The Day the Milk Tasted Sour and 5 Short Stories

By Aaron Cardenas, Sr

"Coffee Talk" is the opening story of the collection that follows the conversation between a barista and an elderly man who happened to come there this morning. This day is special because it is the anniversary of the Isabella Gardner Museum Heist, which had several paintings stolen and they still haven't been able to find the people who stole them. The elderly man holds some knowledge about that heist and the barista is willing to lend an ear to him; especially because the elderly man happened to be there when the heist occurred.

"That Encounter on March 24th" follows a young man who becomes paranoid when on the day after his birthday, he comes home to an unlocked door. With his paranoia now in play, he carefully steps through his house, with any sound that comes up worsening his anxiety. As he looks throughout his house, he starts to notice that he might not be the only one in there.

"A Will To Push On" follows a young cross-country runner who has to brace himself on an upcoming race, which starts off with an enormous hill near the beginning. Even though his coach tells him to calm down and focus, he can't help but disobey his orders when he sees his bully making a mockery of him. Now nearly exhausted from exerting himself, he's ready to drop out, although his coach has something to say about that.

In "Mute Communication," a sickly young man who is bedridden for the day, is having a hard time speaking and moving. However, his long-distance girlfriend is attempting to call him out of concern, and now he must respond so she doesn't waste resources. So, to use an alternative, he gets in a video call with her and relies on his keyboard to communicate with her.

"The Day The Milk Tasted Sour" is about a father named David, who must comfort his daughter when she finds out that she's adopted. David now has to ensure that his daughter is comforted in this time of need and that she's not alone.

"Babysitters" is a dramatic story that follows the mission of Brandon and Terry, two mafia men. Their mission: Protect their boss' daughter from any adversaries that wish to attack her while she stays in the big city. However, their plan comes quicker than anticipated, since they spot some hitmen that are ready to take that daughter's life. Now with time against them, they must devise a method to apprehend the hitmen and protect their target.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aaron Cardenas, Sr
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005494438

Aaron Cardenas, Sr

Aaron Cardenas grew up in Los Angeles, California with his mom, dad, 2 brothers and his sister. He started to have a fascination with reading when he was very young, finding a way to entertain himself whenever he was bored. His first step towards writing was finding one of his little brother's comic books and attempting to transcribe it into a script. From then on, he started studying how to make characters, plots, & themes and how to properly wrap all of that up into a coherent and well-made story. On his off-time, Aaron likes to play video games, read books and go for runs.

Book preview

The Day The Milk Tasted Sour and 5 Short Stories

Published by Aaron Cardenas at Smashwords

Copyright Aaron Cardenas 2020

First Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this e-book. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite e-book retailer to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Dedication and Introduction

Coffee Talk

The Encounter on March 24th

A Will To Push On

Mute Communication

The Day The Milk Tasted Sour

Babysitters

About the Author

Contact the Author

Dedication

To my family, friends, rivals and bullies. Anyone that pushed me forward or hold me back, I thank you, because I wouldn't be the person I am today without you.

Introduction

Thank you for downloading this e-book. This is a collection of my very first stories, written as coursework for a creative writing degree. These were placed in the order of some of the first short stories I made to some of my recent ones, displaying the progression of my writing skills. I hope you enjoy them all.

Coffee Talk

And following our current story, we would like to commemorate the 80th anniversary for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist that occurred right here in Boston. This event started off with two security guards that-

The newswoman goes through her scripted introduction on the corner television as it echoes throughout Gracenote Coffee, only to be interrupted by the greeting of a door chime. The young barista laid down her espresso cup in attentiveness as a frail old man hobbled through the door, carrying a trail of cold, morning air which was only cut off by the door closing. Not many people turn their heads towards the new customer, except for the few who watch him make his way towards the stand-up bar.

Chilly weather today, ain’t it? said the barista.

It certainly is. Seems to get colder every day, says the old man.

What can I get you today? she asks as she pulls out a pen and notepad from her apron.

Uhhhh….espresso works fine, he says as he runs his hand through his silver hair.

She presumes her role as she faces away from the old man, compressing coffee beans into the