Author
Cat Rambo
I Decline
I Decline. With all due respect, sirs and madams and others, I am declining the technology awarded to me by the US Department of Geriatric Care. I know it is a small and inconsequential thing to you. Look at how simply you have engineered it, this memory keeper. Only a metal…
Appreciative Estate
Discretion was the company's watchword, or so Tiffany had been assured by Maria, who lived two floors down and had done it three months ago. No one needed to know. The technician was a thin blond youth, the left half of their face a conservative faux-tribal tattoo medley, almost…
The Haunted Snail
The Snail ride was haunted from the beginning, and what made it worse was that it was the slowest ride in the entire amusement park: an hour and a half of crawling along the track. The architect had meant it to be a clever postmodern play on a haunted house ride, a…
You Have Always Lived in the Castle
Your home is a world, a place, a Castle. It's full of aliens, their sad eyes watching as they serve. They come from elsewhere, the castle draws them in. They come in through fog and unexpected doorways and now none of them can go home, even the new girl, the one with hair like…
Bit Player
It's dark and I'm here alone. Not entirely dark. My fire casts a tiny wavering circle on the sand. Out in the darkness, I hear waves crashing on the beach. No stars, of course. They took those away when they disassembled most of the set. I wonder what he's doing now. They kept…
The Moon and the Mouse
The mouse sang to the moon. He sang, "Great Wheel of Cheese in the sky, eaten by the Mysterious and restored each month to hover again, grant me a favor. Grant me a bride." The moon peered down at him, for while it had heard many petitions from all manner of creature, and while…
English Muffin, Devotion on the Side
When he realized how upset his wife was, George wondered if he might have miscalculated. Normally a quiet and loving partner, she was unpacking the dishwasher with a great deal of clattering and muttering. "It's not as though you even ever dated her!" she said, slamming a series…
Just the Facts: A Zombie Story
1. There are zombies. 2. Zombies can turn up anywhere. If your mom dies in her sleep, she'll become a zombie that doesn't care whose brain she's (slowly) eating. 3. They are not particularly fast. Some people even poke fun at that. There's a famous web comic called Late Zombies,…
Superhero Art
***Editor's Note: Adult language and situations*** This is a story about superheroes. And Love and Art. Maybe vice versa. To complicate things, one of the main characters is named Art. I also play a part in the story, but I'm not Art. Call me Henry. That'll do. You're wondering:…
On The Big-fisted Circuit
Jane counted them again to make sure: twelve. Twelve signatures on the back panel, most jerky with haste, a couple deliberate and firm, one with a little flower above the i, for god's sake. The pen in her hand ready to add the thirteenth. How blatant were they going to be? This…
Soft
When Bjorn and his fellows were selected to supply context for the alien overlords who kept insisting they were just there for the Earth's own protection, he'd expected something different. Warriors in exo-skeletons, four limbs with a laser in each, maybe machine intelligences…
Love's Footsteps
At the time he did it, the wizard Moulder found the idea of removing his heart, applying a calcifying solution, and storing it in a safe place, all in the name of achieving immortality, quite reasonable. He performed the ritual in the small but ominous tower he had built in one…
Bus Ride To Mars
Day One After the men in dark sunglasses ushered Djuna outside, spring's chill chased her up the steps into the bus's welcome heat. She wavered on the last step, suitcase in front of her like a wall, thinking, "My fiftieth spring on Earth, can I really leave that?" Someone…
Pippa's Smiles
Marcus hadn't thought marriage would be like this after three months. He had expected to love Pippa, but he hadn't thought she would love him so much, that she would follow him from counter to till in his tiny shop where he sold souvenirs and curiosities: stuffed mermaids,…
Swallowing Ghosts
Grandma always said, "Don't yawn with your mouth open, a ghost will fly in." I didn't believe her until it happened. I yawned. Something rushed through the air, stuffed itself between my jaws, like slimy pop rocks in my mouth. I yelped. I stuck my fingers in my mouth. Like…
Swallowing Ghosts
Grandma always said, "Don't yawn with your mouth open, a ghost will fly in." I didn't believe her until it happened. I yawned. Something rushed through the air, stuffed itself between my jaws, like slimy pop rocks in my mouth. I yelped. I stuck my fingers in my mouth. Like…
Seeking Nothing
�Remember that they�re not like you nor I, boy,� Uncle Abraham said, his voice dusty as ash. �They�re not human. Elder Samuel says the soul stays with the original body, and that�s the real reason clones are classified Subhuman.� Sean buttoned his collar and adjusted its two…