Randal L. Schwartz's published ficlets
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John and Ray
He stared at the printout. There it was. “J E S S I C A”, repeated over and over.
He first thought about calculating the odd…
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Not quite an error
“The results of the experiment still confirm our theory?”
“Yes.”
“And the expected errors are all within tolerance?”
“Yes,...
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The phone call
“Uh… huh… uh… Hello”, Jim stuttered into the ancient phone, barely remembering how to hold such a device.
“What is you…
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The Path
She tugged him along the path. “C’mon”, she said.
He hesitated, shuffling his feet a bit. “I’m not sure. Is it safe?”
“Of c…
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The rose-colored glasses are off
“She took them off! ” he exclaimed, bursting into the council meeting chambers. “The empress has removed the rose-colored gla…
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Buffalo, Shuffling Off
His personal alarm clock chimed. He had set it on the bedside nightstand when he had arrived at this cheap motel, and it duti…
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Not quite the windfall
“I’ve just quit my job!”, she exclaimed.
“What? How will you live? You need money, you know.”, he replied.
“No, I’ve come i…
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Buffalo Central Terminal
Buffalo Central Terminal, the sign said.
Was that a place? Or a state of mind?, he wondered. He carefully grabbed his ov…
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the item in the glass case
I pointed to the third shelf of the glass case. It had caught my eye as I had spun around.
“That. Can I see that?”
The cler…
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Blinking at me
IT JUST SAT THERE, blinking at me.
I knew the trip would be long, and that I’d have a lot of quiet time. The seven months to…
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Brazillian Maid
He had been there for nearly three drinks, when she tapped him on the shoulder. At first, he ignored the interruption, figuri…
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Brazillian Cut
He had been there for almost an hour, at that sidewalk drink shack at the edge of the road. He was sipping on the Caipirinha …
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Another long travel day
It was another of those long travel days.
I enjoy everything about travelling, except for the travelling. That is, I like th…
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Not an ordinary moment
It seemed like any other moment. But this one was different.
At this moment, simultaneous launches of ICBMs from three conti…
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She lives in the mirror
She walked in, dressed in the latest designer clothes, at the strategic evening time of 10:45pm. The club was new, and she wa…
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She was out late again
It was nearly half past two when Mary poured herself through the door. She had been out partying with the girls again—her usu…
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Words that move
“Words! More Words!”, shouted the commander.
I shuddered, thinking to myself, _but I’ve already typed in almost every stor…
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Language Wars at the Ravens Gate Pool
We knew it had to come to this, eventually.
The Ruby on Rails gang had moved in first, fueled and aided by the bloggers wh…
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The computer store gets passed
“John, you’re late again!”, Jill cried out from upstairs. Knowing better than to pass judgement, she merely inquired, “What w…
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three beers before ficlet
He walked over to the mini-fridge, grabbed the church key, and pulled open his third beer for the evening. This Pilsner Urque…
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