The Skwib: Career Day for Jim

School was lame. Adults were lame. Life, itself, was a series of lame events. None more so than Career Day. These were the thoughts of Jim as he walked into the gymnasium for the Beaverbrook High career day. At least he didn’t have to sit through the tedium and ennui of Mr. Leekie’s calculus class, […]

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The Skwib: Pirate Therapy

Laurence arrived a few minutes late for his regular Thursday morning session, but his therapist usually ran late, so he wasn’t worried. From behind the door of his therapist’s office, he heard a blood-curdling scream, and then a thump. A door opened somewhere, and Laurence heard a strange sound, almost as though something heavy was […]

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The Skwib: Taking one for the team

It seemed unlikely that Janet was an “anthrax tester” for the Department of Defense, as she claimed. It just didn’t seem possible that she could snort a gram of weaponized splenic fever each and every hour for weeks on end and not show any effects. (Apart from the tremors, vertigo, muscle twitches & paranoia.) For […]

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The Skwib: Stiff Upper, and So Forth

“I have London on the line, sir.” “What do they want?” “They’re asking about the penguins.” “The penguins?” “Yes, remember, penguins is the codeword . . .” “For what?!” “You know, sir, the uh, devices . . . the prophylactics. . .” “The prophylactics?! What the hell is that supposed to be?” “Oh, sir, please. […]

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The Skwib: Somewhere in the Heartland

The economic downturn and subsequent collapse of civilized society was not welcome by most people. But for the Pesquahoddy Mustard Gas and Swine Flu Enthusiast’s Club, the collapse had been a panacea. Membership was way up, and their annual soiree, the much-anticipated Gas Masquerade actually turned a profit this year! Membership in The MonkeySphere is […]

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The Skwib: Beach Babes of Vision

Misunderstood Genius Greta “The Fallopian” Webcastico was ahead of her time. Not only was she the finest beach accordionist in the tri-state area, Greta was the first composer to create music designed to be played in counterpoint to the dulcet tones of molting seagulls eager to eat your French Fries. The truth was, Greta was […]

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The Skwib: Reassuring Fictions

In times like these, you may believe that all is well. You may enjoy watching the Olympics, eating spam, or perhaps you have many Norwegian friends. You may have the feeling that we live in the best of possible worlds. Given the possibilities, the vagaries of quantum mechanics, perhaps, you think to yourself, everything is […]

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The Skwib: Smurf-cutters

Lesley Pratt was a freakin’ evil advertising genius. In his quest to sell soap, he’d turned the shock value of bombing smurfs into a marketer’s wet dream. He’d even coined a term for the new form of advertising: aggressive suasion. (Though they were known as “smurf-cutters” to the Madison Avenue crowd.) And in the course […]

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