The Other Side Of The Box: 14 Tales

By Geoff Schultz

From science fiction to sarcasm, from fantasy to diversity, this is a collection of short tales which will hopefully be entertaining, possibly be thought provoking, and maybe even generate a chuckle or two. Some of the titles included are “An Alternate Crime”, “A Very Berry Tale”, “Coco’s Story”, “Hershey’s Hiss”, “The Idle Idol”, “The Smart Toilet”, and “Turkeys Eat Turquoise Turnips”.

A peek inside:

The atoms and molecules collide from a multitude of directions. The force of their collision causes a cohesiveness which keeps the elements from flying apart again. Indeed, as the mass is buffeted by forces and pressures outside of its previous experience, it grows by the addition of loose particles adhering to its surface. Slowly, the buffeting forces the mass into a uniform consistency. After the passage of time, the storm abates.

As the mass begins to settle with the passing of the violence, the heat begins to increase. And with the heat, the mass starts to show signs of life. It grows. Due to its own activities, it grows and without the addition of external particles. The mass does more than grow, it multiplies; first two-fold then three-fold. It grows until it quadruples in size.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, comes a force of such violence that the mass is severed into two, four, then sixteen equal parts and separated. Immediately, the mass begins to grow again and tries to reach out to its other parts. Without warning, the heat increases to unheard of levels.

Valiantly, each part of the mass strives to grow, to live, and then to merely survive, but it can’t as the excessive heat begins to dehydrate it. Life dies and the surface of each part of the mass grows dark and harder. It’s the end of a very short but painfully violent life.

But that’s not the end. The rest of the story is a part of “Ode To A Mass” in The Other Side Of The Box – 14 Tales.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Geoff Schultz
• Release date: Jun 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370262656

Geoff Schultz

It has been said that the best things in life are free and so are this writer's stories. Hope you enjoy them.

Book preview

The Other

Side Of

The Box

- 14 Tales

a short collection

of short stories

Geoff Schultz

ebook format edition - distributed by www.smashwords.com

Copyright 2020 by Geoff Schultz - third edition

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, and events in this book are products of the author’s imagination or, in the case of referenced historical persons, are used fictitiously. Any other similarity to actual persons, names, or events is purely coincidental.

* * * * *

License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

A Lonely Little Weed

An Alternate Crime

A Short Unfinished Story

A Very Berry Tale

Coco’s Story

Drive-by Sympathy

Hershey’s Hiss

Hymn Of The Environment

Ode To A Mass

The Idle Idol

The Smart Toilet

The Ultimate Junk Call

The Vain Vane

Turkeys Eat Turquoise Turnips

About the writer

A Lonely Little Weed

by Geoff Schultz

copyright 2020

A seed dropped, bounced, was blown by the wind, and barely stopped before it was squeezed between a tire and the road. Squirted out from under the tire with great momentum, the seed bounced off of a light pole, ricocheted off of a hub cap, skipped across the ground, then slid to a halt when it fell into a crevice in the ground. Battered, bent, and dented, the seed just laid there.

Over time, rain fell, the sun shone, and the seed sprouted with a root pushing out of one end and a leaf pushing out of the other end. Slowly the weed grew, all by itself with nothing near it except hard pavement. Vehicles frequently rushed past very fast and the air movement they caused pushed the weed over and didn’t let it straighten up. Later, things blown by the vehicles landed partway on the little weed which blocked the sunlight and made it even harder for it to grow up.

One day, the things which were leaning against it were pulled away from the little weed, but before it could stand up, something gripped the little weed, pulled, and dropped it into a black bag and the lonely little weed . . . wasn’t.

* * * * * * * * * *

Note about A Lonely Little Weed: In memory of a plant struggling to survive next to a freeway on-ramp.

An Alternate Crime

by Geoff Schultz

copyright 2020

The other day I was talking to my counterpart in an alternate universe and part of the conversation went like this:

Cash? No, that’s something we only read about in our history books. When we purchase something, the funds are transferred from our account to the store’s account.

How are the funds transferred? I asked.

By our Society Security Number.

What’s that?

It’s a unique number which is assigned to each citizen and it’s tattooed on our forehead just after we’re born. Any time we participate in a transaction such as going to a medical facility, paying for a service, or buying a product, our number is scanned, the funds are transferred, and the transaction is recorded in the Database.

I exclaimed with amazement, That must be a very big database!

It certainly is. It holds all of the information about every citizen. Where we live, the vehicles we own, our children and pets, what we buy, and when and where we buy it. The newest thing in public restrooms is that our number is scanned before the faucet will turn on and our water usage is recorded.

There must be no crimes if everything a person does is recorded, I observed.

There are still crimes, but the types of crimes have changed. For example, just yesterday, Mr. Fry Safebash, the president of the grocery store, was run into by another vehicle while driving to work.

What’s so different about that? It happens all of the time.

This was done deliberately.

Deliberately? Since I couldn’t quite believe that, I asked, How could that happen?

"It’s simple. A vehicle won’t start until the driver’s Society Security Number is scanned then the number is transmitted to the Database at each intersection the vehicle goes through. The driver of the other vehicle just looked into the Database for the