Mike Pearson's Adventures on a Pale Blue Dot

Repent all ye sinners, said the blind man to the Bullfrog. Mama and the Old Man packed ratty suitcases and a few cardboard boxes into Mama's new car. The Old Man did what he did best, cursing up a blue streak and smelling extra pungent with all the unusual physical activity. Mama was holding back on outright crying, and just mumbled words of disbelief as she packed the car up.  Mama hid her secret horde of cash deep in her best suitcase.  The Old Man had his lesser stash of dollars and coins stuffed into three unwashed socks.  He placed the socks cash carefully at the bottom of a cardboard box that held other unwashed clothes and a collection of girlie magazines. Mama had completely forbidden the Old Man from driving her nice shiny new car.  It was a small point of resistance anyways, as he had lost his license last year, due to a misunderstanding about intoxication and belligerence. But today, she didn't have it in her to drive. She gave the keys to the miserable o...

Not a Good Day to be Dead The rain squall ran itself out about midmorning. The sun pushed through the clouds and brought really pleasant and welcome warmth. The trees dripped and the mud on the back roads of Beetlebottom were steaming as the ground warmed up. Lanky Pete was walking on one of those back roads. Hands in pockets. Head down, just trying to stay invisible and out of the way. Lanky was starting to feel the burns on his legs again. The stitches and bandages on the cuts from broken glass felt tight and itchy. Lanky popped two more magic white pills from his stolen bottle. He didn't realize it, but he took those little white morphine tablets about 4 hours before he should have. Just out of habit, Slim Jim gravitated towards the same Beetlebottom backroads as Lanky. The whole point, was to avoid Monty, the principal, and for sure, the sheriff…plus..their own homes and parents. Slim saw Lanky first. He was up ahead on the backroad.  Lanky was just standing there, facing the s...

Running in Circles and Meeting Yourself Again  Lanky Pete was really enjoying the warm detached feeling that those two little white pills provided.  As he stood up beside his bed, a bit hesitant, a tad wobbly, all the pain in his body got real small and distant. The inside of the doctor's house made Lanky feel like he was still asleep and dreaming of magical and impossible places. A clean bed, a clean and tidy room. A washed bowl with hot stew. Napkins! Of all things. Lanky never knew anybody that had…or used clean white napkins at meal time.  Mostly he was used to using his t-shirt to mop up stray bits of food from his chin. There was no dirt on the floor, the paint on the walls wasn't peeling, this was all too weird and unusual. Lanky could hear that the Doc and his wife were in the next room watching some sort of talent show on TV.  Lanky could smell the doctor's pipe smoke, and heard low murmurs of quiet conversation. Lanky calculated that there was something ser...

No Bang, No Glory Inside the bootlegger's house, the morning rain crashed down on the rusty tin roof. The old man was in his usual chair, facing the front, reading a two day old newspaper. Mama was in the kitchen doing breakfast dishes. Her other task was to make sure the Old Man always had of full cup of coffee mixed 50/50 with cheap rot gut booze. Both of them had awful hangovers from last night's party with David Lee Royce. As Mama washed a crusty plate, and the Old Man pretended he was reading the business news… they both dreamed of a new life …one full of wealth and power. David Lee Royce had brought the promise of all this with his proposed business arrangement. Mama conjured up thoughts of new clothes, some paint for out on the porch, and a hired hand to help around the house. Mama liked to buildup the daydream of shopping in downtown Beetlebottom. With her new cash income and cachet, people would stop and take notice.  The butcher would just offer the best cuts of pork ...