Wasted Time

By Frank Barvitch

Short Story. Who would you shorten your own life for? Follow as Johnny - a rather unlikeable individual, overall - tries to uncover who is sacrificing time from their own life to extend his. In a world where your life is set to expire on a preset date and time and that time is your currency - you don't loan friends currency so easily. A fun tale of an unfriendly future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Barvitch
• Release date: Jun 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476033464

Frank Barvitch

My pricing: I read a lot of short stories - but I see them here for way too much per story. I get collections in paperback for 10 bucks, get a dozen or two stories. So I price my shorts with that in mind. I don't feel any short story is worth over $2 individually. Well, mine are... but I price them lower anyway. :D I have been reading for as long as I remember, and writing for almost as long... though my earliest works got lost somewhere in my toy box when I was that young. I enjoy writing almost as much as I enjoy reading - but I am a working man, so only get so much time. To compromise, I have penned a few short tales that seemed interesting to me. I think you may like them as well. If you take a gander at them - even if you don't purchase the full story, I would welcome your feedback. Feel free to reach me at [e-mail] Also, if you are an aspiring writer and need your manuscripts turned into type or digital copies made, please let us know - besides some writing myself, I run a successful document processing company, handling numerous other aspiring authors. Thank you. I hope you enjoy these little tales.

Book preview

WASTED TIME

By

Frank Barvitch

Copyright 2008 by Frank Barvitch

Smashwords Edition

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Johnny was getting nervous. He was almost out of time. To be exact, he had just three days, five hours, thirty-three minutes and seven seconds left to live. He was only thirty-two years old.

It wasn't his fault. Sure, he hadn't held a steady job since leaving the crèche. Of course not. 'Jobs' were for those without his talents.

He had a knack. He could tell what the next card would be, how the dice would spin, which horse was hot.

Well, sometimes. It didn't always work. It didn't have to. He'd won it big a couple of times. Maybe he'd lost more than he won, but he knew that'd change; he merely had to fine-tune it.

Unfortunately, he just had to pay a big loss, and it cost him almost eight months. But the odds had been great, twenty-three to one. He'd have won himself over fifteen years. He could have been forty-seven before he had to worry about earning some more Corporeal Duration.

Not that he would have waited that long. He didn't live the life of a pauper, scrimping and saving every minute, every second of CD he had. His shoes alone had cost him over three days.

Now, he had just blown most of his remaining Corporeal Duration on what should have been a sure thing. He was pissed. He called his friend, Dane.

Hullo?

The video was off and the voice was barely coherent. With a pang of guilt that vanished almost the instant it reared its - to Johnny unrecognizable - head, he glanced at his watch to see that it was a little after two in the morning. This was important, though. He pressed on with no mercy.

Wake up, Dane. I've got a problem.

As Dane recognized his friend's voice - or finally looked at the caller ID, Johnny couldn't be sure which - he switched on visual. Johnny had seen him looking worse, so said nothing about his just-wakened state of disarray.

What's the problem, Johnny?

I'm short.

You're always short, Johnny. What's new?

I'm really short. I've got just three days left. He ignored the familiar look of weary resignation on his friend's face. I was wondering if I might borrow a few days until my benefactor brings me back up to a safe amount.

I don't know, man. How much CD do you think you need?

Johnny was shocked by his friend's cavalier attitude. You 'don't know?’ he mimicked. It's your fault I'm in this mess! The least you could do is loan me a few days in case Bennie doesn't realize how short I am in time to fix it.

"And what if Bennie decides he's not going to give you any more? What if he decides he’s had enough of your spendthrift ways, and wants you to start to work for a living? What if you're not