Journeys of a Bent Mind

His parents liked his brother best. He was taller, had that dark handsome look about him, and was smarter than Hans. Manfred Von Richtofen was pursued by the best universities, graduated at the head of his class with honors, and when he enlisted in the budding Army Air Service, his parents were so proud. Hans on the other hand, struggled to get into the university, had a mediocre existence as a student, and returned home upon graduation to join the family business as an apprentice silversmith. Although he wasn’t a rocket scientist, he was skilled with his hands, keen of eye, and with an untrained artistic bent was the creator of the most exquisite pieces of silver his father had ever seen. His workmanship went far beyond anything Herr Von Richtofen had achieved in all his 40 years as a master silversmith. Hans reluctantly accepted the praise he began to garner with his artistic work. Continue reading →

As the winter sun set in a crimson blaze to the west, a near full moon crept over the snowcapped mountains to the east, casting its variegated hues of silver and blue over the landscape. Dhumbo Thumass, The Royal Gatesperson, signaled for the closing of the inner gate, and the lifting of the drawbridge. With loud clanking of heavy chains the massive bridge was lifted from its footing across the deep moat, and with creaking groans, lifted and slammed into the seat near the top of the twin towers. The sentinel watching from atop the eastern turret sounded a lonely toll of the castle’s chapel bells. The castle was secured for the night. Continue reading →

Mandy hurried along passageway T-7 in the third tier of space station Orion. Dante trotted alongside her with ease, his collar clinking in the early morning silence. It was always quiet throughout the space station at 5:00 in the mornig, and the guards never patrolled this sector before 7:00 o’clock. Dante projected a thought warning to Mandy as they approached the corner near the health center, and she thought back a “thanks” to him as she felt the walls with her mind and turned left down passageway T-6. Dante knew that at the end of this passage was the station’s garden complex, where Mandy often went when she wanted to be alone. Continue reading →

The cottonwood trees alongside the swank hotel swayed in the light breeze, their leaves catching the sunlight on their shiny surfaces giving the appearance of a shimmering silver-green apparition. The Chollo River, not far distant, moved lazily through the canyons of the high mesas on its way to its rendezvous with the mighty Colorado. The westering sun slipped behind the rim of the mountains to the west, and on its heels the full moon rose from its slumber beneath the earth’s covers to the east. The night sky was electric, the air of palpable anticipation. Continue reading →