Thursday, January 9, 2020

you have ten minutes to complete this survey


by bofa xesjum




an assassin walked into a bar.

he ordered a drink from the bartender.

a cold martini.

outside, a little dog ran down the street.

is your name eddie wilson, the assassin asked the bartender when he received his cold martini.

no, replied the bartender, but it is fred smith. why do you ask?

because i am a trained deadly assassin, the assassin growled, and i have been hired to kill eddie wilson.


the bartender shook his head. i am sorry i can not help you, but nobody calling himself eddie wilson is a regular customer in this establishment.

a bead of icy perspiration suddenly appeared on the assassin’s cold martini.

just because he does not call himself eddie wilson does not mean he is not eddie wilson, the assassin persisted.

that is true. perhaps you could be kind enough to describe him.

he is a little guy, about three and a half feet tall, with a tattoo of the mona lisa on his forehead.


no, the bartender mused thoughtfully, no one of that description comes in here. there is mike morrison. he is at least four feet tall though, and has a picture of kim kardashian tattooed on his left bicep.

that is not the guy i want.

oh well, then i guess you are out of luck. the bartender sighed.

that is the trouble with people today, the assassin replied with a touch of annoyance. they give up too easily, and do not go the extra mile to help a guy out.

suddenly the place grew quiet.


are you accusing me, my friend, of giving you the runaround? the bartender asked the assassin.

there is no need to get sore. i was just expressing my frustration at not being able to do the job i was hired to do, that is all. please forgive me.

a tarantula crawled across the floor toward the assassin.

i had an uncle named harry, the bartender said. and he used to get upset at every little thing. finally my aunt clara had enough of his nonsense and left him.


a violent burst of wind blew the door open.

why can’t that damn door stay shut? the bartender asked.

you cant expect everything to work the way it is supposed to, the assassin said.

and yet we hope, the bartender said. we go on hoping, day after day, even though there is no hope,

the bartender walked out from behind the bar, and the tarantula, which had been intended for the assassiin, bit him.



Thursday, December 12, 2019

history


by bofa xesjum




after the chinese emperor ritually drowned himself

the party broke up and we all went back to our caves

my faithful servant, bathsheba, was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a glass of ovaltine

i told her that the spanish ambassador had asked me to lend him fifty-five dollars and threatened to blow up the maine if i did not

she told me that she was afraid that her new boy friend would not approve of the book she was reading

i asked her if there was any mexican takeout left and she tearfully admitted she had given it to the wolf

i assured her that everything would work out in the end

later that night the martians landed and nothing was ever the same again

how trivial all our worries seemed after that!



Tuesday, October 29, 2019

billy and freedom





all billy wanted was to be free.

bob, his brother, was made of sterner stuff.

cora, their mom, was content to make breakfast and drink coffee and look out the window.

dad was sort of a cipher.

every morning billy did one hundred pushups.

fareed was billy’s friend. he was billy’s only friend.

get ready for some exciting news, that was fareed’s favorite expression.

how will i ever make it to twenty-one, billy wondered at least once a day.

i bet i know what you are thinking, fareed said to billy one rainy afternoon, when they were watching a football game on tv between two teams they had never heard of.

just then the football game was interrupted for an important announcement.

king george appeared on the screen. he looked old and sad. he was not wearing his crown, but then, he hardly ever did.

let me begin, king george began, by saying how sorry i am.

mistakes have been made.

no one, i venture to say, could have predicted this.

oh, how i wish i could go back in a time machine and undo all that has happened! unfortunately, even our most brilliant and dedicated scientists have not as yet been able to produce a working model of such a device.

pull yourself together, man, dad suddenly addressed the televised image of the king.

quiet, mom admonished him. let’s hear what the king has to say.

a rumbling was heard outside.

suddenly billy couldn’t take it any more. was this the end? all he ever wanted was to be free.

tearing himself away from the televison screen and the curious gazes of mom, dad, and bob, billy rushed outside, followed by fareed.

understanding came slowly to the folks watching and listening to poor king george.

very soon, the king would come to the shocking climax of his speech.

excuse me! a woman in a green sweater, walking a little dog, exclaimed as billy rushed past her, almost stepping on the dog.

you don’t understand! billy shouted to fareed, when fareed finally caught up to him.

in the end, all hell broke loose, and there was more than enough blame to go around.



Saturday, June 22, 2019

the babysitter, part 2

part two of two




meanwhile, anne bonny was asleep and peacefully dreaming

and alice wonderbar was reading an agatha christie novel

tony nevada was sitting in a sports bar weeping into his beer

unknown to anybody, the martians had landed

but cathy carson had had just about enough

*

daniel boone was completely bewildered by it all

outside in the distance, the cry of a newborn child was heard

anne bonny was waiting for the 44 bus

carmen sanchez, the babysitter, suddenly remembered her homework

the doorbell rang

on a distant planet carmen’s double woke up

dr merlin was losing patience

mike fink wrote a letter to the san francisco examiner, complaining about the city’s treatment of the homeless

*

i got you under my skin

do you really care if the world comes to an end?

does anybody care where the treasure is buried?

frankie and johnny put everything they had on buddy boy in the fifth race

billy the lion fell down dead at the bar when buddy boy won

down by the river mama roo bided her time

the stranger sat down at a table by himself

marie laveau politely told the stranger to leave

carmen sanchez left a note on the coffee table and wandered out into the night

mr wonderbar suddenly remembered playing badminton in the fog with archie carter in london during the war

you know, some people will complain if they get hanged with a brand new rope

and, that’s all, folks

frankie and johnny were lovers

*



Friday, June 21, 2019

the babysitter, part 1


part one of two




billy the kid was the life of the party

joanie dark was the girl next door

billy and joanie were both secret agents of the imperium

they lived in the grand hotel

billy had a tattoo on his left shoulder of bette davis

joanie had a tattoo on her right bicep of virginia woolf reeling in a bass off the coast of florida

florence nightingale was a homicide detective

daniel boone was a seral killer

anne bonny was the spirit of love in a hate filled world

daniel boone and anne bonny grew up together in a castle on an island in the bermuda triangle

mr merlin was daniel’s high school guidance counselor

mike fink was the town drunk

mary read was mike fink's probation officer

*

billy the kid and daniel boone decided to rob and murder mary read

daniel boone thought joanie dark knew a secret

anne bonny and her pal davy crockett decided to overthrow the government

tony nevada was anne bonny’s old personal trainer

cathy carson was a loud mouthed pushy bitch

doctor dee was the town drunk in the next town over

alice wonderbar was a girl who never had a chance

the babysitter’s name was carmen sanchez

alice wonderbar’s husband was a strange man

mr wonderbar thought carmen, the babysitter, was hot

mr wonderbar’s sister, carla wonderbar, who had never married, hated the whole stinking human race

suddenly a stranger appeared

carmen wished she was back in florida in the girls’ reformatory

*


Friday, October 19, 2018

kicks for sale


by bofa xesjum



an ape in a pinstriped suit
spoke excitedly with feminine gestures
wrapped tightly about one another

a lot of things that wouldn't be legal
because i was still afraid of girls
and an ape in a pinstriped suit

wrapped tightly around the lamppost
she sure is something
speaking excitedly with feminine gestures

while you were drunk
the ape in the pinstriped suit


"i have to say he gave it the old college try"

i said i was sorry i had no whisky
because i was still afraid of girls
i have to break out of it or go nuts

watching and spying on her neighbors
she saw a lot of things that wouldn't be legal
while we were all drunk

they spoke excitedly with feminine gestures
and i was still afraid of those darn girls
while mother was drunk

she sure is something
he began to climb the stairs
with a wanton display of versatility

yes, a lot of things wouldn't be legal
when you are afraid of girls
he began to climb the stairs


sources: the indiscreet confessions of a nice girl, by anonymous;
the killer, by wade miller;
too hot to handle, by frank g presnell;
we all killed grandma, by fredric brown;
the damned, by john d macdonald;
all passion spent, by chandler brossard;
delay en route, by jerry weil;
paint on their faces, by jerry weil;
office wife, by jerry weil;
a gem of a murder, by carlton keith
a real cool cat, by jerry weil;
adventures in a cold-water flat, by jerry weil





Tuesday, September 25, 2018

a good time is had by all persons


by bofa xesjum



have the new year do it

first say, you are in the way

forget the last day for long

make great with the thing

the little man went at the world

know your own life and take it

the other hand saw the old one

come right up about the part

the child thought big into the eye

look high over the woman

the place wants different after

give small work for a large week

find the next case and tell

ask the young government about the early

work seems important to the company

few numbers feel the public group

try the bad problem and leave

able facts call the same

that is not he as you

one all would be there


assembled from the most common words in the english language, per wikipedia