The Defendant

The defendant appeared to be praying.

Her lawyer glanced at the jury; they didn’t seem swayed by her pose of innocence.

“Did you kill him?” he asked his client.

She bowed her head. “No.”

“Isn’t it true that you had sex with him before he disappeared?”

“Yes, but he left afterward, and I never saw him again. Maybe he mated with someone else.”

The prosecuting attorney rose. “Objection.”

“Sustained,” the judge said “Just answer the question. Did you kill him?”

“No. He was young and healthy and strong.” The mantis gave the judge an apologetic look. “So he got away.”

The Perfect Wife

“Are you coming right home after work?” Gina asked.

“Yes. Why?”

She gave him a sultry look. “I have a surprise for you.”

Bob’s heart beat faster, wondering what delight she had in store for him this time.

He finished his breakfast, rose from the table, and kissed her. Her lips were warm and full of promise. He ran his fingers through her hair, then pressed the button at the back of her skull. She went still.

“Bye, Sweetheart,” he said. He paused at the door and looked back. “I can hardly wait to get home and turn you on.”

Promises

Their gazes met across a crowded room and, just like that, they tumbled into love. A prince, he made her feel like a queen.

"Why now?" she wondered. "Why not last month before my wedding?" She hadn't believed in true love, thinking it fairy tale stuff, so she'd vowed to honor and cherish a kind and gentle man, a dear friend.

"Will you come away with me?" the prince asked. "For a weekend, a year, an eternity?"

She twisted the gold band around her finger, her heart breaking.

"I love you. I always will. But I have promises to keep."

Fulfillment

He was born with a hunger he could not explain. It frightened him, this not knowing, because if he did not know what the hunger was, how could he ever satisfy it?

As he grew to manhood, the hunger grew also. Sometimes it seemed as if it were devouring him; no matter what he ate, he remained gaunt. Only during sex could he forget the hunger.

One day while kissing his girlfriend, he accidentally drew blood. And suddenly it all made sense.

With a happy sigh, he sunk his teeth in the neck of the struggling girl.

And found fulfillment.

The Ring

Heather’s eyes grew round as she stared at the sparkling diamond in the ring Dexter had just given her.

All her friends had laughed at her for going out with him. He was older than her father and had even less hair, but she always knew it would pay off in the end.

And now she had the ring.

“That’s bad,” she said, trying to sound cool and sophisticated.

“It is?” Dexter grabbed the ring from her, peered at it, then tossed it away. “That no-good, lying salesman! He promised me no one could tell it from the real thing.”

Death Row

Tom milled around the prison yard with the other inmates, waiting for the sound of death. There would be no stay of execution for their condemned mate, who would die in a most barbaric way.

“They don’t care that he’s innocent,” Tom said. “As are we all. The system is guilty, but no one wants to buck tradition.”

The thud of the axe made him flinch. He bowed his head out of respect for the dead.

In the silence, he heard the executioner’s voice drifting through the chicken wire fence. “It’s a big turkey. We’ll have a grand Thanksgiving feast.”