It's a hundred miles from here to the next town. Easy enough in a car, but when you're walking with an empty jerry-can that your friend Dogg forgot to fill up last time he borrowed your car, it might as well be a quarter-million miles. The desert sun's already drained me of sweat, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to die here, somewhere on the side of the road. All I can taste is salt, and I'm so dizzy the only choice I have is to keep walking. If I sit down I'm not getting up again. Someone told me cacti hold water, but I don't know what kind, or how to get at it. Not that it matters, I haven't seen a cactus yet, just asphalt and baked sand and my own shadow getting longer in front of me. I think I'm starting to hallucinate, too. At the edge of the flat horizon, right at the vanishing point, there's something tall waving to me. But maybe it's a mirage. Keep walking. And now it's right in front of me, and it's tall, with green skin. I know I'm hallucinating now. It knows my name. &quot;Hello, Charles,&quot; it says. 2008-05-01T23:50:49Z http://ficlets.com/feed/story/29107 <p>I would definitely like to read on.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29107?basename=59910 2008-05-01T23:50:49Z Laine the Grey http://ficlets.com/authors/lainegrey <p>ooh, exciting! Are they in Roswell? ;)</p> <p>Poor Charles.</p> <p>I&#8217;d love to hear more of his story!</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29107?basename=59860 2008-05-01T20:35:30Z kells http://ficlets.com/authors/unravelingthestory