New! excerpt from Atom Malfunction by Stephen Beam
...a
wise old rabbit sitting in a dark leather chair, scribbling in a
notebook. I am reclining on a dark leather couch. The rabbit is my
psychiatrist. He strokes his chin's whiskers and is so very serious.
I am frightened at his attitude. He is projecting a grave concern
over my mental health.
“How
long have you felt this way?” The rabbit asks.
“What
do you mean? Like what?
“Like
you have an uncanny ability to reason out a complete hypothesis
starting with so little information, so few facts. You have invented
a complete history of a nameless planet that you've lived on barely a
day. I think you're nuts.”
“Nuts?
That's a very unprofessional attitude to take with your patient!”
I'm so angry with the rabbit I'm about to pop a vein. How dare this rodent speak to
me this way.
“You
arrogant human, always so superior, so knowing. You don't know shit.
You want unprofessional? I'll show you unprofessional.” The rabbit
reaches into his big oak desk and pulls a gun from the top drawer.
It is a Walther P38. Nice piece.
I
jump from the couch and head for the window and crash through the
glass, falling two stories to the street below. I hear shots ringing
out and waste no time finding a safe spot from flying bullets. I'm
under a dumpster among the anonymous, unhealthy looking
debris, sticky and gooey, clinging to my clothes. Now, I have no
clothes. I'm naked, bathed in filth. I feel the invisible bacteria
crawling over my flesh, entering every open cavity of my body. This
can't be good. This can't be good.
