The 2012 Collected Works of Anthony Horvath

By Anthony Horvath

Short stories, novellas, and other works written by Anthony Horvath are included in this continually updated anthology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bard and Book
• Release date: Jan 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466189119

Anthony Horvath

Author, Christian apologist, pro-life advocate, public speaker.

Book preview

The 2012 Collected Works of

Anthony Horvath

By Anthony Horvath

Smashwords Edition

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Copyright Anthony Horvath 2012. All Rights Reserved

Published by Bard and Book Publishing. Website: www.bardandbook.com

Cover by Julius Broqueza.

Contents

How Bard and Book Publishing's Collected Works Anthologies Work

In Full Color

Bring on the Brave World

The Knight in Black Tuxedo

Bubblegum and Suckers

In Search of Schrödinger's Cat

Tastes Like Chicken

Better Than Sex

How Bard and Book Publishing's Collected Works Anthologies Work:

Bard and Book Publishing offers authors' short stories for free to reader-subscribers. Each time an author releases a new completed work, this anthology is updated to reflect the new content. Content can include short stories, poems, plays, or full length novels. To obtain an updated edition, you merely need to go back to the original Smashword's page, and provided you have already purchased the work, Smashwords will allow you to re-download the new version. This applies even if you have 'purchased' the book via coupons issued only to Bard and Book reader-subscribers. For more information visit: http://www.bardandbook.com.

In Full Color

He could think of nothing worse than being known as someone who had been taken in. Mind you, it didn't bother him half as much to actually be taken in. It was the people knowing it that bothered him full on, though even if they merely believed it, that counted. In casual conversation he judiciously protected himself if he said something that even he knew was weaker than paper wet all the way through. He'd say, Well, it's just a theory. I wouldn't believe it either, if I were you, and so you know, I don't. But it's a theory that some folk, some mighty smart folk, I'd add, take to be true.

Only God knew how much truth he'd had to dispense with to fend off the sucker reputation. He'd done it so well that if anyone ever wanted something debunked, they knew right who to go to. They'd finish up their work beneath the hood of some car or truck, flip on the radio where all sorts of nonsense served as the daily staple, and run the most juicy bits by Sid Cynic. That's what they called him. Sid Cynic. They'd come and report some crazy rumor, like, The county talking about requiring license plates for bikes. No, not motorbikes, the ones you pedal. Can you believe that? Sid knew they were just trying to play him. It was a joke, a game, to try to take him in, and everyone in the shop played it to the hilt. Sid knew better and would retort with some plain sense, You know the mob would never go for no such thing. The mayor, he's in bed with them, that's the word I heard not too long ago. Might not be true, I admit, but I ain't never heard of an honest politician. He's in bed with someone, you've got to admit. He'll never go for something like license plates on bikes. Besides, I highly doubt the prison population could keep up with demand for plates like that. You really ought'nt believe everything you hear.

Business was slow. The fellahs spent a fair bit of time in the waiting area where the people who owned the cars would sit while their car was worked on. They liked sitting in there, even though they didn't get paid while they were in there, because there was a television. The boss had put it there for the customers but stopped getting cable channels to save money. Customers paid it no mind if it had no cable channels so the crew watched it instead. This prompted the same conversation every other day. Things so bad we don't even have decent shows to watch. Things so bad we got time to watch TV! It's the economy. Course it is, Sid would say, knowingly. Politicians keep messin' with things and we get stuck watching TV! he'd say.

There may have been truth to that, but the real truth was that the three mechanics were birds of the same unprofitable feather. Their shop had been losing customers for a long while. There had been five of them at one time. Genius Joe had been the first to leave. They called him Genius Joe because when they started putting computers into cars—an abomination—he defended the practice and even seemed to understand what was going on. When a car would come in all decked out with this or that electronic gidget or gadget, they'd take Genius Joe off of whatever vehicle he was working on and make him work on it. More electronics kept getting stuffed into cars and Genius Joe could see well enough that the boss wasn't of any mind to keep up