crack - 2. friday

by nick nelson

part 2 of ?

to read part 1, click here

have a seat. mr wilson, is it? yes, it is. thank you, ma’am. my name is sergeant friday. i see you have left quite a bit off of the form you filled out. i did the best i could. you left out your social security number. is that because you do not know it? no, because i don’t have one. really? do you have a job? no. have you ever had one? no. what is your source of income? money. it is with most people. where do you get your money? did you inherit it? are you supported by your family? no. then where do you get your money? i found it. you found it. right. sergeant friday stared into space. do you have health insurance? no. do you have a drivers license? no. no drivers license. do have a passport or any kind of i d at all? no. all right, we might come back to all this later. why all these questions? don’t you want to know why i came here? why all these questions? don’t you want to know why i came here? we like a little background. it will help us with our problem - your problem. can i ask you a question? i am the one asking the questions, but go for it. are you sergeant joe friday? yes, i am a matter of fact. do you spell it j-o-e or j-o? actually i spell it g-i-a-o. now let’s move on. all right. you say you received a threatening letter. did you bring it with you? yes, i have it right here. can i see it? to be continued

crack - 1. the threat

by nick nelson

part 1 of ?

dusk - of the shortest day of the year. in a moderate to medium sized american city. a man walked into a police station. can i help you? the desk sergeant asked. yes. how can i help you? i want to report a —— a what? a threat. fill out this form. the desk sergeant slipped a two page form into a clipboard and handed it to the man. a pen was attached to the clipboard by a short chain. the man took the form on the clipboard over to a long bench against the wall. three other people were seated on the bench, all seated at a safe distance from each other - a woman also filling out a form, and two men staring into space. a young woman in uniform came out from behind a door, and called - mr henderson? one of the two men ho had been staring into space got up and followed her back behind the door. the man who had just come in from the street sat down a few feet from the vacated space - so that the three persons now on the bench were still a distance from each other -and began filling out his form. he filled it out quickly and gave it back to the desk sergeant, who did not glance at it. have a seat. some one will call you. the man did not ask how long that might be. next

the light

by nick nelson

night was falling. a man walked along a road. a pickup truck pulled up beside him. want a lift? the walking man did not answer. long way to go to he next town. and it’s mostly deserted. probably nothing open. the man half turned to face the driver. i don’t want a lift. he had his hand in the pocket of his jacket, pushed forward. as if he had, or was pretending to have, a gun in it. ok , my friend. just trying to be neighborly. are you my neighbor? the truck sped off. the man resumed walking. total darkness fell. there were no signs of houses or buildings along the side of the road, but there might have been some hidden by trees or with their lights off. the man kept walking. it got colder, and he took his hands out of his pockets and rubbed them together. he came to a stretch of the road bordered by thick forest. after about a mile of the forest, he thought he saw a light in the trees. he hesitated, then got off the road and went into the forest. carefully picking his way through the undergrowth and the trees, he approached the light. it came from a single window in a small house hidden in the trees. he stood and watched the house. for an hour, two hours. he saw no movement in the house, but the light remained steady. the re must be someone in there, he thought, if there is a light.

dead or alive

by nick nelson

it was dark. snow was falling on the frozen snow covered ground, the clouds from which the snow was falling covered the moon and the stars. there were no visible paths through the trees. a man walked through the snow. he was lost. he kept putting one foot in front of another. he was cold and hungry and almost dead. he heard a sound off to his left. not that close, but not that far off. a bear? yes, he thought, it sounded like a bear. at this time of year, the bear would be hungry. i hope i die before the bear eats me, the man thought. i would rather be eaten dead than alive.

shanghai

by fred flynn

operator, give me central. this is central. i want to make a call. do you have a number? no. do you have a name? henry chow. do you have an address? shanghai. any particular place in shanghai? no, just shanghai. there area lot of henry chows in shanghai. this one is my friend, he knows the mayor. what is the mayor’s name? i don’t know. it might be henry chow too. do you want to hold while i check all the henry chows in shanghai? why not? do you know how long it would take? tell me. you are the operator. 56 days, 18 hours, and 6 minutes. that was quick. you must be a robot. that is no concern of yours. so you can not help me? do you have any other information about this henry chow? he hangs out on this place on the corner. i need a little more than that. he is a great guy. everybody likes him. he gives constantly to the community. sorry, i stilll need a bit more. something more specific. numbers and names. it should not be that hard to find henry chow in shanghai, idaho. you should have said shanghai idaho, i assumed you meant shanghai municipality in china. you should not make assumptions. society runs on assumptions. can you connect me to henry chow in shanghai idaho? there is no henry chow listed in shanghai idaho. see how easy that was? we aim to please. i did not like your attitude. i wish to report you to your superiors, you can do so on the site for your telephone service. i will do that. go ahead. one of us will be visited tomorrow by representatives of the republic and charged with wasting the republic’s time. i do not think it will be me, mister smarty pants. goodbye. * the interaction was recorded. the “operator” was an automated system, and its supervisory technician, df-67438, was reprimanded and demoted from technician red class to technician blue class. the caller, py-44323, a second year student at university 66, was also reprimanded, for frivolous use of public property (the phone service) and required to perform 100 hours of community service.

who is/was?

questions by rhoda penmarq

answers by google/wikipedia

who is the greatest writer of all time? - dostoevsky who is the greatest visual artist of all time? - picasso who is the nicest person who ever lived? - janusz korczak who is the worst person who ever lived? - jimmy savile who is the most beautiful woman who ever lived? - cleopatra who is the handsomest man who ever lived? - paul newman who is the greatest female writer of all time? - agatha christie and jane austen (tie) who is the greatest female visual artist of all time? - frida kahlo who is the greatest gay wrier of all time? - oscar wilde who is the greatest gay visual artist of all time? - keith haring who is the greatest lesbian writer of all time? - sappho who is the greatest lesbian visual artist of all time? - rosa bonheur who is the greatest non-binary writer of all time? - neon yang who is the greatest non-binary visual artist of all time? - jonathan lyndon chase who was the most powerful ruler of all time? - mansa musa who was the greatest military genius of all time? - napoleon what is the greatest novel ever written? - to kill a mockingbird what is the greatest poem ever written? - sonnet 18, by shakespeare what is the greatest picture ever painted? - starry night, by van gogh what is the greatest movie ever made? - citizen kane

manifesto 26

by cathy aragon

the world is a bad place. it is a bad place because it is ruled by bad people, who do not care about people, instead of by good people, who care about people, if the good people who care about people rose up and replaced the bad people who do not care about people ,the world would be a good place. only 2 percent of the people in the world are bad people who do not care about people. the other 98 percent are good people who care about people. so how has it come to this? two words - divide and conquer. throughout so-called human history, the 2 percent have told 49 percent of the population that 51 percent of their neighbors hate them and want to rob and murder them, and the other 49 percent that the other 51 percent of their neighbors hate them and want to rob and murder them, so that they have to take their hard earned money to pay for the clubs and swords and bows and arrows and guns and bombs and star wars missiles to protect themselves. on and on an on for a million years. but it has to stop. it finally has to stop. after a million years, with the world in flames, it finally has to stop. any suggestions? how about totally destrying so-called civilization down to the ground and starting over? let me know what you think.