13 - He'll be okay.

joneworlds@mailbox.org

And the other day, there is this fellow coming around door to door. A young guy, couldn't have been more than 18 or 19, probably. He's dressed in nice clothes with a tie, and he says he's the local candidate for the Greens in the next republic election. Which was totally weird, because we've not had an elected representative around here for years. We're not even part of that anymore. It's true, I looked it up on a map one time, and this whole area and most of what I know to east of here, is all grey and marked "CEDED". But anyways, I listen politely as he talks about "rebuilding" and "reconnecting" and "bringing it back" and this and that. And he's nice and well spoken and all that... and I hate to admit it, but I got to stick with the Braxon chieftains around these parts. They got guns and walkie talkies, and a deal with the truckers.

But I guess I feel like chatting anyways, so I ask him what his plan is to deal with the ogres. And I don't think he really gets what I was talking about. And then as bad luck would have it, a dozen or so goblins pour out of that hole behind my house and go running into the street. The kid sees this and sort of yelps, and that startles a hobgoblin who turns and blows a dart into his leg. The kid screams and goes down hard. After the goblins clear out, I help him back to his car at the entrance to the complex, and his girl friend or whoever was waiting for him there is totally freaking out. I try to explain that there is rarely any lasting nerve damage from whatever's on those darts. But he's drooling and half paralyzed by then, and she's screaming at me like it's my fault or something. I feel a bit like they're over reacting, but really it's just that some folks aren't used to this kind of thing yet. But in a week or two, he'll be okay.

Next - 14 - That time an ogre visited me.

All