Portal

When I was seven years old I saw the movie Howard the Duck. And when I say 'saw' I mean watched obsessively on HBO for months because it was the only thing on and it had a talking duck and guitars. Also there was a crazy monster that came through a hole in space.

I blame the movie for a dream I had many years later during a really high fever. I was sitting up in bed trying to breath through my blocked up nose and get to sleep. I must have already been asleep because the light fixture in my ceiling opened up and a monster with a lot of teeth and tentacles came out. I thought maybe I should move. Get out of it's way before it fell on the bed. Somehow it didn't feel very urgent. Luckily I woke up before it fell on me.

So this story is based a little on my dream and a little on a stop motion animation monster fighting a talking duck.

Lactuca

This week's story is about sibling rivalry on a grand scale (or a bear scale? those bears were pretty big in person).

Or at least a divine scale.

Sibling rivalry gets more complicated when your sister is the Goddess of Spring.

Perfect

This post was unavoidably postponed due to a severe cold and my inability to do anything but huddle on the sofa and watch Batman cartoons all day.

Don't be surprised if a Mad Hatter makes an appearance soon.

For this week's story we have a perfect world.  Maybe a little too perfect.

The Green Fairy

This story came from a recipe:

Absinthe Margarita

2 oz absinthe

Sour mix

1/2 oz Gran Marnier or triple sec

Lime juice

wedge lime

Splash tequila

Just substitute absinthe for tequila. Salt the rim, fill glass with ice. Pour in the absinthe and sour mix. Splash in some tequila just to kill the odor and taste of the absinthe. Float the triple sec. Garnish with lime.

It's not technically a drinking story, but there are drinks and a business deal gone wrong.

The Game

I've resisted the urge to write a Christmas story. It wasn't easy. I managed to omit all the trees and lights but this week's story does have some family themes. Games, drinking, obligations, blood.

Well, it is a family of vampires.