by Don Webb
(Not like this. Why am I doing this?)
“Pretty nice party for a spotty warthog to be giving, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“I said, ‘Pretty nice party for a spotty warthog to be giving.’“
“Oh I’m sorry Dr. Woodard. I didn’t know you’d overhear.”
(Overhear? Meaning she said it as well.)
Nadine continued, “It’s just a dorm expression. You’re the Spotty Warthog, Dr. Winchell is Doughnut-Daddy, Dr. Lsiang Wang is Fu Manchu, Dr. Derenberger is Oscar Wilder. It don’t, you know, mean anything. In fact I think you’re a pretty good teacher.”
Nadine was scared by the drunken teacher staring at her. Sharon sensed the fear, but wanted to prolong the encounter to break the barrier down. She saw that Nadine wasn’t ashamed of the note. Maybe she didn’t even write the note. Slow beer thinking didn’t provide a path here. Sharon said, “Thank you.”
Sharon wandered back to the house. Over the next half hour everyone left. Everyone told her it was a good party. It wasn’t a lie.
(If I’d approached her differently I could’ve asked her about Mars.)
Sharon turned off the lanterns and picked up the cups. She locked up. She undressed. It was still important. At least her earlier self had told her she was doing the right thing.
(This is the essence of time travel.)
She lay down. The saucer hovered above her. For the first time she spoke to it. Using those tones one reserves for lovers and friends, she said, “It was a wonderful party.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Don Webb was born in 1960 in Amarillo, Texas. His works range from a St. Martin Press mystery series, to poetry, and fiction and nonfiction books on the occult. He attended Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin. Don is the poster child of literary ADHD. He’s written a rock-’n’-roll song for French radio, the I-phone App “Office Ching,” and has done game design for FASA and TSR. He’s also penned a lot of horror stories. His mom says that Don is her favorite horror writer—after Ramsey Campbell! He’s been translated into twelve languages; ten of his poems have been published in Chinese in Selected Poems of Post-Beat Poets.
He lives in Austin, Texas with his lovely wife Guiniviere and their cats Big Pig and Sascha. He cries at the sight of bluebonnets in the spring, the ending of the Whole Wide World, and losses of the Longhorn football team.
BORGO PRESS BOOKS BY DON WEBB
Do the Weird Crime, Serve the Weird Time
The War with the Belatrin
Webb’s Weird Wild West: Western Tales of Horror