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| Arlene, Larry, and Alice |
McKinley Sinclair wheezed as he attempted to get out of the taxi. He'd shakily gotten both legs out of the car and was attempting to stand up when his legs gave way and his congested lungs voiced their opposition with a loud, phlegmy coughing jag.
"Mac, what in the hell are you trying to do?", yelled Wayne Archer, frantically pushing a wheelchair he had retrieved from the lobby. "I told you to stay put."
"I wanted to stay put, back home, but you wouldn't let me." Mac had argued forcefully against this trip ever since Wayne first suggested it. Mac didn't know much about medicine, but he knew cars, and in his experience, if multiple parts are failing at once, it doesn't make sense to put more money into a failing jalopy. If he were a car, he could be traded in for a newer model. Unfortunately for Mac, the best he could hope for at this stage was to be scrapped for parts, not that any of his worn-out organs would be of much good to anyone.
Maybe his eyes could be salvaged. They had managed to stay free of glaucoma and cataracts, and they were certainly working well now as he scoped out the staff of this resort Wayne had ultimately dragged him to. Much as he had complained every step of the way getting here, he had no complaints about the scenery now that he was here. Everywhere he looked were fit young men in their late teens to mid-twenties, rushing about in crisp pastel polos, tight khaki short-shorts and white tennis shoes with ankle socks. Wayne smiled as he noticed Mac's head swiveling madly, unable to control his gawking as one young hunk after another whizzed past. Young women were busily attending to their duties as well, but none of them got a glance from Mac.
"Where have to taken me?", Mac asked. "Heaven?"
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| Arlene, Larry, and Alice |
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| Travis |
I received this from Cris Kane; inspired by Collan's recent posts – thanks for sending in the story Cris.
"I just heard nobody's asked Kaitlyn Johnson to the prom!"
Noah glanced over the top of his plastic-framed glasses, unimpressed by his friend Tyler's bulletin. "So?"
"So, I'm gonna ask her out!", Tyler declared.
Noah snorted, sending a trickle of chocolate milk through his nostrils. He wiped his nose on the sleeve of his flannel shirt and studied Tyler across the table. "Did you wake up on the insane side of the bed today?"
Tyler became defensive. "Screw you. You don't know that she'll say no. I did just have a growth spurt."
"Five-one to five-two doesn't count as a 'spurt'. That's more like a trickle." Noah lowered his head and went back to reading his X-Men comic and wolfing down his brown-bag lunch.
Finally setting down his lunch tray across from Noah and taking a seat, Tyler said, "My dad says you never get anything unless you try."
"Yeah, well, you never get humiliated unless you try something stupid," Noah countered, nudging his glasses back up his nose and smiling a shit-eating grin. Well, technically, peanut-butter-eating. Probably not the best choice for somebody wearing braces, but Noah wasn't going to stop eating things he liked just because his mom thought he should have straight teeth. As evidenced by the flab hanging over the front of his pants and the edge of his seat, Noah wasn't big on the concept of stopping eating.
By contrast, Tyler was short and painfully frail, his bones having approximately the same thickness and resiliency as uncooked spaghetti. But what he lacked in size, he made up for in self-confidence. Glorious unwarranted self-confidence. He wasn't gifted academically, athletically or socially. He and Noah had become friends almost by default, as if they had tied for the title of "least popular" in kindergarten and their prize was each other's company for life. Lately, though, Tyler had begun to feel that Noah was holding him back, almost literally weighing him down and preventing him from rising in the school's social circles. Taking Kaitlyn to the prom would be a major coup for Tyler.
I was getting impatient, I looked at the time. "He should have got the goods by now." I muttered under my breath.
It was a simple job, get an identity that we could use to target all the rich kids over the summer break.
The resort had stepped up security, so I needed something that wouldn't look out of place.
My phone buzzed--a text. It was Greg, "Can't get close enough to anyone." I cursed under my breath, this was his last screw-up Greg was for the meat hook. *What an idiot.* I had to take him on, show him the ropes, I owed it to big Frank. But to be honest, Greg just wasn't smart enough for this scam. It didn't matter, I'd already lined up someone I could slip into his skin, Frank wouldn't know and he'd be proud of his 'son'.
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Where the hell am I? I was sitting in my living room and suddenly I am standing in an empty locker room. I can hear crowds of people somewhere in the distance but the voices are indistinct. A man walks into the room dressed in a tight bicyclist’s outfit that emphasizes his muscular physique. I have no idea who he is but he doesn’t seem surprised to see me here.
“Ah, I see you have finally arrived. Welcome.” His English is accented with German. He comes closer, his hand extended. “I am Andre Greipel. Perhaps you have heard of me?” I can feel his strength as he vigorously shakes my hand.
“No, I’m afraid I haven’t heard of you.”
“No matter.” His dark eyes are scrutinizing my body. “It looks like I have found the perfect competitor.”
Found the perfect competitor for what? What is this Andre guy talking about?