Friday, September 04, 2009

Pancakes

“Momma?”
I opened my eyes to see my son standing next to the bed. The clock said 3 in the morning.
“Are you sick, baby?”
“No, Momma.”
“Is there a stranger in the house?”
“No, Momma.”
“Is anything on fire?”
“No, Momma.”
“Then why are you waking me up at 3am?”
“I really want some pancakes!”
I groaned and let my head fall back on the pillow. Before I could say anything my husband leaned across the bed, “Son, do you see me eating pancakes?”
“No, Dad.”
“When Dad is eating pancakes, then you get to eat pancakes too,” said my husband. “Now go back to bed.”
I watched my son leave as quietly as he came in. As soon as the door closed my husband whispered, “I sure could use some pancakes to help me go back to sleep.”
I groaned and let my head fall back on the pillow. Again.

---
©Maeganann Bacon
Creative Commons License

The Race

The ship turned again, this time heading North.

"Billy! What do the gauges show?"

"All dials showing increasing pressure, Captain, but still green."

"Excellent! We may make it on time after all."

"Captain, if we're on such a strict time-table, why do we keep making all these course changes? Wouldn't a direct heading get us there quicker?

The Captain looked at the new engineer, trying to decide if the inquiry was a doubt of his leadership ability or a genuine search for an answer. Deciding on the latter, the Captain smiled. "Billy, you need to understand. The view from the captain's chair is different than any other chair on the bridge. Each station is specialized to do its part and to do it well. But from here, I need to look at all the information and make decisions based on the entire picture." He chuckled, "Or at least as much of a picture as I can get."

"But to answer your question more directly, come here and look through this telescope. Look right down there to the left, about a mile inland." The bow of the airship had angled windows to allow easier viewing to anything under it.

Looking through a spyglass, the engineer answered, "You mean that old building?"

"Look next to it."

"Is that... Is that a radar dish?"

"Yes, it is. And that radar dish is attached to a system that is programmed to automatically shoot us down if we get within range. So we take a less direct route to try to give installations like that a wide berth."

"Captain! You better take a look at this!" The cry came from the radar operator.

The Captain hurried over and looked at the radar screen. "Simmons, that looks like a watership just coming into range. Is it one of ours?"

"No, sir. I've rechecked the coordinates of all our ships, water and air, and none are near us."

The Captain looked over at the engineer. "Well, Billy, it seems that even with our indirect path we may have to face some resistance."

The radar operator shouted, "Captain! I'm showing that they've launched a missile."

"Navigator, I know this thing moves like an elephant in molasses, but try to avoid that missile!" The Captain thumbed the com. "All hands, brace for impact!"

---
© Matthew Bacon

Creative Commons License

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Patkukoj

"Panjo?"

Mi malfermis miajn okulojn vidi mian filon apud la lito. Mi vidis la horloĝon. Estis la tria horo.

"Ĉu vi estas malsana, karo?"

"Ne, Panjo."

"Ĉu fremdulo estas en la domo?"

"Ne, Panjo."

"Ĉu io estas fajranta?"

"Ne, Panjo."

"Tiam kial vi vekas min ĉe la tria?"

"Mi tre volas patkukojn!"

Mi ĝemis kaj lasis mian kapon fali sur la litkuseno. Antaŭ mi diris ion, mia edzo klinis trans la lito, "Filo, ĉu vi vidas min manĝas patkukojn?"

"Ne, Paĉjo."

"Kiam Paĉjo manĝas patkukojn, tiam vi manĝas patkukojn," diris mian edzon.
"Nun reiru al lito."

Mi rigardis mian filon foriras mallaǔte. Post kiam la pordo fermis mia edzo flustris, "Mi povas uzi patkukojn helpi min redormas."

Mi ĝemis kaj lasis mian kapon fali sur la litkuseno. Denove.

---
© Maeganann Bacon

Kuketoj

"Haltu!"

La knabino rigardis ĉien. "Kiu diris tion?"

"Saluton, Rosa. Mi havas demandon al vi. Kie estas la kuketojn?"

"Panjo! La kuketoj estas sur la telero, ĉu ne?"

"Ne. La telero estas malplena. Ĉu la kuketoj forparolis?"

"Ho, panjo. Tio estas fola. Ebla mia frato manĝis ilin?"

"Ĉu vi pensas ke via frato manĝis la kuketojn? Ĉu vi estas certa? Pensu zorge."

"Mi ne scias, panjo. Eble la hundido?"

"Rosa, mi estas via patrino. Ĉu vi mensogas al mi?"

"Ummmm... ne?"

"Rosa, rigardu viajn manojn."

Rosa estis surprizita trovi ke siaj manoj estis kovritaj kun ĉokolado.

"Ho, panjo! Kial ĉokolado kovris miajn manojn?"

"Eble ĝi okazis kiam vi manĝis la kuketojn."

"Sed... sed..."

"Rosa. Memoru min. Kiu estas pli malbona? Se vi manĝus la kuketojn? Aŭ se vi mensogus al mi?"

Rosa hezitis. "Mensogado estas pli malbona. Panjo! Bonvolu pardonu min! Mi manĝis la kuketojn. Mi manĝis ĉiom la kuketojn. Ili estis tre vere bongustaj! Mi bedaŭras."

"Do, vi manĝis kuketojn KAJ vi mensogis al mi. Kion vi pensas ke mi farus pri tio, Rosa?"

Rosa belete ridetis. "Vi forgesos ĝin?"

La patrino levis unu brovon.

Rosa mallevis sian kapon. "Vi faros pli kuketojn, kaj mi helpos vin. Sed mi ne manĝos iu ajn kuketojn."

"Jes, mi akordas."

Rosa ekhelpis sian patrinon kuiri pli kuketojn. Sed ŝi estis malĝoja. La patrino vidis la vizaĝon de sia filino, kaj sia koro ploras.

"Rosa, eble vi povas havi UNU kuketon."

"Ho, panjo! Dankon! Vi estas la plej bona panjo ĉiam!"

La patrino ridis. "Jes, karo. Mi estas. Memoru tion kiam vi volas mensogi."

"Jes, panjo, mi memoros!"

La patrino kaj la filino manĝis la kuketojn. Rosa eĉ savis iujn por sia frato.
---
© Matthew Bacon

Creative Commons License

---

Al Ganymeder: Dankon por la bona ideo de fikcietojxauxdo.
Al Esperantistoj: Mi ankoraŭ lernas Esperanton. Do, se mia esperanto ne estas korekta, mi estas ĝoja ricevi helpon.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Eggs Over Easy

She looked out the window. Nothing really strange about that, except that she wasn't sure why she did it. A flash out of the corner of her eye?

"Did you hear me? I said I'd like my eggs over easy"

"Uh, yeah. Sure thing, Mac."

She scribbled the order on the pad she pulled from her apron. Walking toward the kitchen, her eyes were again drawn to the window. But this time she knew why. Standing outside was a man. A man wearing clothes that looked like something from the 1800s. The waitress didn't remember hearing about any kind of festival in town that would explain clothes like that. The man kept looking at a notebook in his hand, then around the area. He nodded his head as though coming to a decision and crossed the street to the opposite side. The waitress saw him pull something from his bag. It looked like... duct tape? He bent over and taped the edges of an old cardboard box that had been sitting up against a lamp post. Just as the waitress was about to turn to the cook, she saw a flash of light around the man. Then he was gone.

"Something wrong with ya?"

"No, no. I just... thought I saw something a bit strange, ya know?" the waitress answered.

"Strange like what?"

"Oh, probably nothing. Just a bit bleary-eyed after all these hours. You know how it is."

"Sure thing. Hey did ya need something?"

"Oh, almost forgot. Guy at table four wants two eggs, over easy."
---
© Matthew Bacon

Creative Commons License

Monday, February 09, 2009

Grubby hands

I recently installed Ubuntu and set up dual boot with Windows XP. I've used LiLo in the past, but this one is called Grub. It works great, but it loads Ubuntu by default and I need to manually choose to go to XP. I'm not quite ready for full time Linux yet, so I wanted XP to be default. With a bit of googling I was able to find which parameter to change to default. But it wouldn't let me save it. Thank you, sudo. So now it default boots the way I want it. I know it's just a minor thing, but I'll take my victories where I can.