A Portrait of the Artist... by Charles Midwinter

Author:Charles Midwinter [Midwinter, Charles]
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Sci-Fi Short
Published: 2010-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

They're waiting at the bus stop. Chris has his canvas rolled up in a cardboard tube under his arm. Rico's gallery is two transfers away, but it's going to be a nice ride. Lanna and Chris are enjoying the day. It smells like fall, crisp and fresh.

Lanna and Chris breathe in the fall air at the bus stop, and, in their re-laxation, they don't notice the two boys rapidly approaching on noiseless electric bikes. Before Chris can react, they whiz by, and grab the card-board tube. They yell something as they bike away. It sounds triumphant, profane, but beyond that Chris can't really understand what they're say-ing.

"What did they say?" he asks.

"I dunno," she says. "But they sounded pretty excited." Chris sits down on the curb and picks up a brittle red leaf. "Shit," he says.

"Yeah," says Lanna. "That's pretty raw."

Chris crushes the leaf in the palm of his hand. "Well," he says. "At least I know where they live."

"Yeah, they'll probably give it back to you if you return their air rifle." Chris crunches another handful of leaves and sprinkles their frag-ments onto the concrete. "Shit," he says again.

"You hungry?" Lanna asks.

"Yeah," he says.

"Let me take you out for lunch," she says.

"Okay," he says. "I'd appreciate that."

A few minutes later, the bus rolls up to the curb, and they get on.

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