CIVIC PRIDE
Having the burning man over for dinner is the rage. He is booked most weeknights, has become fascinated by how fascinated we are that he does not set the furniture alight, turn our pets and children into a symphony of smoke. Watching him take his quaff of wine is an amazement, as we try to catch where in the flames the liquid disappears. He has a good appetite, as apparently perpetual self-combustion requires considerable energy. Each house keeps notes, collecting his culinary preferences, perceivable personal idiosyncrasies, novel guesses about his physics. We share data. For him, we become a conspiracy.
COMMUNITY PROJECT
The talk about town is to burn Linda as a witch. There is a lot of worthless lumber left from the demolition of the old, rotting pavilion scattered in the park. The thought travels porch to porch like those annoying birds attempting to see whose empty birdfeeders might now be filled. Thole likely has cheap rope in his store he would discount. Business has not been roaring of late. A witch burning could bring us together, be the communal event to knock us out of our doldrums. What makes Linda a witch? I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?
DUTY
The authorities want to arrest me for putting on one-man plays. I have never put on a play, and it has been years since I have been in a theater, attendance being so dangerous. But the authorities want to crack-down. Once all the obvious offenses have been eliminated, there are the endeavors with unintended offense, and, eventually, efforts producing imaginary offense. It is my turn to do my civic duty. I go to the banned book repository, seeking one-man plays. No sanctioned theater will book me, so I turn my porch into a stage. I will be arrested opening night.
Ken Poyner’s four collections of brief fictions, four collections of speculative poetry, and one mixed media collection, can be found at most online booksellers. He spent 33 years in information systems management, is married to a world record holding female power lifter, and has a family of several cats and betta fish. Individual works have appeared in Café Irreal, Analog, Danse Macabre, The Cincinnati Review, and several hundred other places. www.kpoyner.com