Flat Roads

Gerald was the type of guy who liked to take chances. 

'Chances' being what the neighborhood kids called the free condoms at the free clinic next to the expensive pizza place - 'Chances Italiano'.

'Chances' not being what Gerald would EVER take when it came to pregnancy. 

Not again.

Not since that stripper he'd banged had extorted tons of cash from him to pay for her abortion or else. 

He should have known better when he met her.

Her name WAS 'Chances' after all.

They weren't very diverse when it came to naming things in Gerald's town, Riskville. 

But it was a fun town to live in, and therefore a small price to pay.

As long as you didn't mind living near the local Nuclear Waste Dump, that was next to giant snake breeding facility, that was next to the 'Free All Caged Animals' activist headquarters, who had a share occupancy deal in their office building with the 'Society To Help All Activist Groups, And Also We Have Seven Flesh Eating Aliens Captured And Locked Up, But It Doesn't Feel Right To Us, We'll Probably Release Them Soon' group, with said building located right on top of the world's first volcano readying to erupt with billions of dead fish heads. 

Also the housing was cheap. 

Especially if you rented through one of the two local real-estate firms, 'Chances Reality' or 'Chances Houses'. 

Just don't go with the national chain 'First Roof'.

They MAKE you get insurance.

What a waste of money. 

A Credible Calamitist

‘Oh that’s right, there’s a calamity in distance’ Karl was tersely reminded.

Karl was a calamity enthusiast. He hoped to be the world’s foremost calamity expert one day. But he found himself occasionally forgetting cradles and avenues of calamity and it had begun to deeply frustrate him.

He’d even forgotten the calamity in multiple opportunities once.

‘Like seriously, you end up having to say “no” to one or more of them, it’s kind of freaking obvious’ I reminded him when he brought it up from time to time.

‘But when you’re focusing your entire life on “calamity” then “opportunity” just drops off the radar occasionally’ he argued, attempting to defend his pathetic mistake, and mend any credibility he still held.

‘Do you think the world’s foremost explorer ever lets “home” slip from radar? Do you think that the Lord of Darkness will ever let “The Sun” completely escape his mind? Do you think the world’s foremost shoelace expert goes one fucking day not remembering the horrific threat that is “Velcro”? I’d point out, calmly.

‘Well you know what, the world’s foremost explorer is now long dead, the lord of darkness will far outlive something as temperamental as The Sun, and frankly Velcro may well be superior to shoelaces to be frank, and frankly the world’s foremost shoelace expert may be holding us all back with this relentless shoelace dedication’ he’d declare, from no where.

‘Can Velcro be interchanged with a variety of colors with also the possibility of a moderate level of style alteration with merely 10-20 minutes of finicky work depending on the shoe???’ I’d retort ‘Huh, huh, huh, CAN IT?’

‘What?’ Karl would reply.

‘With shoelaces I can change the color of my laces on the same pair of shows ANYTIME I want, assuming I am carrying a variety of shoelace options on me at all time, which obviously I am, can you do that with FUCKING VELCRO?’ I’d scream.

‘Well not, but it’s hardly the s….’

‘SO DON’T YOU DARE USE THE WORD SUPERIOR IN REFERENCE TO VELCRO EVER FUCKING AGAIN’ I’d bellow, interrupting him.

‘Here’s a calamity – talking to someone about footwear tightening devices who value color and alterationalability over practicality!’ He’d declare.

He had me there.

I couldn’t argue against that.

He did have potential Karl. I had to give him that. That sure was a calamity I had never observed.

I avowed right there to help him. I could remember previously discovered calamities. He could spot and identify new calamities. As a team we would be unstoppable calamity experts. The title of ‘foremost’ suddenly seemed inevitable.

We’re out on of our many calamity finding expeditions right now. I have enormous hopes and endless dreams. There is only one flaw in our mission I have noticed so far – I’m constantly having to put a pause on the operations to stop and tie my shoe laces. I mean fuck me, there MUST be a superior technology than this?