Collectively, Inklings (Very short stories and other babies born of ink) by Aparna Warrier, is shorter than a conventional short story. Undoubtedly the shortest book I’ve ever read without pictures.
Without the benefit of super hearing, Alphonse cowered beside his bed and wondered when it would be over. The noise had started well after he was in bed. Like most nights, he had tucked himself in bed. He made the best out of an oversized t-shirt since he had no pajamas to wear. The food in the pantry had run out two days before and the sound of his stomach rumbling was the last thing he heard before falling asleep.
Drifting without mass through a wall, Reginald vented his frustration with life, or the lack of it. The outward manifestation of his angst was slightly colder spot in an already cold and empty room. The Madison family knew conceptually about him. They knew that he had died, messily, in this very room.
It was a rather cloudy day in 2009 that I decided, once and for all, to give Tuesdays a miss. I had tried with past, misguided attempts to simply circumvent Tuesday. I took a sick day here or canceled an appointment there in the desperate hope that it would be enough to stave off the devastation Tuesday typically wrought in my life. This time, however, I was quite sincere in my desire to cease to exist for 14.3% of the week.
The last time James had walked this way, he was sure the path had bent more to the left. The difference was a little thing, but it sounded an alarm bell in his head. It wasn’t like he was an infrequent visitor to this small patch of woods, he came this way at least twice a week. When he didn’t feel like riding the bus (usually on nice, sunny days) he took this route.
Sevron 4000 walked towards the kitchen pod, his face empty but his heart full. Well, it wasn’t exactly his heart, but it was a knot of servos and transistors that fulfilled the same function of keeping him alive. He had been activated 78 terrestrial years prior and came into the world knowing that he was different. The self diagnostic software at MANCO (Marvcorp Android and Nanobot Co) hadn’t detected the positronic pathway anomaly and he wasn’t about to tell them any different.
A small arm appeared from under the bed, the first indication of movement during the dark midnight hour. A glassy eye blinked further back. Santa Barbara Mindy and Fluffy Heart Bear cautiously looked at one another. Their careful plan had been hatched over the last several nights.
Hi Boys and Girls! This here’s your old Uncle Danmus to tell you all ’bout Brer Fox and his escapades with Brer Lizard.
Once ‘pon a time, way back when, Ol’ Brer Fox upset Brer Thicket with the news that a lizard had ‘scaped somewhere near Brer Pond.
Bathroom duty has been the subject of many books, mostly targeted toward children. Some of my favorites are The Gas We Pass and Everyone Poops. But just search the word “poop” at Amazon and you’ll find books for adults as well. Dan Marvin’s book, Briefs for the Reading Room, is one such book, but don’t worry. It’s not about what’s in the bowl, but instead is a book designed to give you something to read while waiting for the end result.
