R M Ahmose Fiction Writer

2006

 

 

Story One: "Another Bad Seed?"

Story Two: "Schizophrenia"

 

 In this tale, guardian angels watch over an eight-year-old girl who manages to adopt a rather precocious agenda. She has lost all patience for residing with her, often neglectful, alcoholic father and decides to prepare an alternate living situation within a great expanse of woods. But, she's on a collision course with a world-class, 1960s, anti-American spy. To the angels' dismay, it is seen that the girl's activities, within the next 24 hours, threaten to usher in worldwide disaster. ...Oh, and did we mention that the child was born, destined to exhibit the tendencies of a classic sociopath, as the title suggests?

 

"Schizophrenia" 

Suppose the disembodied voices in a man's head were actually to have connection with reality. The ones Carl Horton hears tell him of all sorts of upcoming events. Then, they have the audacity to compel him to act on them. But, he'll be under a sort of surveillance. A student from a nearby university has chosen Carl as his subject for informal case study. The plan: He'll observe Carl at various levels of proximity and interaction, to log the extent to which Carl's behavior matches characteristics of schizophrenia, as described by his psych professor and info from textbooks. As you might guess, the student is going to become privy to much more of Carl's involvements than anticipated.

2007

 

Story One: "The Office Manager"

Story Two: "A Nice Family"

 

"The Office Manager" 

An office manager's job can be rather routine, and the course of a day's work, in the office, quite predictable. On the other hand, the workplace can be filled with daily backbiting and a host of odious schemes to maintain favor with the boss. The heroine of this tale, however, is more than up for the challenges presented. She has special intellectual gifts, and she'll use them to move skillfully around office "snakes," "fakes," and "landmines." All the while, she tries to find stable relationships outside the job. It is in that arena that she'll make some very shocking, even life altering, discoveries.

 

 

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be nice. The entire clan of the Nies family, in Berkshire, proves to be the embodiment of niceness, as the story-title denotes. The fact is, though, they put themselves in position, time and again, to be tricked, misused, and even abused by mean-spirited townsfolk. But, the head of the "Nies" family, although  beset with the same intellectual deficits of his kin, evolves a plan to give the town what it deserves. The good news is that no one gets hurt--not really--and people friendly to the Nieses, like 6-year-old Trina and her mom, may even get a "nice" reward.