Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

Tags: If looks could maim..., umm, burning inferno?, yea, Brooke!, F.O.A.D.O.T.C., Talk geeky to me baby!. Add Tags

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Margueritem said, 2 months ago

Lena is not a happy child. I’m not sure if that’s a look of disgust, or a look of evil mischief planning…..
BikeNBoatN said, 2 months ago

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Today’s 9 Chickweed Lane

Satori has a Roman nose. And she really looks happy to see Roger now. She won’t call him Steed, but she does like to merge.

9CWL: Seth: Mr. Mom.
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

Maybe Satori isn’t familiar with [John] Steed, in spite of the “merging of files,” but in all other respects she and Roger have progressed their relationship amazingly.
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

Awright. w00t for Roger, she still loves him. Apparently, however, that love only goes so far. Sensible girl.

Lena, Lena… be patient, cupcake. Your turn will come. Although what kind of young man would qualify to sweep you off your feet in about 10 years I could never imagine. I can see you rampaging through High School with a trail of charred, smoking corpses behind you…

9CWL Seth is a dear…

Midnight Snack: I just ate a Natto sandwich. It was delicious. Shut up.
Fairportfan said, 2 months ago

I don’t think i have ever seen a Look that more clearly says “Geat a room, fer cryin’ out loud!”
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

Hmmmmm – looks like Satori has low standards –
BikeNBoatN said, 2 months ago

Natto. Eww. As much as I like Japanese food, that’s one acquired taste I have not acquired.
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

(nah, she’s just been well programmed!)
Fairportfan said, 2 months ago

(From “yesterday”):

9CL: Edda’s “best friend from high school” is coming to crash.

Oooh.

I see “interesting times” ahead - how is Mary going to feel/does Mary feel about the new situation vis a vis Edda and Amos?

And if she doesn’t know yet - what’s going to happen when she finds out?
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

We have not had the benefit of a full panoramic scan as yet, but I wonder if Roger’s house and bowler are intact or overrun by lava? We seem to have had some contradictory indications over the last few pages regarding the condition of the house….
waycyber said, 2 months ago

Roger is supposed to be 15, right?
CoBass said, 2 months ago

@The Old Wolf

OK, now you’re seriously weirding me out.

I asked “yesterday” if you’re thinking of us as dinner guests or dinner courses and you call me a “silly goose”. Then you started talking about roast goose…
MoonsingerFan said, 2 months ago

Repost from end of yesterday:

FairportFan - Mercedes Lackey was a favorite of mine once upon a time, it’s been a long time since I read her though, don’t know why. Also like Susan Shwartz and Andre Norton, Zenna Henderson, Harlan Ellison, Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen: lots of fantasy writers, in short.

Re: 9CWL: I JUST LOVE SETH!
fatuncle said, 2 months ago

The Old Wolf said, ”Lena, Lena… be patient, cupcake. Your turn will come. Although what kind of young man would qualify to sweep you off your feet in about 10 years I could never imagine. I can see you rampaging through High School with a trail of charred, smoking corpses behind you…”

And Igor cheering her on.
MurphyHerself said, 2 months ago

Eww, kisses. At least she sees Roger through nerd and swashbuckling.
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

Ok, ok, ok – I know this is a dumb question, and it’s probably gonna illicit some more wise-acre “answers” like it did the last time – but I gonna ask again anyway:

where’s the fire??

I mean, come on folks, wasn’t their a frikking volcano just over there not two minutes ago?

Volcanoes tend to cover a lot of ground. You mean to tell me Satori’s arm is that strong as to fling them that far away, yet not so far as break all their bones upon landing?

What am I missing here?

COUCH! WHO MOVED THE COUCH!

Oh, here it is – ahhhhhh –
CoBass said, 2 months ago

@fairportfan

Are we sure Edda’s “best friend from high school” is Mary Rosenzweig?

Granted, if it’s not her, I can’t imagine who it might be. And it will certainly be fun to see her again - don’t think she’s made an appearance since before A&E moved to New York City. And if it is Mary, it will be interesting to see what effect she has on the interpersonal dynamics between A&E. (Ooh! Major plot conflict coming!)

Of course, I thought Amos was Edda’s “best friend from high school”…
debra4life50 said, 2 months ago

I think Lena is jealous.
In Suzerain she was very shapely and 17 years older and very sexually experienced.
On this side of the portal her ‘equipment’ hasn’t caught up with her memories and desires yet.
Ladywolf17 said, 2 months ago

LOVE FOR ALL ETERNITY

By ladywolf17

Part Four

Aaric looked down from the mountain of the coal mine to the Averlon Kingdom below.He had decided at the last second, to wait until nightfall to go into the kingdom. He no longer trusted his father.

He gazed over to the field of white lilies. Was it his imagination! or did he just now see a strange glowing light in the field. Aaric concentrated on the light that seemed to be moving in the field of white lilies. The light stopped moving.
It seemed to be focused on him. Aaric realized then that the light that was staring back at him was an angel. It was his wife.

Aaric and Big John made their way down the mountain path. Soon they made their way into the kingdom. They walked up to the guards that were stationed at the palace doors. The guards made a thorough search of Aaric and Big John and found no concealed weapons. “State you business please!” one of the guards said, looking first at Aaric, then nervously at Big John. “My father! King
Eerolden wishes to seek an audience with me.” Aaric said, and was led into the palace while Big John waited outside.

Courtesies were not exchange between father and son. Only an icy cold stare of anger from Aaric broke the silence in the Counsel Room. “Whether you like it or not, you are needed here as the prince.” King
Eerolden said looking at his son, then continuing on with what he had to say. “Effective immediately! You are to be replaced as the boss of the coal mine.” Aaric couldn’t hold his anger any longer. He threw a punch
and was successful in knocking his father to the floor. “Let’s get one thing straight.” Aaric said as he picked up his father and held him against the wall. “I may be your son, but I am my own man, and no one will tell me what to do, or what not to do.” Aaric let go of his father
and turned to leave. “If you leave this palace now, then you leave as my enemy, and I will not stop until you are dead.” The king said trying to get his son to reconsider. Aaric turned to look at his father. He seemed to reconsider the kings request for a moment. “So be it then, I shall be
your enemy.” said Aaric, then he turned back to the palace doors and walked out.

“Where to now, boss?” Big John said as Aaric came up to him. They walked away from the palace before Aaric told Big John what the plan would be. “Round up every available man you can. Tell them to prepare for war, for their freedom is at stake since I was fired
tonight.” Big John understood and shook his head. “I’m going to go visit my mother, so I’ll return tomorrow and lead you all to freedom.” With that said ,the two men went their ways.

TO BE CONTINUED.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
ejcapulet said, 2 months ago

Hmmm, roast goose… sounds good.

Good thing he did have some clothes in that file - I suspect Satori would not have taken kindly to finding herself au natural!
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@CoBass said, 9 minutes ago

I thought Amos was Edda’s “best friend from high school”…

He was promoted to “lover”.
mjolnir 9 said, 2 months ago

♫Young love…first love…filled with deeeep emoootion…♫

This tender moment - boy gets girl - takes place on a Thursday…

And:
1). The boy literally is one, a 15-year-old. The ‘girl’ is a virtual construct, a (former) monomaniacal ‘freedom fighter’ of indeterminate age, who is way too handy with a sword.
2). The boy’s ‘little’ sister, whose expression bodes ill, in some indeterminate way (maybe harmless, maybe not), has been - off and on - a 26-year-old homicidal nymphomaniac. At the moment, she’s ‘off’…but…
3). If one plot line has been - on a Thursday - at least temporarily resolved, that means that another one is about to go into major cliffhanger mode, for Friday.
4). A parallel series of revelations have been running contrapuntally, between Drusilla and a bedraggled cumulo-nimbus that she has - for once and all - identified as Tom Torquemada.
5). Ergo: I fearlessly predict big doin’s over on that other side of the plot-line fence tomorrow. “Unexpected* doin’s.

And that the course of young love…is not going to run smooth…
Hey…it doesn’t. I was 15 once…I remember…
paciii said, 2 months ago

Yesterday someone brought up Lena’s programming skills:

If I remember correctly, I think her approach related to computers had more to do with garden implements than keyboards…

This ought to be interesting… this Lena joining up with the new Igor…

I brought unshelled peanuts for squirrel snacks and.
macadamia/chocolate/raisen bark for people snacks…
(Sorry llefty, I’m not sure what llamas like for treats…)
Ladywolf17 said, 2 months ago

I was just thinking! If Leena who doesn’t look very happy right now plans on ditching Roger and Satori, because she is bored with them. Wouldn’t that be a perfect opertunity for Tom T. to snatch her up and either uses Leena to get what he wants or convinces Leena to join him and uses her as his new weapon.
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@mjolnir9 said, 4 minutes ago

I was 15 once…I remember…

I was 15 once also.

I had to be. It logically follows. I am older now, I must have passed through a younger age.

But I certainly do not remember!
mjolnir 9 said, 2 months ago

paciii
Don’t worry about Llefty. I always bring all the wildlife trail mix and - as a special treat, just for him (or her, I try never to be gender specific) - a coca leaf from a little place just outside Mach Picchu.
waycyber said, 2 months ago

It’s Canned Food Day
mjolnir 9 said, 2 months ago

ladywolf17
Good possible plot direction. You have a devious mind…an excellent thing, in a woman…
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

Maybe the demon in Igor will be Lena’s “Soul Mate”…

Now I wish I hadn’t joked so many times over the last year about Mary Rosenzweig coming back as an Army sniper or serial killer. Seth better look out, considering how many times Mary just about killed Amos over things in her own head.

Hmm. Will she have the older bolt action .50 or the more modern semi-automatic that the military’s been using in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or somehow be driving around with a Mark 19 in the back of her pickup?
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

waycyber–as long as it’s not Spam!
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@Nabuquduriuzhur said, 1 minute ago

Hmm. Will she have the older bolt action .50 or the more modern semi-automatic that the military’s been using in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or somehow be driving around with a Mark 19 in the back of her pickup?

I have gotten the impression that Brooke doesn’t particularly care for guns in general.

She might show up sporting a crossbow with poison-tipped bolts – but, unless she’s going to continue in the same Movie Cliche vein similar to Nat Bustard – not a gun.
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

9CWL: Seth is such an O-C parent at heart (he reminds me of my late mother in some ways), the apartment will shine! But if Edda’s high school “bf” is Mary, Amos’s hair may go mussy again as he sorts out old emotions….
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

Activity Report 15.5 miles walked today. w00t, half-marathon! Took me a couple of hours of dedicated eating to put the fire out… I think the natto finally did it.

I’ve got my 26.2 mapped out, more or less, but I don’t know if I’m going to make it before the snow flies. And I need to get a decent trail map of the Wasatch Range for one section that has no roads. I’m looking forward to this… it’s a good goal to work toward.
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@mjolnir9 said, 18 minutes ago

I fearlessly predict big doin’s over on that other side of the plot-line fence tomorrow.

I fearlessly predict stuff all the time. Usually I’m fearlessly wrong.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

“a coca leaf from a little place just outside Mach Picchu”

In the leaf form, coca is similar to caffeine in effects, except for the local anesthetic property. People used to drink it in colas like Coke, 80 years ago. It’s when FARC and similar folks refine it to the nearly pure that it becomes so nasty. Never will try it, but caffeine will also produce a similar high when snorted in pure form. No thanks!

Speaking of druggies, it’s too bad that Scotch Broom, Cytisus scoparius, has at least some potential for deletarious effects when eaten or tea brewed. Almost identical to Rooibos, it would be a great way to get rid of it’s scourge here in the western U.S. by telling our local druggies they could get high with it by smoking it. Can’t do it, though, as it’s not completely safe, drat it. Broom is a major problem, because it takes over (acreages in the millions now), burns like gasoline when it dries out and seems like half the people on the West coast are allergic to it.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist with that last one! We’ve got at least a half million people in this state alone that are dumb enough to do it. ACK!
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

@CoBass Heh heh heh heh heh…
Don Tomaso said, 2 months ago

Spam, spam, spam, spam…..

C’mon everybody! Let’s sing the Spam song!
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

@Nab That plotline is rife with dramatic possibilities. Things stand to get “interesting” in the Chinese Curse sense of the word (and yes, I know the Chinese never said that…)
Fairportfan said, 2 months ago

CoBass said

Are we sure Edda’s “best friend from high school” is Mary Rosenzweig?

Well, it was always Mary she was hanging out with and plotting against discipline and good order at St Godzilla’s; it was Mary with whom she contemplated the uncertainties of adult relatonships it was Mary she had the snowball fight with…

It was Mary who was Amos’s unobtainable object of desire, Mary who was both fascinated and repelled by Amos - more than once…

UncaAlby said

@mjolnir9 said, 4 minutes ago

I was 15 once also.

I had to be. It logically follows. I am older now, I must have passed through a younger age.

But I certainly do not remember!

I do. I wish i didn’t.

One of the reasons i have never seen American Graffitti is the advertising tag - “Where were you in ‘62?”

I was fourteen, in a school i hated, and not at all happy. To say the least.

That was the year i was first dagnosed with clinical depression.
mjolnir 9 said, 2 months ago

waycyber

If this CANNED FOOD is intended for a Food Bank or Homeless Shelter, then that is a good thing.

If this CANNED FOOD is instead intended for your tummy, then that is a bad thing and you should instead give it to a Food Bank or Homeless Shelter.

The only function of CANNED FOOD is to provide nourishment for those whoare unfortunately unable to get easy access to fresh food, either because of poverty…or some apocalyptic catastrophe that wipes all but a handful of the human race off the face of the earth (see the early novels of John Christopher, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Pat Frank’s Alas Babylon and, especially, George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides).

If you have any further details on an impending apocalypse, please advise…
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

You are probably right, Unca Alby. She’ll probably have some sinister weapon that is not the norm. After all, SHE was definitely not normal.

Or she might have decided to chase Amos. After all, he chased her for years, despite her hat-… uh… extreme antipathy toward Amos.

OK, OK, I admit it! (Sob) Every few months, I break out a can of SPAM, slice it and bake it in the oven for sandwich meat!
mjolnir 9 said, 2 months ago

UncaAlby said, 9 minutes ago

“I fearlessly predict stuff all the time. Usually I’m fearlessly wrong.”

Yup. Me, too.
But fearless.
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

An interesting article about the 50-mile hike phenomenon Thank you for asking, but I’m not quite ready for that. Let’s get the marathon walk done first, and I’ll see how I feel…
Heavenly said, 2 months ago

…reminisces…

My brother used to get into the family stores and eat can after can of spam on the sly.

Now he can’t stand the smell of it…

;)
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

With Lena back to being a frustrated eight-year-old [though she here looks older–nine, at least, I’d say] wannabe succubus, to ease the implicit tension, it is, I think, time for Igor to make his reappearance. On this I agree with paciii; and on the issue of “where’s the volcano?” I agree with UncaAlby. Things do come and go in this fantasy universe…. But the issue itself probably vanishes if we view this as if cinema; we’re dealing with some tight shots here, focussed on the character interactions rather than the mise en scène.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

Some years back, I was at my parents and had the notion to bake some spam. One of their cats- a fluffy grey cat who had some brain cells missing- had apparently never smelled it or eaten it. I’d never seen him try to reach from the floor up to the counter, where I was slicing it and putting it on an oven rack. He tracked every move when I put it in the oven and hovered around the oven.

When I took it out of the oven some minutes later, it was like the cat had a plot of catnip in front of him. He practically jumped up to the hot rack and pan under it. I put it out of his reach and let it cool a bit.

Made a sandwich and gave him a little bite after it had cooled enough for him to eat. Egad, thought that cat was going to chew the floor up under where the bite had been. Chompity-chomp.

Went back to the front room to watch TV. Sat on the couch. A hungry carnivore followed me. Every time I moved at all, he’d inch just a little nearer, his blue eyes staring at the plate…

I finally gave him some more. Never figured out why he had such a thing for it, though.
waycyber said, 2 months ago

@mjolnir9 said, 9 minutes ago

If you have any further details on an impending apocalypse, please advise…

As a Christian, I have a whole book of details!
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

I hear you. The problem is figuring out what some of the imagery means. People like H Lindsey took 50 years of study for some of it and much of it is still educated guesses, because we can’t know exactly what will happen.

Some of it is pretty terrible, too.

Here’s the “A Peek at What is to Follow” pages at the end of my book “Jacob’s Trouble, the Gathering Storm”.

Cpyr2008,2009 William Hunt

The Tribulation, 1260th day
Adriatic Sea

The Pluto XIX-MM, or Multi-Medium missile, was an unusual missile design in that it could travel more than two thousand miles submerged at depths of three thousand feet, then pop up into the air and travel as a cruise missile for eight hundred miles. It could strike surface and subsurface targets. It carried a three-thousand pound payload, which could be explosive, submunitions, chemical, biological or a W-426 nuclear “dial-a-nuke”, a selectable 500kt to 5mt nuclear warhead. Pluto was powered by rocket fuels unavailable in the late 20th Century, but made possible by advances in chemistry. The one disadvantage was that it could only travel at 40 knots submerged in quiet mode and if detected, most modern sub-launched torpedoes and indeed, a few submarines such as the Russian Losos class or Chinese Type 25 could catch it. If stealth was of no concern, the underwater range could be decreased to 500 miles and a speed of 250 knots submerged could be attained. At that speed, however, it used its reaction engine and the passage through the water made it impossible not to detect.

Pluto had been deployed by the U.S. just prior to the Rapture, after a rocky five-year development. It had been claimed by various government politicians that, since it was a sheath of bubbles that allowed the Russian VA-111 torpedo and cruise missiles to travel underwater with a minimum of friction, it was therefore pointless to develop such a weapon for stealth. As usual, the self-appointed military “experts” of Congress and the Senate were completely wrong, with Senator Bidet the most vocal— incompetence and arrogance being a very poor mix, but all too common in the Senate and Congress— as the problems were easily solved. Pluto was made stealthy by coating the hull with a low friction coefficient (LFC) material deposited in a manner similar to the method by which telescope mirrors were coated. It meant that each missile required a protective jacket to protect the LFC coating, but this was discarded when the missile was launched.

One such missile was traveling through the Adriatic at a much shallower depth than it had been designed for. It had been launched by the USS Leviathan, almost three hundred miles to the southeast in the Ionian Sea. Its sister ships, all named for large sea creatures or sea monsters of myth had such names as Kraken, Ogo Pogo, Dobharchu, Rahab, Leviathin, Jormungandr, Charybdis, Scylla, Cirein-Cròin and so forth. Initially disliked by the crews, the names grew on them, especially as the submarines were the most advanced missile submarines in the planet’s oceans to date.

The antifriction coating— known by a forty letter and number combination— allowed the missile to slide through the water with a minimum of disturbance. Pluto’s shape and screws had been fine-tuned in simulations to avoid cavitation and other noise-creating problems. At twenty-five knots, it made almost no sound, cutting through the water.

The navigation system indicated that it was time to fly. The missile dropped the acoustic cone and screws that silenced the missile underwater. Pluto, serial number XIX-MM-452h or as the launch crew joked, Charon, rotated to nosecone upright. Stabilizers and two wings extended from the hull. The rocket engine fired, going to full power, turning the water to steam, despite the depth pressure of three hundred feet.
The missile sliced out of the water near the city of Silvi. After a moment, it passed Mach 1, the sonic boom breaking windows and waking Italians as they slept. Within moments, it was traveling into the eastern Apennines at Mach 4. Rather than stay below the sound barrier in cruise mode, it had been programmed to fly at full speed to its target.

Representing several episodes of mountain building and composed of a mixture of sedimentary, volcanic and metamorphic rocks, the Apennines were a medium elevation— most of the peaks were less than 6000 feet— outlier of the Alps. Heavily civilized (at least by non-European standards) and broken up into forest, pasture, farm and cot for human uses for millennia, the Apennines have been home to civilizations such as the Romans, Etruscans and Celts, and have constituted barriers to migration and been the settings of many battles, such as Monte Casino of World War II.

The missile kept a height of less than 100 feet, using a low-power ground-directed radar to avoid striking power poles, buildings and other obstacles. In this way, it stayed below radar and other forms of detection. Anyone with ears couldn’t miss its flight because of the ear-splitting BOOM of its passage, but at more than two thousand miles per hour, it wasn’t likely than anyone could react in time. To further minimize risk, the flightpath had been chosen to avoid military bases, most of which were clustered along the coasts and in the valleys.

The President’s compound was located some twenty-five miles northnortheast of Rome proper, in the lower slopes of the central Apennines. It was a fortress, made with the latest admixtures of silica-fume and high strength steels with walls more than two feet thick. The concrete was more than ten times normal strength, the steel more than twice the strength typically used in construction. It was designed to take a near hit with a one megaton nuclear warhead. It could withstand a small military force for a couple of days, which would be long enough for help to arrive. Unfortunately, its designers hadn’t realized just how much firepower would be directed at the World Union president.

Faster than the human eye could follow, more than ten miles out from its target, the missile left cruising mode and rocketed up to twenty thousand feet, showing up on air defense monitors for the first time. It then went into a vertical dive, engine still at full acceleration, It only took a moment for the missile to travel a hundred feet into the soil and rock beside the building. Then the W-426 warhead detonated. A few pounds of tremendously dense fissible material surrounded by a few more pounds of the lightest of metals nature could provide was transformed into several million degrees of heat, gamma rays and other wavelengths of radiation.

Set to explode at maximum yield, the warhead’s five megatons vaporized a hole more than a hundred yards in diameter. The fortress above it fell into the hole, the lowermost courses of stone and concrete melting in the heat. The building collapsed, coming apart like a child’s model airplane when struck by a shotgun blast.

A portion of the mountain above, bereft of its support, slipped along a fault and slid down, burying the fortress under millions of yards of rock.

Anthony Franconi, President of the World Union, possessor of power that dictators like Hitler and Caesar had only dreamed of, didn’t know about the missile until he died. Then it was far to late to do anything.

Judgement awaited.

—————————————————————————————-

Ultrasonic waves were directed through the waveguide to the decoy some 400 yards aft of the Leviathin. It made noise exactly like of the submarine at high speed, even duplicating the flow noise of the water as the sub moved through it. The Russian torpedoes represented the top of their military inventory’s line. They were fooled by the decoy, however, and more importantly, the torpedoes’ controller was fooled. The torpedoes converged upon the decoy, ramming into the metal “strike plate”, as the crews jokingly called it, and detonating. Whether one torpedo struck the plate and exploded, causing the second to explode or the two struck the plate or each other, was uncertain to the Leviathan’s sonar operators and ultimately unimportant, as both were now no threat to the Leviathan.

The U.S. Submarine Forces still had the advantage, even so severely outnumbered as they were.

———————————————————————————————————

The Tribulation, 1090th day

“There’s one more thing, John,” the former Lieutenant General said conversationally. That took Huntington by surprise. His eyebrows went up.

Page continued, “in these dark times, it’s necessary to separate the sheep from the goats. We recently took captive one of our enemies. It’s been useful for weeding out the riffraff.”

Who? A fellow Intelligence officer that might identify him? Huntington debated on making a run for it, but decided to remain with his cover for the moment until he knew more. It was something that he would regret— but only for a short time.

Page studied his face, but it was required that all Imperial Intelligence operatives take acting courses. Huntington gave nothing away of his inner doubts.

Page knew that that an intelligence officer wouldn’t give away what he was thinking, and so he had to proceed with the test. The two walked to a doorway. Huntington immediately noticed the two men in armor with rifles that guarded it. And the metal door.

They were expected. Page made a polite “you first” gesture and followed Huntington into a rectangular concrete block room, thirty feet from end to end. The room didn’t merit Huntington’s attention, though.

The creature in the cage at the far end of the room did.

Like a nightmare from someone’s fever dream, it stood— if stood was the right word— more than eight feet tall. The closest thing that Huntington could think of was the mythical Chimaera. A twisted, demonic face was at the front of the creature. The general shape and size suggested a medieval warhorse, with heavy armor and long hair that looked human. Long wings that the scientists would claim could never support such a beast in flight were folded back. Predatory teeth and a long, scorpion-like tail that twitched and swung about, tipped with a poisonous barb of hideous aspect completed the unsavory picture. The only thing even remotely attractive about the creature was the gold on its head, but even this appeared misshapen and evil.
“Most of us cannot see the seal on our foreheads. This “locust” can. It will attack anyone who doesn’t have the seal of the Living God on their foreheads.” Page walked toward the creature, almost as if walking toward a friendly dog. He showed no concern whatsoever.

Huntington couldn’t keep his eyes off the horrible thing. “How did you catch it? And where did you get it?”

“Oh, we’ve been expecting them to show up. Just yesterday, they did. Everywhere on Earth. Revelation 9 predicts their arrival and how long they’ll stay. For five months, they torment those who are not believers in Christ.

“Won’t you at least draw your sidearm? That thing looks like it could break through those bars.”

Page stopped. They were about halfway to the cage. He drew his gun and fired at the creature’s head. The .60 boomed and the brass-jacketed slug disappeared into the locust’s head. And hit the wall behind it, ricocheting into another wall before it was spent. The creature was unharmed. It hissed, but otherwise didn’t react.

Huntington turned pale.

The door slammed open and the two guards came in, guns at the ready. Page waved back. “It’s OK. We’re fine. Just a demonstration of how this thing can’t be hurt by small arms’ fire.” The two relaxed and went back outside.

“How do you stop a thing like that?”

“You don’t. At least not without a lot of trouble. Steel and concrete seem to hold it, or at least something in this place is holding it there— but I wouldn’t want to bet on weaker bonds, if bonds indeed are what are holding it. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

They had only moved another five feet or so closer, when the tail snaked out and stabbed Huntington in the chest. He screamed and collapsed, writhing in agony as the poison worked. The monster nailed him again in both legs, the groin and one arm before Page succeeded in dragging him far enough away. Huntington passed out from the torment after a moment.

Nuts. Page had hoped his old friend had been sincere about helping them. Now they knew. There was still one hope, though. Unless Huntington wanted to go through five months of this, he would have to get saved. Then he would be an ally.

The guards came again and the three carried Huntington to a bunk and tied him in, restraining his hands and feet. He likely wouldn’t be very happy when he awoke.

———————————————————————————————————

Page had a dream. He dreamed of the Lake of Fire that Hell and all unbelievers would be cast into. In agony, he watched as his men went before the Throne, one by one and were tossed into the Lake.

From his vantage point of safety on the right side of the throne, he could see Lieutenant Crane begging for mercy from the Lord. He was seized, carried aloft and was dropped, screaming, into the fire. His scream of absolute terror remained with Page, turning his blood to liquid helium.

Sergeant Chase was next. “Please, Lord, take me instead!” Page cried, but the Lord didn’t answer. Chase was thrown into the Lake.

He awoke, banging his head on the low ceiling. “NO!” still on his lips. He knew what he had to do.
Joe Minotaur said, 2 months ago

Thursday’s thirsty plots!

QUIZ TIME

What will we see when the strip/page updates tonight?

9 Chickweed Lane:
.1. More fun with Edda/Amos/water.
.2. Solange goes pussyfooting across the page.
.3. Single day strip featuring characters from .4.
.4. New story arc featuring: A)Amos, B)Edda, C)Seth, D)Thorax, E)Juliette, F)Solange, G). Gran, H)Hillary Hann, I)Mark, J)Elliott, K)Other.
.5. SQUIRREL!!
.6. Ink spill in the pool.
.7. Sink the Bismark!

Pibgorn:
.1. Roger, Lena and Satori. Journey to the Center of the Volcano!
.2. The Volcano blows up/goes quiet/shrinks/turns to sparklies/vanishes.
.3. Pibgorn wakes up Geoff and Maurice.
.4. Oognat walks off with wolf.
.5. Lena interrupts, so does the volcano.
.6. Satori runs into Roger’s arms.
.7. Drucilla confronts Tom T./Cloud monster.
.8. Igor has something to say.
.9. Mrs. Egg, poached and boilling mad!
.10. It’s been one week since you looked at me.
.11. Cocked your head to one side and said I’m angry.
.12. Five days since you laughed at me saying,
.13. Get that together, come back and see me.
.14. None of the above.
.15. NO MORE QUIZES!!
.16. YES, MORE QUIZES!!
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

4 in Pibgorn would be fun. Maybe an Idaho hunter could rescue her, since there is a season as of today.

8 I wonder what Igor will turn out to be. One of Druzilla’s friends from the lower regions?

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Pibgorn and the Poltergeist in the Piano

About Pibgorn

A fantastic saga of adventure both high and low, of forbidden passion and iambic pentameter, of fays, fools, organists, demons, accordions, heaven, hell and Shakespeare, Pibgorn follows the whims and flights of its eponymous fairy heroine as she plies her conviction that there must be more to life than depositing dew drops on dandelions and sleeping under mushrooms.

© 2009 Brooke McEldowney - All Rights Reserved.