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Tuesday, September 15, 2026

you never nobody

by bofa xesjum




johnny woke up.

he was nobody.

his elephant was gone.

and his sunshine had expired.

he had fifteen minutes to yell bloody murder.

but he decided to float down the muddy river instead.

omar had been his best friend.

he had been lucky to even have one.

a shadow fell across the crack under the door.

who could it be but fred?

fred opened the door without ceremony, and without any respect for johnny’s privacy, in the way that he had .

you ready to sell that elephent? fred asked vigorously.

the elephant is gone.

fred looked around the room. he could see that the elephant was gone.

where did it go?

danged if i know, johnny replied soberly.

let’s go out in the street and see what is going on.

might as well, johnny replied wearily,

outside in the street, a lot was going on.

the security police in their red uniforms had descended on the town.

and were rounding people up with their blue batons.

and lining them up on the sidewalk.

johnny and fred quickly found themselves in line with the rest of the riffraff.

where was omar? johnny wondered.

j omar had been his best friend.

it would be great to see him again.




Friday, August 14, 2026

round one

by bofa xesjum




achilles was a hero

billy the kid was an outlaw

christopher columbus was the ——— worst person who ever lived

delilah was a woman

ernest hemingway was the ——— greatest writer of the twentieth century

f scott fitzgerald was the —————— greatest writer of the twentieth century

george weashington rode a white horse

houdini was a magician

iskander wept by the river

j k rowling was the ——— worst person who ever lived

king arthur was sad

lancelot was not much fun

moses wandered in the desert

nero was an emperor

ossian was a bard

prester john was a bard and an emperor

queen victoria had a castle in scotland

robin hood was an outlaw

samson was a man

turn out the lights

understanding is the fruit

virtue is the tree

the wind bloweth whee it listeth

excuse my ignorance

yeti did his own thing

zorioaster was a prophet




Tuesday, August 11, 2026

happy song

by horace p sternwall






johnny went down to the station to buy his poor dog a bone
on his way he met hercules, carrying a heavy stone
hercuiles, said johnny, why do you come on so strong
why don’t you put down that rock, and sing a happy song?

hercules responded, in his patented way
why must i listen to this garbage all day?
the world has mistreated me, since the dawn of time
for every nickel you take from me, i want back a dime

john d rockefeller walked the street
and covered miles without missing a beat
he never said hello, or had anything to say
but used his white privilege to make money every day

adolf hitler watched the skies
his hair fell down across his eyes
he had a mustache he could not curl
and destroyed the earth because he could not get a girl

bobo raised rattlesnakes, bozo raised pigs
they drank cheap whiskey and wore blond wigs
they lived in the countryside, far from the crowd
and hated each other but never said so out loud

in a little town on the coast of spain
on the corner of 201st street and main
a banana and an apple sold shares of stock
in a bridge from gibraltar to plymouth rock

the same old story, over again
when women were women, and men were men
adam sold apples, and eve sold trees
and peter pan was left swinging in the breeze

one, two, three, four, five,, six, seven, eight, nine. ten
omar khayyam was the saddest of men
his jug was empty and his poems would not rhyme
he fell in the river and was covered with slime





Monday, August 3, 2026

robin

by horace p sternwall






roses are red
lilies are white
robin was a robber
and rode through the night

roses are red
bluebonnets are blue
he rode like the wind
and his aim was true

the trees are old
the leaves are new
the grass is green
the sky is blue

kingdoms rise
and empires fall
there is always an outlaw
to answer the call





Saturday, July 4, 2026

crack - 26. dark highway

by nick nelson

part 26 of 26

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





want a lift?

sure. thank you.

where you headed?

away.

how far away?

aways.

i am headed that way myself.

good.

maybe quite aways, maybe not so quite aways.

better and better.

can i ask you a question?

go for it.

are you on a mission?

um - no, i wouldn’t say so.

i am.

i’m impressed.

an ancient and honorable mission - vengeance. on everybody that’s ever done me wrong. and that’s a lot of people.

i am sorry to hear that. sorry that you were done wring, i mean.

my name is slim, by the way,

just slim? slim i usually from some place, like omaha slim, or madagascar silim, or lithuania slim, or wherever.

i used to be but now i am just slim. it’s more anonymous that way.

i guess so. this sure is a dark highway.

highway’s always been dark.

i don’t know. i read somewhere it used to be bustling. the spinal cord or the life blood of civilization or something like that.

shouldn’t believe anything you read. always been dark as far back as i know, and that’s a long time.

i defer to your judgment and experience.

defer, that’s a good twenty dollar word. what ’s your name, by the way?

smith - bill smith.



the end




Friday, July 3, 2026

crack - 25. after all

by nick nelson

part 25 of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here







a lazy afternoon at the police station.

friday was trying to clean up her pending files as best she could before her day off.

she had sent a message to william wilson two days earlier informing him that the thirty day period he had to appeal the closing of his case had expired, and asking him to acknowledge that he had received her notice.

not that it was necessary that he send a response - the case was closed anyway - but she would have liked to have it in the file.

he had not responded.

that is odd, she thought. i know his type - persistent, and at least wanting to get the last word in.

something is off here.

she sent him another message, ending - mister wilson please respond.

two hours later, when she was ready to leave, he had not answered .

very strange, she thought. according to him, he has no job, and nothing to do all day.

she decided to drop in on him on her way home.

*

there were no cars parked outside bill smith’s house.

friday knew william did not have a car or a license to drive one, but bill smith probably did. did he drive into the city to his office?

she rang the doorbell.

twice.

no answer. she had not expected one.

she tried the door. it opened. she went inside

there was a small kitchen to her right. it looked neat and clean, probably not used much.

there was a small room to her left with a couch and a coffee table, and two closed doors beyond that.

she knocked on both doors. no answers.

she tried the first door. it was locked.

she tried the second door. it opened.

william was lying face up on a small bed. friday saw right away that he was dead.

there were no signs of violence or struggle.

but there was a small yellow post-it note stuck on his shirt front.

on it was scrawled , in what looked like deliberately “clumsy” handwriting -

got ya!

so, someone had been after him after all.

is this the end - or the beginning?

friday called constantine.



next





Thursday, July 2, 2026

crack - 24. corpus delicti

by nick nelson

part 24 of ?

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here







we got you this time, slim, old buddy. got you good. so why don’t you just come clean and save us all a lot of trouble?

you got nothing on me, agent. nothing. no corpus delicti. nothing.

we have the truck and you sitting in it. fred fifty-two’s truck. and we know fred fifty-two had the money. so, the question is, where is the money.

i told you how i got the truck. if you don’t want to believe me, that is your problem and i never heard of fred fifty-two.

yes, you were walking down the road, and little jack horner came along with the truck and gave it to you because he did’t know how to drive it. ha ha. at least it is kind of original.

there you go. i could not have made it up.

that is what they all say.

i got nothing more to say.

agent jones nodded to deputy brown, who was standing behind slim.

take him away.

how far back in the jail?

way back. way, way back.

someone will pay for this.

doesn’t sound like my problem.



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