Off the Grid

In all her years--growing up in an upper middle class house in a quiet suburb, graduating high school with honors, going to college, getting a Master's degree, working various well-paying jobs--Natalie never thought she'd find herself dumpster diving for food.

It wasn't a lark, as some college-aged kids tried to live "off the grid".  Natalie was actually leaning over the metal rim of an actual freaking dumpster actually touching actual garbage.  She tried to work fast because being caught would be too embarrassing, and she managed a partial loaf of bread, wrapped safely in the original plastic bag, three apples, and a take-out container with half a sandwich and a handful of fries.  Nat started to cry as she slipped the treasurers into the pressed-fabric reusable grocery bag for what she told herself were her "shopping trips".

Perpetual Motion

Jack was seven when he became friends with Willem, who hadn't seen seven in sixty years.  Jack and his mother had just moved into the apartment above Willem one week and one day before the strange noises coming through the floor in his bedroom caused him to investigate.

Stone Magic

Helena heard her nursemaid calling and mentally acknowledged it as a reminder to hurry.  She had chosen her father's rooms for the spell and felt exposed in front of the cold fireplace.  Helena had already spilled about half the liquid from the stone bowl, but it would be enough, and the stone on stone scrape of the bottom as she slid it into position on the hearthstone seemed very loud.  Again, mentally acknowledged.  Hurry.

The Wavelength

It was an amateur scientist in Brixton, just outside London, who stumbled upon The Wavelength.  He thought he was constructing a small version of a radio telescope, but he missed the mark and was listening to a different kind of radiation, uncatalogued, uncategorized, and unused by humans.  It was, however, still used.

Ian Davies just returned to his workroom in the third floor flat he rented from his mother, and, concentrating on not spilling his tea, he jostled the settings on his homemade electronic listening device.  This adjustment, coupled with the vagarities in the instrument's construction, picked up The Wavelength.  The incoming cacophony caused his headphones to rattle, which he luckily hadn't put on again yet.  Scrambling, Ian turned down the volume and clapped the headphones over his ears and became the first human to knowingly listen to an alien broadcast.

Hott Stuff

Her legs went all the way up to her hips where they stopped abruptly.  They also went down to her feet, which stuck out nearly as long a distance from her ankles as her knees.  Her hair was a long, luxurious sable, kept neatly in a box under the stove.  It smelled like warm hair when she baked.  Her entire apartment was a work of art, mostly collage.  She intimidated men, which was an unusual hobby, but she was good at it and didn't want to get out of practice.

Tending Garden

Evie preferred the hands-and-knees method of garden tending rather than letting the automatic systems take over.  The robotic systems never managed to get out all the weeds and always managed to take out some of the veggies.

The dirt smelled rich and natural, and when Evie closed her eyes, she thought of the worms in their tunnel homes, full, fat, and happy, warm and safe in the dark.  She looked around, but no other gardeners had been assigned near her area, so she stretched herself out flat between the rows of spinach plants and laid down right on the path, her nose to the dark brown earth.  Evie felt a nauseating fluttering in her stomach and her hands went flat, as if grabbing the path might hold her safe.  It was nearly always in the garden where she could forget they were on a star ship, until, of course, a change of direction or power fluctuation brought her back to the limits of the world.

Restless

Restless,
Wherever you are,
It's somewhere else you want to be
Nothing now is good enough
Wanting what's out of reach
Restless in your body
Restless in your mind
Restless in your soul
Flitting from one idea to the next
Never deeper than getting started
Find your place, restless body
Quiet your thoughts, restless mind
Discover your direction, restless soul