Cori's relatives and my coworkers were milling around the funeral home, munching on celery sticks and green bean casserole, and occasionally coming up to me to murmur something soothing and useless.  I was still somewhat in shock and denial since the car...

"I'm going to bake her a banana cake, that's what I'm going to do! You have to open your door when a neighbor brings a cake!" Greg put down his coffee cup and looked wearily at his wife, the adorable and sexy love of his life. Madelyn had seen the couple...

It had been a rough week, so Craig knocked off early Friday afternoon. Actually, the whole engineering group knocked off early - there was a going-away happy hour for Patsy, the senior team leader. Patsy was a compact but plush little brunette who'd neatl...

Ray Franklin was grading badly-written German essays when the Professor called him into the office. "Raymondt, I have something to ask you." Professor Morton Dichter had been teaching at the university for twenty years, but his accent had never completely...

"What do you have against the old widow anyway?"The gang was at happy hour across from the college campus, and Chuck had just announced his intention to toss eggs and stink bombs at the home of the local psychic.  The woman was 70 if she was a day, and no...

"I don't know how you find them, Thomas," my visitor commented.  "I've never seen a quieter secretarial pool in any of the offices I've surveyed this year.  What's your secret?""Ergonomics," I said mildly.  "It's all in providing a proper work environment...

Nelson walked out of midnight karaoke at the strip club, forty dollars lighter, buzzed, and horny.  After two wrong turns in the parking lot, he found the right Prius and made the drive to his hotel without incident.  Once he was in his hotel room, though...

"Colombia? As in drug cartels?!?"My voice rose an octave and a half as my boss revealed himself to be an alien from the planet Moron."Who goes to Colombia?  Do you realize that country's on the State Department's 'don't go there' list?"  I continued in th...

     The bar where Fred sat was crowded and dingy, but it had a television.  On the screen, the Cowboys kicker shanked what would have been the winning field goal; a mixture of groans and cheers echoed in the crowded bar.  The brunette sitting on Fred's l...

     Her Basement, by Rajah Dodger Copyright (c) 2001.  All rights reserved, except that electronic not-for-profit reproduction rights only are explicitly granted with the stipulation that this authorship and permission note must remain attached.     The...

Sticky Afternoonby Rajah Dodger (c) 1994, 2009     It was a sticky afternoon, and Karl was tired of waiting for the bus, tired of looking for work, just plain tired.  He tapped his fingers impatiently against his briefcase as he slouched against the build...