Cold Feet, Severed Heads, and Lobster Pots: The Chilling Realities of Cryonics Gone Wrong

So you’ve decided you want to cheat death. Good for you. While the rest of us are rotting in the dirt like commoners, you’ll be off in a nitrogen-powered nap pod waiting for the future to invent a cure for being really, really dead. Enter cryonics: the totally-not-a-scam industry that promises your grandkids can defrost you like a Salisbury steak and have brunch with your thawed corpse in 2173.  

 

Sorry, Pop-Pop. We ran out of frozen peas.

 

But before you sign away your life's savings and your brain pan, let’s take a moment to appreciate what happens when cryonics goes exactly as well as you think it would when run by TV repairmen, monkey-wrench-wielding interns, and feuding Russian divorcees.

 

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1. The Chatsworth Catastrophe: Nine Popsicles and a TV Repairman

Back in the groovy 1970s, a guy named Robert Nelson, whose qualifications included not being a scientist, decided to start freezing dead people. He stuffed nine corpses into a crypt in Chatsworth, California and left them there like unlabeled leftovers. Then the money ran out. The liquid nitrogen ran out. And, shocker, the bodies also ran out... of structural integrity.

When the vault was opened years later, what they found wasn't the future of immortality. It was The Walking Dead: Crock-Pot Edition. Maggot buffet. Meltdown city. If you’ve ever left a bag of shrimp in your trunk for a week, you’re halfway to understanding the smell.

And yes, he got sued. And yes, he lost. And no, he never paid a dime. But hey, the dream lives on. Just not the people. 

👉 Read it and weep

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2. The Frozen Head Homicide: Dora Kent and the Great Coroner Showdown

In 1987, sweet little Dora Kent was on her way out. So naturally, the folks at Alcor did the logical thing, waited until she died and then chopped off her head. Except the coroner smelled something fishy. (And it wasn’t just the head in a bucket.) Toxicology reports showed sedatives in her system. The coroner accused Alcor of euthanizing her early to get that brain nice and fresh.

A SWAT-style raid ensued. They tried to seize her head for autopsy. Alcor responded by hiding it like it was the Hope Diamond. You know it’s bad when a legal document has to use the phrase “custody of the cranium.”

Eventually, charges were dropped. Mostly because the prosecution realized that thawing the head would technically kill her again, and that’s just bad optics.

👉 Seriously, this happened

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3. Ted Williams: Baseball Legend, Freezer Burn Casualty

You’d think if anyone could get the deluxe treatment, it’d be the Boston Red Sox Ted Freakin’ Williams. Instead, Alcor popped his head off like a bottle cap and dropped it in a lobster pot. (Yes, really.) According to a whistleblower, his brain cracked like a sidewalk in winter, and an employee took batting practice on his head with a monkey wrench. Just to lighten the mood.

His family fought over whether he wanted this in the first place. His son said yes. His daughter said no. Alcor said “We already put the head in storage, sooooo…”

Whether you loved him for his batting average or just really enjoy sports-themed decapitations, the story will stick with you. Especially the part about brain fractures.

👉 See the horror 

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4. Mary Robbins: Granny’s Head vs. Her Kids

Mary Robbins signed up to have her head frozen, which already makes family holidays weird. But after she died, her kids said she changed her mind. Alcor said, “Yeah, no. Signed contract.” They showed up to the funeral parlor to collect her noggin while the family screamed bloody murder.

A judge agreed with Alcor. Her head went off to join the frozen gang, leaving behind a family that now has to argue over who gets to put flowers on the neckless gravestone.

👉 Legal tug-of-war over a frozen granny head

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5. Whileon Chay: The Ponzi Scheme That Froze His Wife

Whileon Chay didn’t just commit financial fraud. He committed romantic financial fraud. He stole $5 million from investors and used part of it to cryogenically preserve his dead wife. Because nothing says eternal love like felony embezzlement.

He fled the country when the feds closed in. His wife is still on ice, paid for by duped retirees who thought they were investing in gold. Turns out the only thing gold-plated was the tank holding Mrs. Chay’s brain.

👉 Money well stolen

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6. Dr. Laurence Pilgeram: Don’t Lose Your Head Over Legal Loopholes

Dr. Pilgeram paid for whole-body cryonics. He wanted to wake up someday with all his limbs, presumably to flip the bird at mortality. But when he died and his body was found too late, Alcor went for Plan B: remove the head, cremate the body, and mail the ashes to his son.

His son sued. Hard. Claimed Alcor violated the contract and decapitated Daddy against his wishes. He wanted the head back. Alcor said nope. The head is ours now.

Imagine this: You open a box expecting flowers and find your dad’s torso in dust form. If that’s not grounds for therapy, I don’t know what is.

👉 Dad’s head, mailed ashes, and a lawsuit

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7. JS: The Teenager Who Froze Her Way Into the Law Books

At 14, JS was dying of cancer and wanted to be cryopreserved. Her dad said no. The court said “Shut up, Dad” and gave full control to the mother. The father was worried he’d be stuck footing the bill, but the judge clarified that he wouldn’t be charged for the braincicle. Nice gesture.

The grandparents scraped together the cash, and now JS is chilling in Michigan. Somewhere, there’s a teenager’s head in a vat of nitrogen waiting for someone to invent time-travel medicine. And yes, a judge actually ruled this was fine.

👉 Frozen teen breaks legal ice

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8. Russia’s Frozen Body Heist: Cryo-Gone-Spy

In the most metal breakup ever, Russian cryonics founders Danila Medvedev and Valeriya Udalova got divorced and turned the fallout into a frozen corpse custody war. Udalova showed up at the facility with bolt cutters and a U-Haul, stole several frozen bodies and brains, and spilled liquid nitrogen all over the parking lot like it was a Mario Kart power-up.

Police stopped her truck. Dewars clanking. Brains jostling. And they still had to argue in court over who legally owns the dead. Because apparently you can fight over your ex’s brain hoard.

👉 Seriously, Russia?

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So yeah. Cryonics. Not just a science fiction fantasy. It’s also a deeply disturbing, legally complicated, sometimes criminal, occasionally headless mess of a hope.

Still want to freeze your grandma? Make sure her head’s got TSA clearance and no one in the family has a wrench.

Gift cards now available at Wal-Mart and CVS

O - Oral History - #AtoZChallenge

"…and then they built their first house. Right over in the corner there by the trees."

Grandpa's story was finished. Jamie's mother stood up and exclaimed, "Grab your stuff everyone. Time to get cleaned up and off to bed.”

Grandpa sat back and smiled as he lit his pipe while Jamie and his cousins, aunts and uncles started gathering their roasting sticks, empty plates, leftover bottles and various trash that was around the fire.

Jamie enjoyed the time his family spent at Grandpa's place each summer. It was the only time he got to see his cousins other than Christmas and Grandpa's big yard was much better suited for fun than their apartment complex back home.

However, Jamie and his cousins had agreed that the nightly practice of the family listening to Grandpa ramble about a bunch of old people they didn't know had grown tiresome. When Jamie's mom stepped into the bedroom to tuck Jamie in, she overheard this topic being discussed.

She sat on the side of the bed and said to Jamie, although it was obvious this was meant for the entire room, "Jamie, Grandpa is not rambling. He is telling you the story of you."

Jamie looked at his cousins like his mom was crazy. "Grandpa doesn't tell stories about me. He tells old stories about people who died a long, long, long time ago."

His mom smiled, "No, Jamie. Those are stories about his parents and grandparents. They would be your great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. Those stories explain where you and I come from."

Jamie knew this one. "We come from Elgin, Illinois."

"Before that, dear."

Jamie was confused. "I was born in Elgin. That's where we've always lived."

Mom laughed, "That's where you live, but who you are was being defined decades before I ever moved to Elgin with your father. The stories your grandfather tells of the young man who came to America are your stories as well. The hardships that man went through sharply defined how he looked at the world and shaped his values and work ethic. Much of that was ingrained deeply in him by his parents before he came here. Then those experiences and the people he met shaped him even more. Every decision he made, despite it being over a hundred years ago, has had an impact on the life you are living today. My dad doesn't tell these stories just because he likes to hear himself talk. These stories are for you. They are your stories. They are your family history. And believe it or not, one day you will be telling these stories to your grandchildren. And you will have more stories to add as you get older."

Jamie remembered something from tonight's campfire. "So, that story about the teenager protecting his sister from mountain lions? That was our family?"

His mom was relieved that some of her words had gotten through, "Yes. That happened to Thomas, your grandfather's father. He was my grandfather! If that story had ended differently, we wouldn't be here right now to have this conversation."

"Cool," said Jamie. He looked over at one of his cousins. "Now, I want to hear that story again."

Mom got comfortable on the bed. "Lucky for you, I've heard it many times and can tell it almost as well as Grandpa."

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All this month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. A new post will go up every day (except Sundays) using a letter of the alphabet as the starting off point. My theme for the month is literary genres. I am writing in a different genre of flash fiction each day. Today's letter is O for Oral Literature.

M - Mystery - #AtoZChallenge

Jenna took a deep breath before she walked into the room. She hadn't spoken with her family in over 15 years. She hadn't even made attempts to keep up with what they were doing. When she stormed out of the house that night, she never looked back. 

A few weeks ago, she had been living her own life completely separated from her interfering family when the private investigator found her and made it very clear it would be in her best interest to be here today.  She only came because she was given the impression that she had to. She was not looking to catch up with anyone or have conversation.

When she stepped in, the conversation in the room waned for a moment as all heads turned in her direction. Both her brother Darren and sister Alicia shot daggers out of their eyes. Her mother ignored her completely. Her father gave her a slight nod and resumed conversation with his son.

Jenna didn't know everyone in the room. Of course, she knew her parents and siblings. Her mother's brother Alan was here as well. There were a couple of kids running around, so one of her siblings must have squirted out some offspring. At least one of the kids belonged to the unknown woman speaking to Alicia. The child asked her to take him to the bathroom and she motioned to Darren. Darren took the child out, so Jenna assumed it was his kid and the woman was his wife.

The only other unknown person was a man perusing the bookshelf. Although, it became apparent pretty quickly he wasn't really interested in the books. Jenna noticed him sneaking nervous glances at her several times. She assumed it was Alicia's husband or boyfriend wanting to get a look at the family pariah.

As grateful as she was no one was talking to her, she knew this was not natural. A person does not walk into a room full of people without even an acknowledgement. They had to know she was coming. One of them hired that private investigator to find her. So, it's probably reasonable to assume that only one person wants her to be here. And it's also safe to assume, the extra people who have joined the family were warned not to interact with her. The guy at the bookshelf must be terrified of Alicia's wrath. Jenna could almost smell the anxiety dripping off him.

Jenna could sense the tension in the room and the hatred directed at her. She was well aware of how much she was disliked by her family and she understood why. They hated her because it's the way they are. It was to be expected. However, they really had no reason to. The worst she had ever done to any of them was leave to live her own life, but that was enough. She would never be forgiven.

Her brother returned with the child and was followed by a man Jenna knew she had seen before. He was the first to speak to her. The man clapped his hands together and said, "Oh, good. You're here. We can get started."

Jenna heard a "pfft" from her sister at the acknowledgement of her presence, but ignored it. The man who spoke to her stepped to the other end of the room and opened a briefcase to remove a several-page document. Jenna remembered him now. He had been her father's lawyer since she was a girl.

The lawyer started, "Now that we are all accounted for, we shall begin. I hold in my hands the Last Will and Testament of James Creuble to be read today."

The adults looked at each other in confusion and looked to their father for confirmation. James Creuble nodded slowly. Darren blurted out, "The man is standing right there. What is this?" He looked to his father and asked, "What is going on?"

Mr. Creuble cleared his throat. "Did that Ivy League education teach you nothing. He just said what it was."

Darren fell back at the words of his father, but Alicia pushed for an answer. "Father, are you dying? This is very unusual."

The patriarch rolled his eyes with impatience. "We are all dying. Everyone one of you. Now listen up. No more stupid questions."

Jenna smirked in the back of the room. She hadn't missed these conversations. This was how most of them went in this family. Everyone just spewing their disgust at each other.

Darren got his courage back, "So, we came all the way here for this? When you're not even close to dead? It makes no sense."

James Creuble stood and stabbed his finger into Darren's face. "Did you just say, 'ALL THE WAY HERE?' You and your whiny family live two blocks from here in the house I bought you. Your sister and…HIM *pointing with his thumb over his shoulder at the nervous bookcase guy…only had to walk down the stairs to get here. The only person who actually had to put in any effort to be here is Jenna. She, and only she, can honestly use the phrase "all the way here."

James Creuble looked around the room and met Jenna's eyes for a moment. He gave her another slight nod and turned to sit down. "My will is being read today. No, I am not dying. I wanted to write out my wishes while I still have complete use of my mind. And we are here today, instead of after my death, because I want to be here to answer all your questions about why you got what you got or didn't get. There will be no squabbling or fighting over my reasons because you're going to find out today."

He turned to his lawyer, "Let's get this going."

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All this month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. A new post will go up every day (except Sundays) using a letter of the alphabet as the starting off point. My theme for the month is literary genres. I am writing in a different genre of flash fiction each day. Today's letter is M for Mystery.

J - Juxtaposition - #AtoZChallenge

I searched all over the internet for the name of a literary genre that started with the letter J and I could not find one that made sense for a Western audience. So, I chose the word Juxtaposition. 

For this post, I will take the post I started this challenge with and tell it from the other person's perspective. The original post was A - Adventure. You can read that post to see the way I originally wrote it. It only had two characters. The original was written from Trina's perspective. This one will be the same story, but told from Terry's side.

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"Why do I keep letting you talk me into this crap?" wailed Terry.

Terry's sister Trina seemed to be ignoring him as she wrapped his ankle. It figured. She dragged him all the way out here in the middle of nowhere and then got quiet when the inevitable happened.

"I didn't talk you into tripping over that branch. That happened because you were looking at your phone instead of where you were going. That's why I left mine in the car. No distractions. Just try to enjoy it out here."

Terry winced as he tried to stand up. "But I don't enjoy it out here. This is your thing, not mine."

He had been trying to tell her this all morning, but she chose not to listen. She'd been on this nature kick ever since she went off to college. He knew it had something to do with her major, but never expected it to turn her into a drag to be around.

Trina shot back, "I asked you this morning what you wanted to do together and you had nothing. So, I came up with something."

Terry swatted at the bugs around his face and tried to let her know that hurt, "That's not true. I asked you to play Halo with me. You weren't interested."

Trina sighed, "That's the opposite of doing something."

Terry wiped at the sweat on his neck. "All I know is that I never sprained an ankle running through the jungle with Lara Croft. A couple of hours with you and I'm a cripple."

Terry knew he was laying it on thick, but she rarely listened to him anymore. They used to have so much fun together. They shared a love of movies, great food, and raunchy stand-up comics their parents didn't like them to watch. They had stayed up all night playing Guitar Hero and other games hundreds of times…until she went off to school. Now all she wanted to do was go camping and fishing and hiking and other stupid things.

Terry had actually been excited the first weekend she came home from school. He had missed his Mario Kart buddy. He had rented the newest Final Fantasy  for her weekend visit, but all she could talk about was her new friends and the classes she was taking. Every visit had been the same since. It was like she was a different person.

Trina didn't seem to be treating Terry's injury very seriously. "It's just a sprained ankle. Let's make our way back to the car."

Terry pushed away from the tree and collapsed as soon as he put weight on his injured foot. He tried to make a joke, "I don't think I can walk. Call an Uber."

Trina just laughed at him as the pain shot through his leg all the way up to his knee. He couldn't believe she was getting pleasure out of this. He reluctantly accepted her help getting to his feet. He didn't really have much of a choice. Plus, they were so far from the car, getting back was going to take a while. Especially at this new, slow pace.

As Terry slowly moved each foot, even with Trina's help, she kept pestering him with questions. It took a few before she landed on something he actually had an opinion about. "Have you gotten any new games since my last visit?"

He mumbled out a short answer, but she prodded further. Soon Terry was excitedly telling her the plot points of Hitman 3 and recalling his latest adventures in Red Dead Redemption II now that he had the latest expansion pack. Trina was even asking a few good questions. After a few minutes, he was in a better mood and, despite the pain, sometimes forgot about his injury. He was just talking games with his sister like they used to.

With about half a mile left to go, they came to the log that had fallen across a dried creek bed. The creek was only about five feet deep, but had very steep sides. The bridge provided by the fallen tree was perfect. On the way in, they just walked across the log, but with Terry's injured ankle it was proving to be much more difficult this time. Trina and Terry couldn't cross hanging onto each other. He knew he was going to have to do it alone.

He still couldn't walk well, so they tried a couple of different ways. "Get in front of me and give me your hand," Terry said.

Trina did as instructed and it seemed to work. She had to walk backward and go very slow, but that little bit of support was all Terry needed to start working his way across. Terry was a little shaky without her supporting him, but if he took small steps he could slowly manage.

About halfway across, Terry heard a sudden crack and loud grunting-type noise. Terry was startled and almost went down as he saw an awakened deer scrambling away from under the tree. He heard a shriek from Trina and lost sight of her as she fell off the log and into the creek.

 Terry laid himself down on the log to peer down into the brush. "Trina are you alright?"

He could hear the pain in her voice. "I don't know yet. I've hurt my knee. Give me a minute."

"What do you want me to do?"

He couldn't see her face, but he could see her hand as she waved him to keep moving to the other end of the tree. Terry edged his way to the other side of the creek and eased himself down on the edge of the creek. He could see her now. He extended his hand as he laid on his stomach.

"Come on. I got you." 

Trina tried to stand, but she was not moving well. When she hit the ground again, she pulled herself to the edge of the creek where Terry's hand was. He saw that she was dragging her leg behind her trying not to move it. As mad as he was at his sister, he felt bad for her. She looked like she was in worse pain than he was. That made two cripples in the woods.

She drug herself to the bank of the creek where Terry was and could not reach his outstretched hand and she was in too much pain to get higher. He tried to stretch further, but she told him to stop.

"Even if I could reach you, I would just pull you in. There's no way you can lift me."

Terry was a little insulted, but knew she was right. "I bet you wish we were playing XBOX right now."

He could hear her choking back a sob as she yelled, "Shut up. You're not helping."

He smiled a little at that one. "Sorry. What do we do?"

Through broken breaths, Trina explained, "I know I gave you a hard time for bringing your phone, but now would be a good time to use it. I can't get out of this creek and you can barely walk. Call Dad and let him know where we are. Him and Daryl will need to come rescue us."

"Um, Trina. My phone died about 20 minutes ago."

Terry didn't like their situation, but enjoyed hearing the little laugh that escaped from Trina. "We have ourselves in a fix don't we? Terry, suck it up and limp yourself back to the car? My phone will be fully charged. Got it?"

"Yeah, but…I have no idea where I am. I've been following you the whole time. How do I find the car? I don't even know what direction to go."

Terry knew Trina had been excited to show this place to him, but even she had only been here once. And her preference for getting off the trail meant he had nothing to guide him back. "So tell me what to do, Mountain Man Trina."

"Crap! That's right. OK, listen, you still move better than I do. Find a section of creek that is not as steep or deep. At a shorter bank or less steep incline, maybe I can crawl out."

"OK. I'll try."

Terry heard Trina starting to cry as he limped along the side of the creek. He knew she had waited until he got far enough away to not hear here, but she hadn't waited long enough. She had always liked to be seen as the strong, responsible older sister. He thought she was full of it, but wouldn't call her out on this one.

Terry had only moved about 50 feet along the side of the creek when it started to rain. Terry shouted, "SERIOUSLY? I hate it out here."

He worked his way back to Trina and leaned over the edge. "When this is all over, I hope you know I'm never going outside again." 

Trina gave him a thumbs up and waved him away.

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All this month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. A new post will go up every day (except Sundays) using a letter of the alphabet as the starting off point. My theme for the month is literary genres. I am writing in a different genre of flash fiction each day. Today's letter is J for Juxtaposition.

H - Horror - #AtoZChallenge

"Janie, dear, you know this is not allowed. You have to find another way."

"Sorry, Mom. I don't have time to sort it out. It'll be alright. I'll be back first thing in the morning. Sorry. Bye."

Jake's grandma growled as his mom pulled away. She was pissed, but she would never say anything against his parents. Not to him, at least.

Jake's grandparents lived in a small retirement village on the edge of town. He had been there a few times, but was never allowed to spend the night. Apparently, the management of the village had some very strict rules about overnight guests. And children were not allowed to be there at all after dark. It was supposed to be a quiet place for the old people to enjoy retirement with no disturbances.

Or pets.
Or noise.
Or bright colors.
Or "inappropriate" clothes.
Or fun.

Jake had never really liked going there. He loved his grandparents, but not going to their house There was nothing to do there and anything that began to resemble fun got shut down quickly. Usually, all it took was for him or his brother Chip to laugh and they would get dirty looks. His grandma and grandpa always seemed really nervous when he or his brother were there and Grandma always worried they would get them in trouble.

"It's supposed to be a peaceful place," Grandpa would remind them.

They were fun when they came to Jake's house. When his mom got stuck with unexpected night shifts, one or both of the grandparents would come to their house to stay with them. Those nights were great. They stayed up later than Mom usually let them and Grandma always baked a big cake. Grandpa would make them laugh with his jokes and they had a lot of fun.

But Jake was dreading tonight. Chip was lucky. He was out camping on a Boy Scout trip. Jake was in a hotel with his Mom when this shift got dropped on her. With no time to find a solution, she threw some clothes in a bag and they raced to the grandparent's house. She dropped him off and was gone before Grandma could object too much.

Jake and his grandparents couldn't just go back to Jake's house because it was being fumigated. He probably had a dozen friends who he could have stayed with, but his mom said she didn't have time to make the phone calls to find a place. He was going to have to stay with Grandma and Grandpa.

When his grandpa got home, he was very surprised to see Jake. When his grandma explained, she said "we should all go to a hotel for the night." The village was very serious about people violating the rules.

Grandpa said, "We can't tonight. Remember? We have to be here."

Grandma looked over at Jake and apologized.

It was already getting dark. Grandpa wheeled the TV into their bedroom and told Jake he would be sleeping in there tonight. "Go brush your teeth," he said.

"What? It's barely 7 o' clock."

Grandpa shot Jake a stern look he had rarely seen before. Grandpa reminded him that they were not at Jake's house. They were at Grandma and Grandpa's house and  violating the rules of their housing complex. They would not take any chances on anyone knowing he was there. So, he was to go to their bedroom and watch TV. He could watch as late as he wanted (with the volume so low he couldn't hear it), but he was to stay in there. Grandma said they would make it up to him next week.

Grandpa started making a pallet on the floor of their living room for them to sleep on. Jake felt bad for them to sleep on the floor and offered to do it, but Grandma ushered him in to the bedroom. She gave him a bottle of water and a kiss on the forehead and reminded him how important it was to be very quiet and not get them in trouble. They liked their little community and did not want to lose it.

Jake watched TV for a while, but Grandpa said he was not to turn it up which meant he couldn't really hear it. He laid with his head at the foot of the bed to be closer. That helped a little, but not enough. Just staying in a dark room with nothing to do got boring and Jake fell asleep.

A few hours later, he woke up and used their bathroom, but was really thirsty. He had already drunk all the water Grandma gave him. He needed more, but knew they couldn't drink the tap water here. He needed a new bottle out of the fridge. Jake knew he wasn't supposed to leave the room, but was sure he could be quiet.

Jake left the room on his hands and knees because he didn't want anyone outside to see him there and get his grandparents in trouble. He crawled into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. The light lit up the whole room and he could see into the living room. The pallet Grandpa had made was empty. Jake crawled into the living room and quietly called out their names. There was no answer. They weren't here. It was almost 1 a.m. Where would they be?

He peeked out the window and could see their car, so he went to the front of the house to see if they were sitting on the porch like they sometimes do. Looking out the front window, he saw several of their neighbors walking toward the community center in the middle of the village. They seemed to be going to the center from each direction. Jake knew his grandparents village was strict about the rules, but did they call meetings in the middle of the night?

It frightened him to think that maybe they got in trouble because someone found out he was there. He knew getting kicked out of this village they loved so much was one of their biggest concerns. He hoped he wouldn't be the cause of them having to leave their home. Jake knew he didn't like it there, but they seemed to.

Jake decided to investigate and slipped on his shoes. Once there seemed to be no one else on the street, he crept from house to house toward the community center building. It was very late at night, but he noticed that he did not hear any noise coming from any of the houses he passed. Everyone must have gone to the building. 

Jake crawled up to one of the windows on the opposite side of the building people had been entering. He was trying to be smart. He didn't want to be seen by someone coming or going from the building.

Jake slowly raised his head to peek inside and immediately jumped back down. Everyone inside was wearing black robes. His heart was beating quickly, but he tried to listen through the noise of his pounding chest. Everyone inside seemed to be talking at the same time. He could not understand the words, but they were talking together. In unison.

Jake took a few deep breaths and stood up to peek in again. Everyone was looking toward the front of the room and not near the window he was looking in. He felt safe he would not be seen, but did not know what he was looking at.

When everyone stopped talking, a person at the front stood up facing the crowd. He had the hood up on his robe so Jake could not see his face. He was behind a small table that was covered with a red cloth. This man spoke very loudly and when he did everyone in the entire room repeated what he said.

Jake decided that the words were not in English. That was why he could not understand them. He didn't know what he was seeing, but knew he had seen enough. It was time to sneak back to the house This was not a meeting about him.

Jake was slowly lowering to make his escape when he saw his grandpa's face. His grandpa had stepped up to the table at the front of the room and turned around to address the crowd. Jake watched as he bent down to pick up a small sleeping girl and placed her on the table. Jake was shocked to see another kid here. Children were not allowed. And that girl looked to be only about 4 years old. She would definitely not be good at keeping herself quiet.

Jake watched as his grandpa reached again for the girl and lifted one of her arms. Grandpa then pulled a short rope from a pocket and tied the girl's arm to one of the table legs. What was he doing? Grandpa produced another rope just as the girl started to wake. She looked up and started crying immediately. Jake's grandpa secured the other arm while another person got up to restrain her legs and then his grandpa fished out two more ropes.

Jake watched in horror trying to make sense of what he was seeing. This was terrible! What were they doing?

Grandpa then produced a large knife and handed it to the hooded man before sitting back down. Jake couldn't believe his eyes. No. It must be a nightmare.

The hooded man bellowed out words from that foreign language and everyone in the room stood. They raised their hoods over their heads and the hooded man raised the knife high in the air.

Jake screamed in terror. He couldn't take it anymore.

Every head in the room snapped to look at the window where he was standing. Jake was frozen in terror, but the people in the room started moving from their places. He saw some hurrying out the doors on the other side of the building. He was beginning to hyperventilate when he heard shouts coming up beside him. They were rushing toward him. Jake ran as fast as he could back to his grandparent's house. He got far away from them quickly. The senior citizens who lived there were not very fast.

Jake fell when he got to the street and skinned his knee badly, but he was still able to get up and run into the house almost a full minute before anyone else got there.

He locked the door behind him and started crying in the corner. People were banging on the door and peeking in the windows. They were pointing at him and some were screaming, "You saw!"

Jake heard the voice of his grandpa booming over the shouts and the crowd began to quiet some. He heard a key turn in the lock and his grandma rushed in. She looked terrified and was crying. Grandpa came in right after her and locked the door.

"Grandma, what did they do to you?"

It took her a moment to choke back her tears. She responded, "Jake, baby. Why didn't you stay in your room?"

Jake threw his arms around her and cried. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where you were. I didn't mean to."

His grandma kissed him on his head and held him tight. Grandpa stepped up and patted his head. "We love you, Jake."

Someone outside shouted again. "Enough of this. He saw. You know he saw." The crowd started to get loud again.

Grandpa took a step away and Grandma began crying harder. Grandma kissed Jake and ambled back to her bedroom. Grandpa turned his back on Jake and shuddered as he unlocked the front door.

---

All this month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. A new post will go up every day (except Sundays) using a letter of the alphabet as the starting off point. My theme for the month is literary genres. I am writing in a different genre of flash fiction each day. Today's letter is H for Horror.

E - Era Driven - #AtoZChallenge

When Maggie woke up, she saw her brothers slipping into their overalls. Burrell always tried to do this morning task silently to not wake his sisters, but Arthur always ruined it. He was far too clumsy to do anything without disturbing most of the county. Their dad said Arthur was born with seven left feet and he's gained a few since then. 

The boys had to get up extra early today to milk the cows before joining their father to fix the barn roof torn up by last week's tornado. Burrell was happy they had four less cows to milk because of that tornado, but Dad had no sense of humor about it.

Maggie tried to go back to sleep since she knew she still had about an hour before her sister would wake her, but it was proving to be impossible. She was just too excited. They were taking the wagon into town to visit the county store. She had been looking forward to this trip because it would be the first time she and her sister went into town without their mom or dad. This was a big day. 

Maggie's older sister, Roberta, had just turned twelve on Tuesday. In their house, turning twelve years old meant having adult responsibilities and Roberta was very excited to take on her new role. Today was going to be one of her first big tasks outside of her new household chores. Because Dad and the boys were going to be busy all day working on the barn and Mom had to stay in bed because of a fever, Roberta was the one to make the run into town this week.

Maggie was only six years old, so she had to go along since there would be no one to watch her at home. Roberta had always been Maggie's best friend and playmate and she couldn't wait to spend a day in town alone with her sister. Town was six miles away, so it took almost two hours to get there. They were going to be gone all morning. All by themselves. No parents.

Maggie was pulling water from the well for the dogs when she heard her father calling that it was time for them to go. He had harnessed the horses and the wagon was ready. Maggie ran as fast as she could and crawled up onto the bench seat beside Roberta who was getting some last-minute reminders from Dad about caring for the horses. Roberta listened intently and promised to do everything her father instructed.

Dad paused and patted her knee. "I know you'll be fine. Keep an eye on your sister. We'll save lunch for you."

Roberta whipped the reins and they started moving. Maggie was bouncing in her seat as they exited the farm. She smiled up at Roberta, who was intently watching the road and sitting very straight. She was taking this errand very seriously. Maggie beamed, "At school, Anne told me they have new ribbons in the fabric store. I can't wait to see the bright colors."

Without breaking eye contact with the bumpy road, Roberta replied, "Everything we are to get is at the general store. We aren't going to look at ribbons."

Undeterred, Maggie went on. "The fabrics are almost right across the street from the general store. I can look while you get the things in the store."

"No, Dad said I am to keep my eye on you. You can't get out of my sight."

Maggie hung her head. "Okay," but excitedly looked up, "We could get some caramels or butterscotch!" She beamed up at Roberta.

Roberta looked straight ahead. "Dad gave me a list. Sweets are not on it and this is not a play day. We get there, fill the list, and come home. Got it?"

Maggie plopped back in her seat and crossed her arms. "You were more fun when you were eleven."

---

 

All this month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. A new post will go up every day (except Sundays) using a letter of the alphabet as the starting off point. My theme for the month is literary genres. I am writing in a different genre of flash fiction each day. Today's letter is E for Era-Driven.

A - Adventure - #AtoZChallenge

"Why do I keep letting you talk me into this crap?" wailed Terry.

Trina ignored her brother's complaining as she wrapped his ankle. She always carried a first aid kit if her klutzy sibling was going anywhere with her. He complained a lot, but these occasional excursions were the only time they got to spend together since she went off to college. 

"I didn't talk you into tripping over that branch. That happened because you were looking at your phone instead of where you were going. That's why I left mine in the car. No distractions. Just try to enjoy it out here."

Terry winced as he tried to stand up. "But I don't enjoy it out here. This is your thing, not mine."

Trina knew that Terry was right. This was her thing. She loved the outdoors and being in the forest. That's why she was studying to be a conservation officer. On her extended weekends when she got to come home, she wanted to share her life and new knowledge with her brother.

"I asked you this morning what you wanted to do together and you had nothing. So, I came up with something."

Terry swatted at the bugs around his face and shot back, "That's not true. I asked you to play Halo with me. You weren't interested."

Trina sighed, "That's the opposite of doing something."

Terry wiped at the sweat on his neck. "All I know is that I never sprained an ankle running through the jungle with Lara Croft. A couple of hours with you and I'm a cripple."

Trina had tried many times to force her brother to love the outdoors like she did, but it never worked. She had been slowly coming to the realization that it was never going to happen. Maybe she needed to be the one to be a bit flexible if she was going to maintain her relationship with her brother. "I'm sorry. Surely, we can find some common ground. Let's make our way back to the car."

Terry pushed away from the tree and collapsed as soon as he put weight on his injured foot. He pouted, "I don't think I can walk. Call an Uber."

Trina chuckled at her brother as she positioned herself under his arm to get him to his feet and help him limp back to the car. It was going to take a while. They had been hiking for over an hour before Terry hurt himself. Plus, Terry wasn't known for making things easier.

As Terry slowly moved each foot, even with Trina's help, she thought she might be able to distract him. "Have you gotten any new games since my last visit?"

It took a little prodding to get him talking, but soon he was excitedly telling her the plot points of Hitman 3 and recalling his latest adventures in Red Dead Redemption II now that he had the latest expansion pack. It seemed to be working. He still had a considerable limp, but discussing things he was excited about seemed to take his mind off his injury and they were moving much faster.

With about half a mile left to go, they came to the log that had fallen across a dried creek bed. The creek was only about five feet deep, but had very steep sides. The bridge provided by the fallen tree was perfect. On the way in, they just walked across the log, but with Terry's injured ankle it was proving to be much more difficult this time. It wasn't big enough for Trina to continue supporting Terry to get him across. He had to do it on his own slowly with very little pressure on the painful ankle. She walked backwards in front of him holding his hand to lead him along and provide a little support for balance, but she could not alleviate his weight.

About halfway across, a sudden crack and loud grunting-type noise startled Trina and she lost her balance as an awakened deer scrambled away from under the tree. She hit the bottom of the creek bed hard and wrenched her knee. Somehow, Terry did not fall. Shaken, he yelled down to her, "Trina are you alright?"

Through gritted teeth and holding back tears, she waved him to continue toward the end of the log. "I don't know yet. I've hurt my knee. Give me a minute."

Terry edged his way to the other side of the creek and eased himself down on the edge of the creek to extend a hand. "Come on. I got you." 

Trina tried to stand, but every movement shot pain through her knee. She looked up at Terry and tried not to cry. The pain was so bad. She knew she would be okay eventually. It was not a major injury, but it stopped her movement for the moment and they were stuck out in the woods.

She drug herself to the bank of the creek where Terry was and could not reach his outstretched hand. Trying to get into a better position to raise herself was excruciating. Plus, Trina was positive that even if she could grab his hand, he would probably get pulled in rather than her get pulled up and out.

Half-laughing and half-crying, she called up to Terry. "Sorry about giving you a hard time for bringing your phone. Now would be a good time to use it. I can't get out of this creek and you can barely walk. Call Dad and let him know where we are. Him and Daryl will need to come rescue us."

"Um, Trina. My phone died about 20 minutes ago."

Despite this being another setback, Trina let out a low laugh. "We have ourselves in a fix don't we? Terry, you're going to need to suck it up and limp yourself back to the car? My phone will be fully charged. Got it?"

"Yeah, but…I've never been here before. I have no idea where I am. I've been following you the whole time."

Trina remembered. She had discovered this place on her last trip home and wanted to share it with him. "That's right. How about this? You still move better than I do. Can you find a section of creek that is not as steep or deep? The creek here is almost as deep as I am tall. You find a shorter section and we'll see what we can do."

"OK. I'll try."

Trina heard him shuffling through the fallen leaves and allowed herself to cry. She had been trying to keep the tears away when he was close enough to see her. She always liked to be seen as the strong, responsible older sister.

Then, it started to rain. Trina heard Terry's distant shout of frustration, "SERIOUSLY? I hate it out here."

Despite the pain and circumstances, she couldn't help but laugh. "I think we've had enough adventure for today."

---

All this month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. A new post will go up every day (except Sundays) using a letter of the alphabet as the starting off point. My theme for the month is literary genres. I am writing in a different genre of flash fiction each day. Today's letter is A for Adventure.

Forced Homeschooling

In the midst of this worldwide crisis, I feel almost guilty in knowing that my wife and I have it pretty good. Living in Vietnam, our country only has about 200 cases of COVID-19 and most of those have already recovered. There has not been a single death. AND this is a country that borders China. This is not by chance. Vietnam has been on top of this thing from the beginning and is not taking any chances.

And while everything is shut down and people have to stay home, we already worked from home. AND we just happen to be in online education. The whole world is now doing school at home and that is exactly what we do for a living. Our income actually went up when the world started falling apart.

Despite the fact that this is what we do for a living, I see a lot of stress being caused by this new life that has been suddenly thrust upon everyone. Forced homeschooling is not working for many many families.

For those of you who are nailing it, good for you. And I mean that. It's great, but for most people, it is not working. And there is a variety of reasons for that. First off, believe it or not, the majority of adults are not teachers and never wanted to be. Raising your kids to be a self-sufficient, responsible adult is not the same as trying to help him understand the symbolism of Henry's journey in the Red Badge of Courage.

Unless you are a teacher or work in a specific field, much of the stuff you were taught in school you haven't seen in decades. Not many parents remember how to do these things:

• Diagram a sentence
• Know the precise meaning of the grammar terms - present perfect tense, past progressive tense, gerunds, participles, helping verbs, phrasal verbs, indirect/direct object, etc.
• Solve math problems using the Quadratic Equation or Pythagorian Theorem.
• Understand the implications of the U.S. involvement in the War of 1812
• Outline a term paper
• So many other things that were forgotten after you left school

And that doesn't even take into consideration the fact that not all households have a parent at home to do this work with their kids. Many people are still considered to be "essential" workers and have to go to work. Or they might be at home but have their own work to do. Work-at-home is not vacation time. It means there is work to do. A large percentage of the population is having a very difficult time finding the time (and patience) to get their kids' schoolwork done.

Let's also not forget the number of households who do not have adequate internet. Or only have one computer when there are three kids who "need" it or dad needs it to do his job. What about the households that just don't have a conducive atmosphere for learning?

• Older kids having to babysit younger kids
• Abusive, neglectful or alcoholic parents
• Noisy environments
• Little space
• Illness in the home
• Chaotic atmosphere

All of these things make it very difficult for the schoolwork to actually happen. And, even if it is being completed, the strained environment means that nothing is actually being learned for many students. Plus, this insistence on completing the school year is putting the population at risk of further infection.

I have seen multiple Facebook posts by people noticing school-aged children sitting in corners at Wal-Mart with laptops to take advantage of their free Wi-Fi so they can get their homework assignments. The same is happening in McDonald's parking lots and many other places. In South Carolina, some districts have parked buses in rural areas that transmit a Wi-Fi signal to help those students who may not have internet at home. These buses are meant to help, but…

At the same time, people are being told to stay home and there is a reason for that. No child (or anyone) should have to leave their home and put people's lives on the line just to complete homework.

Many suggest that kids who do not have internet should contact their teachers so they can have packets sent to their house.

Once again, not safe. Cardboard and paper have been proven to be able to hold onto the virus for days. Exchanging packets back and forth is just another way of potentially spreading the virus.

Is all of this stuff worth the risk just so little Johnny doesn't fall behind?

I have news for everyone.

Your child is not falling behind when the rest of the entire world is in the same situation!

If they don't get their work done, it will not be a disaster when they go back to school because there will be tons of other kids who didn't get it done either. Or kids who got it done, but didn't actually learn the material. Or kids who have so many questions or holes in their learning.

Plus, I know teachers from several different states and the expectations are different everywhere:

• Some schools aren't even keeping track of grades right now
• Some schools are requiring teachers to still report to school during school hours (unsafe and irresponsible practice)
• Some schools have dismissed classes until next year 
• There is no national or even state-wide standard for any of this. Each school is scrambling to make it work.
• Teachers are doing an awesome job tackling a situation they were not prepared for, but there is no consistency in learning because every home is different.

I have a friend who works all day. Her older children (still children themselves) have to try to school the younger children during the day and can't even begin their own schoolwork until Mom gets home to take care of the younger kids.  Their life is just babysitting and schoolwork on top of all this other stress. There are lots of tears in that house all day.

The world is very scary right now and incredibly stressful. For the children also. They may not really understand what is happening depending on their age, but they know things are not right. Adding to that stress by insisting that all this extra stuff has to be done as well just makes things worse. Plus, it's not going to really matter when they all go back to school anyway. The teachers will be scrambling to even things out once again and try to fix this.

I am not suggesting that children should not be engaging in academic activities. I am only saying that school is not and should not be a priority right now. If it gets to be too much, let it go or cut it back. We're going to be locked in our houses for much longer than most people (including our leaders) want to admit. It is very important that our homes be as happy and stress-free as possible.

Love your kids during this time and make them feel safe. If when this is over they haven't learned how to recognize adverb clauses when used as adjunct adverbials, is it really going to matter?