From inf8ltd@ix.netcom.com Sun May 11 00:54:56 1997 Subject: Story (very, very short story) From: the Happy Bithead -------- (sorry for submitting this story like this, but i'm not on any of the mailing lists ...) I originally wrote this in response to a contest that challenged you to write a complete short story in less than 250 words, and a rainy day in my office. I never got around to submitting the story, but hey. Title: Raindrops Author: Benjamin Wang Rating: G Class: V Spoliers: None Keywords: None Summary: A brief vignette between Mulder and Scully, alone in a hotel room. It's raining outside. Motel Eight Seattle, Washington She stood there, waiting for the man working behind the desk. He wore a white collared shirt and a gun-metal blue tie; she, a simple dress skirt of tan hues. The room was silent, save for the sound of rain against the windows, and the steady clicker-clacker of his hands on the computer's keyboard. The afternoon was ending; outside, the overcast sky grew even darker as the sun retreated over the horizon. Without a break in his typing, the man reached out and switched on a desk light, leaving the rest of the room to the gathering shadows. She stared out the window, watching the raindrops run down the glass, scurrying like frightened mice. "Would you look at that," she said softly, her slight voice carrying in the silence of the room. "Hmm?" The man glanced up, briefly. "Oh. Very pretty." Clickety-clackety. The clock chimed briefly. She watched the drops make their ways down the window. Some solitary tears wandered slowly, winding along, never changing their shape; others careened wildly across the glass, flickering by in a series of chaotically twisting and ever morphing forms. passing in and out of sight in an instant. Sometimes two drops would meet and merge, then meander out of sight. But just as often, the drop would split apart again, separate drops following their separate paths. Sometimes a few drops would run together and form a trail, bright as a falling star in the dying light, before losing momentum and falling apart. Some precious few of these managed to make it all the way down the glass, never breaking up. The clock chimed again. She realized she had been speaking her thoughts aloud; the sound of typing had ceased some time ago. Embarrassed, she turned towards the man, and their eyes met. Benjamin Wang : Sequence and Order inf8ltd@ix.netcom.com : Time and Stress shadowy@darkover.pointbbs.com : Accent, Emphasis ... Listen! http://www.netcom.com/~inf8ltd : -- Brand, Sign of the Unicorn -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -==(UDIC)==- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- There are more things in : shirotae no : When we parted, dewdrops heaven and earth, Horatio, : sode no wakare ni : fell on my sleeves -- Than are dreamt of in your : tsuyu ochite : Your coldness harsh as the philosophy. : mi ni shimu iro no : hue of the piercing autumn -- Hamlet, I.v : akikaze zo fuku : wind. -- fujiwara no teika