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Three Minutes with God

A journalists gets a rare opportunity for an interview with God to ask some eternal questions, obtain some thoughtful introspection, and a wee bit of snark.

(Trigger caution: This was written in 2020 following the civil protests across the Untied States and subsequent murder of George Floyd. Much is meant to be sardonic aphorism and recognize this may be difficult for some.)

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The Maze at the Edge of Midnight

The story that started it all. Written October 16th 1986 for Mrs. Luke’s 4th period 8th Grade English class. We were given the assignment to create a tale using several Halloween themed words, such as cauldron, apple, gargoyle, and so on. By Mrs. Luke’s urging, I entered the tale as #114 for the annual spooky story Halloween contest at Fegley Middle School in Portage, IN. On Friday October 31st, the principal shared on the school intercom to announce the winner, and I was elated to learn I won first place. This was much to my friend Adrian’s chagrin, who said I plagiarized the story. (And while I will admit I now recognize unintended literary influences, the story is original because it was based on a recurring nightmare I had as a child.) I went down to the main office and my prize was a pumpkin bucket filled with Halloween candy. So I give you my first “published” story, that was handwritten in less than spectacular cursive, and replicated here nearly verbatim, with just a few, dozen, grammatical corrections, and a few returns so it is no longer a monstrous 880 word single paragraph; because even that would be too scary for a spooky story.