…Mr. Mercedes, and am now on to a book about urban legends called The Choking Doberman and Other Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand.

"The Choking Doberman and Other Urban Legends" by Jan Harold Brunvand.

Actually, in between those two books I quickly read The World’s Shortest Stories.

"The World's Shortest Stories" edited by Steve Moss.

Edited by the late Steve Moss, this book collects extremely short stories from a wide range of authors. And I mean “short” as in “each story clocks in at (or under) 55 words,” which looks like this:

"Bedtime Story" by Jeffrey Whitmore.

Obviously, this is why I flew through it in an hour.

My good friend Jamie gave me this book for Christmas in 1998 (back when she was my good girlfriend Jamie), but I couldn’t remember if ever actually read it so I decided to give it a quick read.

Reading this book reminded me of a short story I wrote a few years ago called Robin’s Permanent Life-Change. I can’t remember why I wrote it other than the fact that the idea for it was sparked by my Aunt Robin. It doesn’t come in under the 55-word limit that the book requires of its stories, but at only 81 words it’s still pretty damn short. Check it out:

Robin’s Permanent Life-Change

Robin’s perm had been sitting on top of her head since Jimmy Carter sat in the Oval Office. She didn’t care what current trends dictated or close friends thought; she loved her perm, and she especially enjoyed the time she spent with Gladys, her hairstylist of nearly 35 years.

But when Gladys died suddenly of heart disease, Robin made a decision that would change her life forever: she would finally begin construction on the time machine she had designed decades earlier.

Anyway, I might be able to cram one more book into 2017, but we’ll see.

Maybe I’ll read the Bible for Christmas,

-Shady