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<\/p>\nRemember those books? I loved them when I was a kid. This one was my favourite:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I even got into the role-playing inspired ones in my early teen years. Sure, they might not have a lot of literary<\/span> value, but as a kid they were a lot more fun than pretending to be a Hardy Boy or a hobbit.<\/p>\n To segue, I decided to use this blog partially as a place to put my short fiction for the time being, just so that I can practice writing regularly (when I’m not working on novels, that is). I wrote a story today, but I found that once I got near the end, a dozen or so possibilities popped into my mind and I couldn’t decide on a definitive ending. Therefore, I would like to leave the ending of the story up to YOU, my (few but loyal) blog readers! I will write a reasonably short ending to the following story for each suggestion I receive, with a limit of one per person. If this turns out to be fun (and if at least one or two people show interest) I will probably do this more often.<\/p>\n Without further digression, here is the first part of the story:<\/p>\n “Doing the Right Thing”<\/p>\n \u201cBrian, we\u2019re going to get fired if they catch us,\u201d Alethea whispered.<\/p>\n Brian ignored Alethea\u2019s feeble protest and turned the key in the lock. \u201cCome on Alethea, live a little.\u201d He didn\u2019t bother to lower his voice. With a gentle tap of his boot, the service entrance to Surplus Supplies lay open.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe they gave a key to you, of all people,\u201d Sara said from behind Alethea. She and Alethea stepped into the stock room behind Brian.<\/p>\n Brian shrugged as he flicked on his flashlight. \u201cYou mean you can\u2019t believe they made me manager. Remember, we can\u2019t leave the stock room.\u201d<\/p>\n Alethea crossed her arms and sighed. \u201cAre you sure there aren\u2019t any cameras back here?\u201d<\/p>\n Brian wondered why Alethea had bothered to come if all she was going to do was complain. \u201cI told you, I know where every camera in this store is.\u201d He flashed his light around the room, quickly scanning the box labels. \u201cNow make yourself useful and help me look for the stuff. Mark could have stacked them anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Sara took out her own flashlight and began to look around. \u201cHopefully he didn\u2019t stack the boxes way up high.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRelax; I brought the lifter key, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Alethea sat on the floor as Sara and Brian looked around the vast stock room of Surplus Supplies. \u201cYou guys, I just realized something. If we get caught, we\u2019re not just gonna get fired. We\u2019re gonna go to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n Sara flashed her light in Alethea\u2019s face. \u201cDid you forget why we\u2019re doing this?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s stealing,\u201d she insisted.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not stealing if they\u2019re just gonna throw the stuff out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGuys!\u201d Brian yelled from across the stock room.<\/p>\n \u201cShh!\u201d the girls replied.<\/p>\n \u201cI found them,\u201d he said in a quieter voice as he crisscrossed his light on a group of boxes. They were stacked innocuously on the middle shelf. \u201cLooks like we\u2019ll need the lifter after all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust get the stool, Brian,\u201d Sara suggested. \u201cThe lifter is noisy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe boxes are heavy, Sara,\u201d Brian replied. He tossed the lifter key at her. \u201cGo get the lifter.\u201d The key bounced off her chest and jingled as it skittered across the cement floor.<\/p>\n \u201cFuck you. Get it yourself,\u201d Sara said. \u201cOr quit being a pussy and climb up there like you used to when you were just a stock boy and not a lazy-ass manager who had to use the lifter for everything. It\u2019s not like the stuff is fragile and we\u2019re burning the boxes, remember? Just climb up and shove \u2018em off the shelf and we can carry them out to the truck and go.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian began to clamber up to the second shelf. \u201cI\u2019m not as spry as I used to be,\u201d he muttered. \u201cThe lifter would have been easier.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe lifter would have taken twice as long,\u201d Sara replied. \u201cStart shoving.\u201d \u201cOh my god, you guys!\u201d Alethea exclaimed. \u201cWhat if they\u2019re coming for us? We have to go, now!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill you relax?\u201d Brian demanded as he kicked a box bigger than his torso off the shelf. It landed on the concrete floor with a thud, denting one bottom corner. \u201cThere\u2019s no way anybody else knows we\u2019re here. Besides, that\u2019s an ambulance siren, not the cops.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cActually, it\u2019s a police siren,\u201d Sara corrected. \u201cKeep \u2018em coming, Brian. I\u2019m gonna start hauling \u2018em out to the truck.\u201d She turned to Alethea, who was still sitting on the floor. \u201cAlethea, since you decided to come you can at least make yourself busy and help me carry these boxes out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Brian said they were heavy,\u201d she whined.<\/p>\n Sara clenched her hands into fists and tried not to yell. \u201cThat\u2019s why you\u2019re going to help me carry them. Sometimes I wonder why Brian even hired you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMostly for her looks,\u201d Brian called out as he kicked another box off the shelf.<\/p>\n \u201cSpeaking of getting fired…\u201d Sara muttered as she lifted one of the boxes off the floor. \u201cYou know what? Never mind, Alethea, these are lighter than Brian made them out to be. You can just sit there and whine until we\u2019re done if you like.\u201d Sara left through the service entrance, hefting a box almost as big as she was.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish you wouldn\u2019t say things like that in front of others,\u201d Alethea said as she traced a pattern with her finger on the floor. \u201cPeople are going to think that I…didn\u2019t get hired based on my abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, you didn\u2019t. Or did you forget your interview already?\u201d Brian kicked the last box off the shelf and it burst open. Baby clothes spilled out of the box and scattered across the floor.<\/p>\n \u201cNice shot, Brian,\u201d Sara said from the entryway. She walked up to one of the jumpers that had fallen out of the box and examined it. It was white and orange, and the words \u2018Drama Princess\u2019 were printed on the chest. \u201cI still can\u2019t believe they were gonna make us throw all these out just because they bore a resemblance to a popular brand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, Surplus could get sued for selling them,\u201d Brian replied as he began tossing the jumpers back in the box. \u201cBut it\u2019s still too much of a waste. I mean, there are women\u2019s shelters that could use these, you know, and people who can\u2019t afford to buy their children proper clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s still stealing,\u201d Alethea insisted as she picked up one of the jumpers and felt the material between her fingers.<\/p>\n Sara rolled her eyes. \u201cLook, it\u2019s not like we\u2019re doing this for profit. We\u2019re not stealing these so that we can sell them, or use them for our own benefit. If we don\u2019t do this, the clothes will get destroyed in the compactor tomorrow morning. This way, they can go to help people in need, and Brian can come in early and claim that he already sent them through the compactor and nobody gets hurt. We\u2019re doing the right thing, Alethea.\u201d<\/p>\n Alethea chewed on a fingernail. \u201cWell shouldn\u2019t we throw something down there, just in case somebody checks?\u201d<\/p>\n Brian and Sara exchanged glances.<\/p>\n \u201cHmm, maybe there\u2019s more than just a pretty face underneath all that makeup,\u201d Brian said with a smirk. \u201cLet\u2019s just throw this broken box of clothes down. It\u2019s gonna be hard to give away this many boxes anyway. Help me out with this, Sara.\u201d<\/p>\n As Sara and Brian threw the last of the scattered clothes in the box and lifted it, Alethea walked over to the garbage compactor and switched it on. Brian peered to the side of the box to see Alethea staring down the chute.<\/p>\n \u201cOh my god,\u201d she gasped. \u201cI think there\u2019s something down there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember those books? I loved them when I was a kid. This one was my favourite: I even got into the role-playing inspired ones in my early teen years. Sure, they might not have a lot of literary value, but as a kid they were a lot more fun than pretending to be a Hardy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,6],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-stories","category-writing","tag-choose-your-own-adventure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOff in the distance, permeating the silence and the walls of Surplus Supplies, a siren cried out in the night.<\/p>\n