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Tag: elderly

Drabbleclassics 26 – Unreliable Witness (235)

Cover for Drabblecast episode 235, Unreliable Witness, by Kathleen BeckettI don’t know if this is the same tape as last time, because They keep moving things around and stealing them. I don’t know who does it. It may be the staff here, or my own family when they come to visit, or the aliens, but somebody’s always doing it — taking my glasses, my tapes, my TV remote, anything I put down for a second. I don’t think it’s the other residents. I used to think that, but I don’t think they’re that organized. Some of them are a bit senile, to tell you the truth…

In this episode of the Drabblecast, Catherine is an 89-year-old nursing home resident plagued by someone who keeps taking her things and a son and daughter-in-law who treat her like a child. When she gets a visit from an alien named Tom, they strike a bargain: He will tell her who the thief is if she tells him the secret to longevity. His race does not live to old age, they die after reaching breeding age and having children (the human equivalent of about 40 years old); he is trying to learn how to extend their lifespan. Despite her insistence that there is no secret he doesn’t believe her, but does tell her no one is taking her stuff – she just can’t keep track of it. Catherine thinks he is lying because he didn’t like that she didn’t have an answer for him and becomes convinced that the people who are taking her stuff are actually looking for alien, looking for clues about their existence among her possessions. She makes a tape recording of her experience, hoping that when they inevitably take the tape and listen to it they will realize they have no reason to continue stealing from her since she will freely tell them everything she knows. In the drabble, a young girl wakes up with a new set of stitches and doesn’t stop searching until she finds the quarter the kidney fairy has left her.

Cover for Drabblecast episode 250, Trifecta 22, by Liz Pennies

Drabblecast 250 – Trifecta XXII

Cover for Drabblecast episode 250, Trifecta 22, by Liz PenniesMy name is… John.

I am…

I have a wife and a daughter. They are visiting me today. Their names– Alice. And Anna.

I can see, sort of. Everything is blurry. I am submerged in a coffin, a clear coffin with green water. There’s a tube in my mouth so that I can breathe, machine-like.

My legs are transparent. I see veins and arteries, thin muscles that look like spiderwebs bundled together. The doctors say my memory will be fuzzy. It’s supposed to come back quickly.

I am…

The theme of this Drabblecast Trifecta is “if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.” In Faithful Servant, a long-suffering butler’s poorly timed fit of temper is nearly the end of him. In Selfless, a man with an incurable illness goes to great lengths to ensure his wife and daughter enjoy a normal, happy life. In Prophecy Negotiations, a fateful farm boy learns that if you want to rise to a new station, it pays not to accept the first offer.

Cover for Drabblecast episode 235, Unreliable Witness, by Kathleen Beckett

Drabblecast 235 – Unreliable Witness

Cover for Drabblecast episode 235, Unreliable Witness, by Kathleen BeckettI don’t know if this is the same tape as last time, because They keep moving things around and stealing them. I don’t know who does it. It may be the staff here, or my own family when they come to visit, or the aliens, but somebody’s always doing it — taking my glasses, my tapes, my TV remote, anything I put down for a second. I don’t think it’s the other residents. I used to think that, but I don’t think they’re that organized. Some of them are a bit senile, to tell you the truth…

In this episode of the Drabblecast, Catherine is an 89-year-old nursing home resident plagued by someone who keeps taking her things and a son and daughter-in-law who treat her like a child. When she gets a visit from an alien named Tom, they strike a bargain: He will tell her who the thief is if she tells him the secret to longevity. His race does not live to old age, they die after reaching breeding age and having children (the human equivalent of about 40 years old); he is trying to learn how to extend their lifespan. Despite her insistence that there is no secret he doesn’t believe her, but does tell her no one is taking her stuff – she just can’t keep track of it. Catherine thinks he is lying because he didn’t like that she didn’t have an answer for him and becomes convinced that the people who are taking her stuff are actually looking for alien, looking for clues about their existence among her possessions. She makes a tape recording of her experience, hoping that when they inevitably take the tape and listen to it they will realize they have no reason to continue stealing from her since she will freely tell them everything she knows. In the drabble, a young girl wakes up with a new set of stitches and doesn’t stop searching until she finds the quarter the kidney fairy has left her.

Drabblecast 230 – Bears Discover Fire

Cover for Drabblecast episode 230, Bears Discover Fire, by Matt WasielaThis episode of the Drabblecast presents “Bears Discover Fire,” by Terry Bisson. We examine and interpret humanity through anthropomorphism.

When bears discover fire, stop hibernating, and begin populating highway medians in the southern US, people notice. Their changing behavior highlights how other families react to changes in their own lives with varying degrees of acceptance and grace.

Story Excerpt:

We stayed on the path.  The light seemed to drip down from the canopy of the woods like rain.  The going was easy, especially if we didn’t try to look at the path but let our feet find their own way.
Then through the trees I saw their fire…

Cover for Drabblecast episode 211, At the End of the Hall, by Michael Hoskins

Drabblecast 211 – At the End of the Hall

Cover for Drabblecast episode 211, At the End of the Hall, by Michael HoskinsMy earliest fear, the one I remember anyways, was of great pulp magazine robots with hot water heater bodies and vacuum tube eyes. My brother forbade me to touch his precious magazines, so I wouldn’t. I’d stare and stare at the covers through; hourglassed damsels in diaphanous gowns draped over thick slab altars, and the robots, always the robots with their cylindrical torsos and pincer claws for hands….

In Search of the Brain-Eating Nandi Bear Part III

Cover for Drabblecast episode 151, The Society of Eccentric Moustaches, by Aaron Cambridge

Drabblecast 151 – The Society of Eccentric Moustaches

Cover for Drabblecast episode 151, The Society of Eccentric Moustaches, by Arron Cambridge“I’m going to cut to the chase,” Zephyr said. “You’ll never make it as a magician. You just don’t have the moustache for it…”

Ig Awards
Josh Roseman

Cover for Drabblecast Episode 130, Trifecta 9, by Bo Kaier

Drabblecast 130 – Trifecta IX

Cover for Drabblecast Episode 130, Trifecta 9, by Bo KaierTrifecta 9, dinosaurs, love, monsters, everything you need. Featuring works by Bruce Holland Rogers, Steve Calvert and Bruce Boston.

Cover for Drabblecast 108, The Wicked Witch Looks at 40 (Decades), by Mary Mattice

Drabblecast 108 – The Wicked Witch Looks at 40 (Decades)

Cover for Drabblecast 108, The Wicked Witch Looks at 40 (Decades), by Mary MatticeThe wicked witch business wasn’t what it used to be.  It had been such a simple thing, to lure children with candy; back in the old days when candy had been hard to come by…

In this episode’s Drabble, a moth eloquently expresses her attraction to a bright light and her own subsequent destruction. The feature story, The Wicked Witch Looks at 40 (Decades), follows Winnie the witch through her (long overdue) midlife crisis. After a particularly discouraging Halloween, where not a single child is captured, she takes the advice of an article in Martha Stewart Living magazine, changing her house and her lifestyle.

Cover for Drabblecast episode 42, 40 Quarters, by Jonathan Wilson

Drabblecast 42 – 40 Quarters

Cover for Drabblecast episode 42, 40 Quarters, by Jonathan Wilson“Your work does sound most commendable, but I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.  Volunteer work, no matter how worthy, doesn’t pay taxes.  There’s no such thing as a free lunch…”

Building on last episode’s interest in a Nigerian scam spame e-mail, Norm announces the first annual “Nigerian Scam Spam E-mail Contest,” arising from listener Strawman’s suggestion. We move on to the feature story, whose author Tom Williams appeared before on episode #30, “2084.” This week, Mr. Williams writes about a cynical Social Security officer who tires of the hard-luck cases he hears on a daily basis, deciding “there ain’t nobody but workers and slackers.” A special individual arrives to remind our protagonist of the truth of the social contract.

Cover for Drabblecast episode 37, Luna Springs, by Rick Green

Drabblecast 37 – Luna Springs

Cover for Drabblecast episode 37, Luna Springs, by Rick Green

They say the gravity’s lessened here, air’s purified, filtered with vitamins and proteins.  Even the light’s better – Luna Springs is on a mobile foundation timed to keep optimum reflected sunlight at all hours…

In Drabble News: a young girl born with four arms and four legs in India, believed to be the incarnation of a Hindu goddess, underwent surgery to remove her irregularities. Norm speculates on her attitude towards baby pictures later in life. Continuing on the theme of physical infirmities, the feature story features a sickly and wheelchair-bound grandfather. A man who found a place in a retirement community on the Moon, where “memories come alive with the moonlight and dance with the stars” – leaving his grandson with a painful memory of his own. The story author, Patrick Hurley, has been published in “The Horror Library” and other venues. Feedback for Episode #32, “The Warden’s Last Day,” closes out the episode.

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