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    A Step Outside of Normal
    A Step Outside of Normal
    A Step Outside of Normal
    Ebook71 pages2 hours

    A Step Outside of Normal

    By SmokingPenPress

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    About this ebook

    A Step Outside of Normal presents seven situations which are almost, but not quite, normal. Not really supernatural, not really fantasy, not really general fiction. Instead, they’re each a little bit “off”. And short, to suit your busy lifestyle.
    Hell of a Day is about a young man who has to deal with divorced parents who don’t like each other... but with an unusual setting. Sunnybrook Acres is a story of a retirement home, with an unexpected cadre of residents. Pirates looks at the world out of the eyes of a young child. Always is a tender story about loss, except that maybe it’s not so tender. Xyxyx examines the beginning of the world, but perhaps not our world. The Double presents a young woman who appears to have a doppelganger. And Rage—well, you’ll just have to read that one.

    This is the first in the Read on the Run series of short story anthologies. Be sure to check out A Bit of a Twist, and Uncommon Pet Tales.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSmoking Pen Press
    Release dateJun 25, 2018
    ISBN9781944289041
    A Step Outside of Normal

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      Book preview

      A Step Outside of Normal - SmokingPenPress

      A Step Outside of Normal

      Read on the Run

      Anthology

      This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

      A Step Outside of Normal

      Copyright © 2016 by: Laurie Axinn Gienapp, Catherine Valenti, Kathleen Terrell, Theresa Thompson, R.S. Leergard

      Cover design by Elle J Rossi - http://www.ejrdigitalart.com/

      All Rights Reserved

      No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

      Smoking Pen Press

      PO Box 190835

      Boise, ID 83719

      www.smokingpenpress.com

      ISBN-13: 978-1-944289-04-1

      First Edition: July 2016

      Table of Contents

      Hell of a Day ~ Laurie Axinn Gienapp

      Sunnybrook Acres ~ Catherine Valenti

      Pirates ~ Kathleen Terrell

      Always ~ Theresa Thompson

      The Book of Xyxyx ~ R.S. Leergard

      The Double ~ Laurie Axinn Gienapp

      Rage ~ Catherine Valenti

      About the Authors

      INTRODUCTION

      A Step Outside of Normal presents seven situations which are almost, but not quite, normal. Not really supernatural, not really fantasy, not really general fiction. Instead, they’re each a little bit off. And short, to suit your busy lifestyle.

      Hell of a Day is about a young man who has to deal with divorced parents who don’t like each other... but with an unusual setting. Sunnybrook Acres is a story of a retirement home, with an unexpected cadre of residents. Pirates looks at the world out of the eyes of a young child. Always is a tender story about loss, except that maybe it’s not so tender. Xyxyx examines the beginning of the world, but perhaps not our world. The Double presents a young woman who appears to have a doppelganger. And Rage—well, you’ll just have to read that one.

      We hope you enjoy these.

      HELL OF A DAY

      Laurie Axinn Gienapp

      THE GROUND TREMBLED and the smell of sulfur hung in the air over the valley like a blanket from hell. And things didn’t look any better than they smelled. A sick day seemed like a good idea. Sadly, a sick day was not in the cards for me.

      Lou, are you going to stand there with the door open all day? You know I hate the smell of sulfur.

      I sighed. Yes, Ma, I know you hate the smell of sulfur, you take every opportunity to remind me. I closed the door and stood there for a moment with my head leaning against the jamb, before I turned and went back to the kitchen and my breakfast. My cereal had gone soggy of course, and after poking at it a few times with my spoon, I dumped it down the garbage disposal.

      Don’t leave your dirty bowl in the sink, Lou. You know I hate dirty dishes in the sink.

      Yes, Ma. I know you hate dirty dishes in the sink. I rinsed my bowl and set it in the dish drainer.

      Are you going to work today?

      Again, I sighed. Of course I’m going to work today. Monday through Friday, I always go to work.

      This time she was the one who sighed. I really wish you didn’t work for that man.

      I’d heard this before, of course, and I knew what came next. Long ago I’d lost count of how many times we’d had this same conversation.

      Can’t you get a job with someone else? she whined.

      I didn’t bother answering. After all, as I said I’d had this conversation many times before. We both knew each other’s lines as well as we knew our own. I put on my jacket, grabbed my pack and headed out the door. Mom could finish our conversation on her own, without me.

      I trudged down the road. I could never decide if it was a blessing or a curse that I lived so close to work. Sure, there was no traffic, but on the other hand I never felt like I truly escaped either work or home, because wherever I was, the other one was so close. Just one more bit of proof that my life was truly pathetic. I lived with my mother, I worked for my father, my parents had divorced before I was even born, and they hated each other’s guts. But under the circumstances, how could you expect anything else?

      I walked into the main office, nodding at the security guard as I walked by. I stamped my time card, returned it to its proper slot, and headed out to the yard in back.

      Morning, Lou.

      Morning, Dad.

      It’s going to be a busy day, today.

      Yessir. I smelled the sulfur at the house.

      He grimaced. I wish you’d move over to the other side of town. I can’t believe you still live with that woman.

      I sighed. Dad, we’ve been over this enough times. I’m not leaving Mom, she needs me.

      He shook his head and headed for the control booth. As he walked away, he called over his shoulder, Start with the southwest corner, today. That’s where the worst of it is.

      I moved over to the corner he’d indicated, slid my pack off my shoulder, and took out the vacu-collect. I started it up and began moving the nozzle in a wide sweeping pattern, suctioning up the scattered brimstone.

      This was a pretty mindless task, and I’d done it often enough that I could practically have done this in my

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