuck down!" 
Mrs. Harmony sat down.

Rose felt frozen.  She wanted to be invisible.  What the hell was Stan 
doing?

This was insane.  This shouldn't be happening.  School shootings happen 
to other people.  To other schools.  And here she was staring at some 
kid she knew.  Full of rage.  Holding up a gun.

No.  Stan wouldn't shoot anyone.  This was just a cry for attention. 
This would end peacefully.  No one would die.  Yes.

*********



And when she woke, she wondered where she was.



She was in the grasshopper's dream.



*********



                            Coming



                           January



                             2007




                 Tales from the Gutterground #1:



The Runaway
       Chaotic,
           Sporadic,
               Traumatic,
                   Make-It-Up-As-You-Go-Along
                          Story
                           Game





For Mature Audiences only.




Arthur "Well, and people who like Sex, Violence, and Profanity also of 
course..." Spitzer