Unstoppable You
by Laura Cody May 27, 2021 – 4 min read Featured in The Best of CafeLit, vol 11; 2022 You linger an extra five minutes over your second cup of coffee, luxuriating in the quiet house after what virtually amounted to fourteen months of prison time in G-pop. With friends, you pay dutiful lip-service to the hidden blessings of the pandemic, the silver linings behind the sorrows. You say it taught you to slow down, to enjoy simple pleasures – a home-cooked meal, a jigsaw puzzle, a socially-distanced stroll in fading sunlight. You don’t mention how your house shrunk to the dimensions of a tuna can, how your husband set up…
The Little Killer
Graham Elder January 15, 2021 – 4 min read I was born of a freak mutation and evolved quickly to become a great terror. I am Anoroc Suriv, and this is my tale of global domination. How one became many and infiltrated all points of the compass rose, sending the world into a death frenzy with fear lurking around every corner. Huddled together behind walls of every kind, people trembled at my passing as they waited for rescue that might never come. My story begins in a small town, like any other small town. My first taste of blood was animal. The type of animal is inconsequential. What’s important is…
Bite the Bullet
Graham Elder November 15, 2020 – 6 min read The recent Netflix action movie 6 Underground features an opening high speed car chase scene where a “doctor” is attempting to remove a bullet from a co-conspirator’s abdomen in the backseat of an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio sports sedan. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8106534/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Wait. Why does she have to remove the bullet with such urgency? Does the bullet really even have to come out? The presence of the bullet itself doesn’t necessarily kill you in the short term. It’s the damage the bullet causes on its way to being lodged somewhere in your body that potentially ends your life – primarily by causing you to bleed…
The Book Was Better
Graham Elder October 9, 2020 – 6 min read Invariably, when a book is developed into a movie or a television show, pronouncements are made as to whether or not said moving picture lived up to expectations. “Was it as good as the book?” Over the course of the pandemic, I’ve taken it upon myself to compare and contrast a variety of novels that have either been turned into full length feature films or more protracted Netflix-type series, or sometimes both. Some of these were featured on our twodocswriting Instagram page. Here is a rundown of my top ten, in no particular order, accompanied by brief reviews and recommendations. Feel…
Found: A Library in My Pocket.
Laura Cody August 10, 2020 – 5 min read No doubt about it. The last several months have been hard. Total garbage. But sometimes, buried in the dark, garbage-y muck, are small, unexpected treasures. I discovered one of these treasures when I stumbled upon the Libby public library app. Of course, it’s possible everyone else has known about the digital library for ages, and I am just late to the party. Certainly wouldn’t be the first time. But it doesn’t really matter, because now I know that I can link my library card to an online borrowing service and … read!And I mean read everything – new releases, hot summer reads, New York…
How to create an action hero with feelings
Laura Cody June 23, 2020 – 4 min read Consider two approaches to the same problem: Approach #1: -Lay problem bare under harsh fluorescent lights. -Excise problem. -Fill void with something plastic or titanium. -Stitch back together. Approach #2: -Verbally explore problem from comfort of an upholstered couch. -Break problem down into small pieces; process and digest. -Breathe deeply, be mindful. Aim to get a good night’s sleep -Forgive yourself when sleep proves elusive. Approach #1 definitely has its appeal. It is how my writing partner, Graham the Orthopedic Surgeon (yeah, that’s how he refers to himself, in all caps … kidding) solves problems in our writing. When he sees…
Quarantine (Incarnate)
Day 55, November 3rd Arizona They said it wasn’t contagious, but what the hell did they really know about anything. They had been spouting horseshit since day one. Pure, high-grade, Kentucky-Derby-winning, horseshit. Nate Williams grabbed a full piece of red chalk from a small Ziploc bag in a drawer. He dropped a diagonal line across four hash marks, stood back from the kitchen wall and counted out loud. “Eleven sets of five equals … fifty-five days. Fifty-five days since the power went out.” Fifty-five fucking days. “Don’t worry.” Nate’s head tilted from side to side as he mimicked, “That big ole flare just fried a few transformers. We’ll have ‘em up an’ runnin’ before…
I’m a Situation
Day 13, September 22 Boca Raton, Florida Exactly twenty-three minutes after he died, Francis Jaynes sat up slowly in his bed. He swiveled his neck from side to side and, by the soft moonlight filtering through the window of his room at the Welcoming Arms Nursing Home, could discern the familiar silhouettes of each piece of furniture. Everything appeared precisely as it always did. Gripping the side-rail for stability, he lowered his feet to the ground and pulled himself into an upright position. He switched on the battery-powered lamp beside his bed and squinted as he slid his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. He looked around for a…
Becoming Nothing
Day 53, November 1st Reykjavik, Iceland An explosion of greens, reds and purples prismed through the darkened windows bathing the small office in a cocoon of soft, disconcerting light. It was a spectacular demonstration of the sun’s power, but Lilja payed it no mind. She had seen it all before, every day and night since the beginning. Instead, sitting on the edge of her office chair, she stared at a clump of long grey strands of hair in the palm of her hand, the roots weeping with droplets of bright red blood. Voices reached her through the locked door. Scared voices. “I’m telling you she’s sick, she’s changing.” “She’s just depressed.”…
A Hospital Goes to War
Graham Elder April 2, 2020 – 5 min read The enemy is nanoscopic in size, but infinite in numbers. It attacks like a swarm of tiny Terminators showing no emotion, no mercy. It exists only to infect, to reproduce, and often, to kill. It seems to have come out of nowhere, and yet we have been attacked by its kind before. This is an enemy that has awakened our collective consciousness and forced humanity into a corner. We are at war. A world war. This war isn’t about vanquishing or eradicating; it is about surviving. In an age of unprecedented technology, it is also the most recorded of all wars.…
