Comments on 'A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox'In his mailbox there is a hand holding a gun. It's severed, this hand, just on the elbow side of the wrist, and it has oozed a bit of blood out into the box. The whole thing has gone sort of pale, which makes the revolver in its grip look blacker and shinier.
It's snub-nosed, this revolver, with a fat cylinder in which he can see the little metal heads of bullets nestled in their shells. The gun is pointing out at him, as if this hand wanted his money.
He looks around him, up and down the street. He closes the mailbox door. He opens it again. There is a hand in there, holding a gun. He reaches towards it, squinting, wincing in preparation of the bang, then chickens out. He stands to one side of the mailbox and leans in front of it. He waves his hand past the barrel of the gun. Reaches into the box again, gives up again.
He goes inside, past his wife, who's doing dishes, and gets the phone. He dials 911. She asks what's wrong.
"There's a hand holding a gun in our mailbox," he says.
"Finally," she says.2008-05-21T21:32:03Zhttp://ficlets.com/feed/story/29220Comment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Well, all that’s left to say is, “Prepare yourself sir.”</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=639472008-05-21T21:32:03ZJ.B. Williamshttp://ficlets.com/authors/user_5182Comment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Well, all that’s left to say is, “Prepare yourself sir.”</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=639452008-05-21T21:31:07ZJ.B. Williamshttp://ficlets.com/authors/user_5182Comment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Gonna join the crowd here and say “Awesome!” I enjoyed the heck out of this one, the mundane feel to it, the flabbergasted attitude of the husband, the exasperation of the wife (how long’s she been waiting for THAT package?). Very well done, excellent mood-setting and pacing.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=633012008-05-19T03:58:41ZJLaughterhttp://ficlets.com/authors/jlaughterComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Using the present tense gives this an even flatter, more mundane feel, which makes the find even more bizarre. I feel like I’m half-asleep reading it. Well done.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=625892008-05-15T22:53:16ZWallace-Ehttp://ficlets.com/authors/wallace_eComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Man, Neilb, how cool is that? I’d wondered what a graph of pre/sequels would look like, and you’ve actually done it! Great work. What I’d be curious to know is how many of the readers that find any one story do so by following a sequel or prequel link. Or do most readers go by title or author alone?</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=625322008-05-15T17:30:58ZWill Hindmarchhttp://ficlets.com/authors/wordstudioComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>I was curious what the graph of ficlets linked to this one would look like, so have created a quick hack for visualising ficlet graphs. You can see the graph for this ficlet at http://neilb.org/ficlets/graph-29220.html</p>
<p>It’s an image map – click on each bubble to go to that ficlet.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=624962008-05-15T15:18:19Zneilbhttp://ficlets.com/authors/user_9257Comment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Haha this has a sense of hidden humor and the end is such a cliff hanger. It one of those things hat is so wrong yet its so right.<br />5stars</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=614812008-05-11T00:52:58ZLiving In Wonder Land ♠http://ficlets.com/authors/livin_in_wonder_landComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>I don’t really get the last line.. Maybe I’m just to tired tonight.. But I love the rest of it. Very odd situation. =)</p>
<p>LoA</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=611192008-05-09T02:26:20Z.:band baby:.http://ficlets.com/authors/bandbabyComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>I also enjoyed the surprise ending. There are a lot of different directions a prequel could go. About to go read what Wil Wheaton wrote.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=609492008-05-08T13:43:54ZRusty Tantonhttp://ficlets.com/authors/rustytantonComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Love it, really enjoyed the possibilities for prequel and / or sequel that this offers and the central premise is just so ‘off-the-wall’ cool too.</p>
<p>Bravo!</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=607562008-05-07T10:54:31ZMaleghasthttp://ficlets.com/authors/maleghastComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Well done sir, well done.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=607502008-05-07T03:51:00Zastlandhttp://ficlets.com/authors/astlandComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>That one word was the perfect ending to this one. Pretty funny, and as <strong>thebetweenspace</strong> said, quirky. An interesting situation to land up in.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=607032008-05-06T23:58:55ZStovohobohttp://ficlets.com/authors/stovohoboComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>So glad I caught Wil’s blog post about his prequel. I missed this one in the story list and it’s a gem. I really loved the wife’s payoff line – great humour.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=606742008-05-06T22:36:38ZMeliahttp://ficlets.com/authors/meliaComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>I loved this, Will. In fact, it inspired me to write my first prequel. Thanks for that!</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=606462008-05-06T21:24:07ZWil Wheatonhttp://ficlets.com/authors/wilwheatonComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Wow, that was wonderful! I agree with THX , that is a great visual.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=601192008-05-02T22:54:48Z[pens&feathers]http://ficlets.com/authors/rhapsodyyinbluComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Quirky is the right word, but an absolutely hilarious visual, picturing this poor befuddled guy checking and rechecking the severed hand in his mailbox only to mosey back inside and calmly call 911. So fun.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=600782008-05-02T21:03:16ZTHX 0477http://ficlets.com/authors/thx_0477Comment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>I really enjoyed this <em>quirky</em> story. The last line maintained the bizarre tone, but I don’t quite get it. Very interesting.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=600712008-05-02T20:19:40Zthebetweenspacehttp://ficlets.com/authors/thebetweenspaceComment on A Loaded Gun in the Mailbox<p>Clever!</p>
<p>I love Ficlet Friday!</p>
<p>I totally dig the whole Looney Tunes/Warner Brothers cartoon angle of his interaction with the gun.</p>
<p>Nice surprise ending as well.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/29220?basename=600692008-05-02T20:18:07ZSeth Millerhttp://ficlets.com/authors/mostlymuppet