Fred Aiken Writing

Typed Out Plan Gone Awry

A group of well-meaning, or perhaps well-dressed though ill-mannered, yet still well-intentioned, group of men approached an undisclosed building with yet-to-be-continued content of materials and people inside.

“So, what’s the plan?”

    “What plan?”

    “The plan. You know, what are we about to do?”

    “Oh yeah, I…have no idea.”

    “That’s not a plan.”

    “I never meant for it to be taken as such.”

    “So you’re saying we don’t have a plan?”

    “I’m saying there neither is nor isn’t a plan.”

    “What if something goes wrong?”

    “Then we’ll adjust.”

    “So there is a plan.”

    “Stop suggesting there’s a plan. We’ll go in, do our thing—”

    “What’s our thing?”

    “The thing we always do. I’m not your babysitter. If you don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing when those doors open, then well, there’s a lot more problems than whether or not we have a plan.”

    He went rouge. He felt embarrassed, but was too embarrassed to say so. Instead, he shut up, followed everyone else’s lead, and kept to the back.

    “What are you doing?”

    “Just going along.”

    “You’re supposed to lead the way.”

    “I feel like we can adjust that part of the plan.”

    “THERE IS NO PLAN!”

    The lights to the building jumped. A rustle surged through the walls and out into the cold night air. Something, or someone, stirred inside.

    The men bolted and wondered if this was what they intended all along.

Waste Managed

i’m exhausted from the noise

i’m exhausted from the thumping emanating from next door

i’m exhausted from living next to a waste management facility that never seems to want to pick up their own trash

as it overfills and overflows through weakened asphalt

trembling under the weight of fat trucks

being driven by fat trash people, places, things

strumming along

to the beat of their own drum

as noise pollution becomes heavy

metallic ore drilling through the ground

upending an upheaval long forgotten

long hidden

trying to fight through a calm panic dancing heavily on purple clouds to Valhalla

Some Gift or Something

‘I know it’s your birthday coming up…’

‘Don’t tell you got me you got me a prostitute?’

‘What? No, of course not. We’re not that those types of people.’

‘Good, because I’d have to politely decline. I don’t want any diseases. None more than I already have.’

‘You’re sick?’

‘No. I just know there’s the pandemic going around, and I don’t know how people are getting it, but I imagine prostitutes might be carriers.’

‘Well, like I said, we don’t know anything about that.’

‘Good. Well, then, what did you get me?’

‘You know how you lost your parents after getting lost during your family vacation when you were five at the water park.’

‘Of course I remember. It defined my entire life.’

‘Well, we were able to track them down for you…’

‘No, really?! That’s amazing. Kinda makes my efforts seem trivial, but I don’t care. I’m just excited to finally be reunited with my parents after all these years. You guys are the greatest. I don’t know how to repay you.’

‘No need. It’s a gift. Gifts don’t need to be repaid.’

‘Are they here?’

‘Just behind that door.’

‘That door?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh man, don’t tell me that.’

‘What? What’s the matter with that door?’

‘It’s a trap door. The previous owner installed it. I think they were some sort of spy or something, I dunno. But that door leads to some alligator pit. They’re probably dead now.’

‘What? Are you kidding?’

‘I wish I were. There’s nothing more I’d like than to finally be able to see my parents…after all these years, and finally ask them why they stopped looking for me. But now, well, now I guess it’s a moot point. They’re gator chow…’

‘I don’t think I’m getting you a gift ever again.’