Storytime Sunday, October 21, 2012 — “Seniors at War”

Dear Friends:

Today, I’m linking you to one of my favorite stories, that appeared first in RiverSedge, and now is republished online with Necessary Fiction — curated this month by the amazing, Stefanie Freele.

Please take a look at this site.  There is wonderful work here, and of course be sure to pick up one of Stef’s short story collections, if you haven’t already.

But to wet your appetite –here’s the beginning of “Seniors at War”

Sergeant Scrubs’ battalion No. 363 was getting the shit kicked out of them, but no one could hear him squawk for help over at Geriatric Base Southeast Quadrant. The hearing aids belonging to all Command Central personnel automatically shut off whenever the mainframe went down—which it always did when the temperature rose to 110˚.

So, around lunchtime in the summer, the commanders went deaf for 25 minutes.

The enemy knew this, and Com Cen knew they knew. But no one had figured out how to reset the system.

That’s why—–

(click here to continue)

(Copyright, Stephanie Barbe Hammer, 10/21/2012)