Short Story | Fred Aiken Writing

June 10, 2023

THE JOKE//BROTHER PILOTS

Their plane had engine failure over the Pacific. Daniel and Dustin, brother pilots who decided to visit Bali for the first time in their lives, skillfully landed in the middle of nowhere. But neither brother knew how to swim.

Born in the city, both Daniel and Dustin never learned. They always told themselves they would. But their mom told them that the public pools bred nothing but bacteria and viruses that would kill them. Also, none of the adults in their lives knew how to swim either. So they assumed that it never be a necessary skill.

As they sunk further down in the ocean, the brothers thought back on their lives. They thought about their accomplishments. The highlights. The low-lights. And then they each had the same thought at the same time that caused them to chuckle, though their laughter was muffled by the ocean water filling their lungs. But they both finally got the joke their uncle liked to tell at family gatherings, which was referring to Daniel and Dustin as Diane’s, their mother’s name, double-D’s. No one ever laughed at the joke other than their uncle. Until now.

May 14, 2023

A TYRANNY OF BOOKS

She buys books. She buys thousands of books. Millions, in fact. Billions, perhaps. She buys more books than any library in the world.

But she doesn’t read them. She doesn’t have the time. Instead, she builds. Miles of books stacked one on top of another. They peak into the stratosphere. The structure shadows over the world. People begin questioning why she’s stacking so many books. A TYRANNY OF BOOKS, people say.

She replies, I’M DYSLEXIC. I BUILT A CITY OF BOOKS BEFORE I ALLOWED THEM TO BUILD THE CITY FOR ME.

No one responded. And she never read any book.

May 12, 2023

WASHED DISCREETLY (A DISGUSTING SERIES)

I wanted revenge. But not in a weird way, so don’t think it was weird. Unless you think not washing your hands for the rest of your life so you can get your enemies sick by shaking their hands is somehow weird. In which case, I guess you would be right and it is weird.

It started back when I was in seventh-grade health class. We learned about germs and bacteria, and how every pandemic that ever broke out was the result of one too many bad bacterias mutating from people not washing their hands until those bad bacteria metamorphosed into their secret identities of super big bad bacteria.

Either way, it spawned an idea.

At the time, I was being mercilessly bullied because of my short stature, my lisp caused by wearing a retainer, the thick Buddy Holly glass I had to wear, and because everything I wore was out of date, out of fashion, and out of luck.

In essence, I had every reason to be slighted. But I’m no mass shooter. I want the record to be very clear on that. I don’t have it in me to kill someone. At least not directly.

Now, if they were to shake my unwashed hand and get sick, you know, like a common cold or something, then I can live with that. Plus, scientifically speaking, I don’t know if you could for sure blame me entirely for getting my enemies sick. I don’t know how they live their lives. You don’t know, either. Heck, maybe they’re just as gross as I am and haven’t been washing their own damn hands.

Who’s to say?

Maybe we’re all living in a secretly non-so-secret sick world where no one washes their hands properly because they are also wanting to get back at unnamed, unknown tormentors.