WEEK 341
Cindy looked in the rearview mirror. "Wow, it's not often you run over a..."


...sofa cushion...I must've been completely lost in thought." Cindy wondered how long she had been lost in that particular thought, the one that had occupied her mind relentlessly since last Tuesday. "I know I left it in the glove compartment," she repeated to herself again, with emphasis, stealing one more strained look at that small box as if it might have transformed in that last five minutes. "Jojo is not going let me live through this," she admitted as she distractedly nibbled at the edge of her thumb.

by Michelle Falis

...state trooper's hat. Wonder what it was doing in the middle of the road?"

Before she could answer her own question, she saw the patrol car pull out from behind the roadside billboard.

Immediately visions of TV car chases flashed through her mind. Long lines of cop cars. Weaving in and out of traffic. A near miss at an intersection. Being thrown down, hand-cuffed and led away. Time to decide. Run for it or not?

Just then she saw the patrol car stop. The trooper leaned down, picked up the hat, did a 180 and raced off in the opposite direction, sirens blazing.

"I guess you do work in mysterious ways," she said looking toward the heavens. Then she rolled down her window and tossed out the unopened nickle bag of cocaine. Cindy added, "And I promise I'll never do it again."

by Joe Kilgore, USA

...leprechaun."

"Are you kidding? You must be over-exhausted. I mean I've heard of seeing things in the road, but a leprechaun?" Tascha answered.

"Tascha, it was a leprechaun, little green outfit and funny hat, and all."

"Well then, lets go look for it," suggested Tascha. "Maybe we can get a pot of gold and three wishes."

"Ta, Genies give wishes and we just ran over the poor thing, we can't ask it for money."

"I was being facetious. There are no such things as...." Tascha trailed off. "I must be going crazy," she thought as she rubbed her eyes. Just in front of the girls was a little man dressed in green dusting himself off.

"What horrible people must live here," he grumbled, "just knock a person down and then drive off. I should...oh, I don't know what I should do. Terrible, terrible." He looked up as Cindy and Tascha approached him. " I suppose you are coming to see if you've finished the job and to take my gold. Well, I'm still alive so you can't have it."

Cindy smiled politely at the leprechaun. "We wouldn't take your gold. We were just coming back to see if you were all right and so that I could prove to my friend here that you are indeed a leprechaun. What were you doing here, in the first place?"

"Minding my own business was what I was doing when you came barreling down the street. You ought to have a license to make that beast move!"

Tascha looked the little man over. "She does have a license for that car, er, automobile. You can't spend your time standing in the middle of a street and not expect someone to accidentally hit you. Cindy should be demanding compensation for any damage that you caused her car."

The leprechaun sputtered, "You think I owe that little lass for almost killing me. I'll give you something all right." Shaking with indignation, the leprechaun muttered some unintelligible words. "I will show you, obstinate little brats."

Cindy and Tascha looked at each other and smiled. This was too funny. Tascha turned to ask the leprechaun another question when all of a sudden she felt a funny tingling sensation all over her body. She looked at Cindy and judged from the look on her face that she must be feeling it too. All of a sudden the girls felt themselves begin to grow taller. They felt their hair harden and lift towards the sky. Their skin became rough and they felt their voices became soft like the rustle of leaves in the wind.

"There," said the leprechaun, "much better. You two may live your life long. The only time anyone will be able to hear from you is when the wind whispers through your leaves." He clapped his hands together, walked to the abandoned car and drove off.

by Melissa Hughes, Schenectady, New York

...squirrel and it lives. She watched as the stunned squirrel slowly made its way back off the road.

Murray the squirrel hovered near the giant oak trying to calm down. His heart was beating so quickly he thought it would come out of his chest. He was half way across the road when the car came, but since he was indeed a squirrel he was unable to judge distance. He had just turned to dart back to safety when the car passed over him. Thankfully he had eluded his brother's fate. Poor Maurey had become one with the road just last week.

Finally more at ease, Murray hurried back to his home to relay his tale to his brothers. What was on the other side of the road would have to wait.

by Kathleen Ratcliffe, Hatboro, PA