Short stories with unusual endings

[infamous]

I was reminising today about old times and a memory came to me about an unusual occurence that took place in my childhood. Our family had taken a vacation to The Lake of The Ozarks in southern Missouri. As a youngster, I loved to fish and this area has some of the best fishing in the whole country. At any rate, my father had rented a boat and went out onto the lake leaving us youngsters to fish off of the dock. As time passed and it began to get dark we all began to wounder where Dad was because he hadn't returned from his fishing. As daylight began to turn to dark, an adult friend that make the trip with us decided to go out looking for my father. About an hour passed and finally, our friend returned with my father and boat in tow. Turns out that my father had suffered a heart attack while he was out on the middle of the lake. We rushed him to the hospital and after a few days he eventually recovered. Many weeks later my father was telling us about the experience when he detailed to us how as he lost conscienceness and found himself hovering above the boat looking back down upon himself laying there. We were all shocked to hear him speak of such an experience and swiftly dismissed any thought of discussing this strange happening with him. Now as I look back on this, remembering that in those days you never heard about what we call today the Near Death Experience. This occured in 1952, if my father were alive today I would love to talk with him about this experience. Sadly, I missed my opporunity because he passed way in 1964. Back in those days something like this wasn't talked about because it just seemed a little too close to insanity. I must say that I'm ashamed that I dismissed what must have been a very important happening in my fathers life. I miss him something awful, most of the time these days.

[Turtle]

___Not so long ago as to forget, or so far away as not to visit, I set out with friends in the pursuit of irresponsible fun. With my very old half-set of McGregor golf clubs and a large sack of practice balls purchased from a local range, we struck out in an '86 4-door Mercury Lynx for the mountains.
___Some score of miles from town, we parked ourselves on a rocky mountain road overlooking a small lake some 150 yards distant. Taking turns as gentlemen do in golf, we shared a round of intoxicants & teed up. Golf is in my opinion the most elegant study of ballistics & I found nearly nothing finer that day than seeing a ball sail gracefully up & then down to the center of that little very round lake. Ballistics & wave theory!
___But I digress. In no short order we found ourselves with no balls, and as the clubs were not theirs my compadres proceeded to tee up with golf ball sized cobbles from the forest road. Already under the influence of so many bad decisions, I teed up a few myself. The woods broke up quickly against the rocks -about 4 strokes per wood - & the 9 iron took some nasty gouges before I decided to stop this madness.
___Asserting my authority as driver, I suggested we might instead throw rocks into the lake with that time honored weapon of David's, the sling! "Huh? Wuh?", they said. "How do you do that?" Securing some light rope from the back of the Merc & some suitably stiff material for a pouch - I forget just what just now - I fashioned the sling.
___I plenty well knew some things not to do with this weapon having conducted similar experiments as a boy; as we we're in a forest & no windows in site, I saw smooth sailing. Directing my compatriots to take cover behind the Lynx, I chose a suitable golf ball sized stone, loaded it in the sling & stepped to the edge of the hill. Swinging to my side rather than overhead, I let loose a throw that was the envy of any golf ball.
___ Emboldened, I threw several more rocks of similar size with similar result & my companions inched out from behind their redoubt. In typical fashion, I now chose up a stone cobble not quite as large as a softball but the rival of a baseball to pack into the sling. With my amazed brothers now out in the open but not close, I went into my windup & on the second spin round, & before my intended release, the stone launched directly up to strike me in the head just above my right eye & ricochette 20 feet into the air (by my friends' accounts).
___Surprisingly even to me, I remained standing; trained in first aid & having considerable previous experience opening large wounds in my head, I immediately put pressure on the laceration/contusion & walked toward my friends. "Is it bad?", asked one. I pulled my hand back briefly & he turned white as he clutched for the car door in support.
___Instructing them to drive me to a store for some butterfly bandages, I rode shotgun while keeping pressure on the wound. I did have one little bout of nausea, but it passed. They tried forcing me into the emergency room though, right up to the desk, but in the end I prevailed. With my gash now closed with butterflys & me still concious, we drove back to the mountains & camped the rest of the weekend without using the sling again.
PS Is this too long?

[infamous]

Originally Posted by Turtle

__
PS Is this too long?

Absolutely not Turtle, wonderful strory and I'll bet you have the scar to prove it.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by infamous

Absolutely not Turtle, wonderful strory and I'll bet you have the scar to prove it.

___Most folks try to get their foot in the open door; I always stick my head in first to see if it's safe to risk a foot. Thanks for cracking open a door Infamous.

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Most folks try to get their foot in the open door; I always stick my head in first to see if it's safe to risk a foot. Thanks for cracking open a door Infamous.

Hmmm. If I had the choice of having a large risk of either my foot or my head getting whacked off, I think I'd choose my foot, unless I could choose Turtle's head, but I'd probably ask him if we could try his foot first because there'd be less blood 'n bones 'n stuff....

Cheers,
Buffy

[Dark Mind]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Most folks try to get their foot in the open door; I always stick my head in first to see if it's safe to risk a foot. Thanks for cracking open a door Infamous.

And actually there are more bones in the foot, just less blood than the head .

...Amazing Turtle still has such a head on his shoulders .

[infamous]

Originally Posted by Dark Mind

And actually there are more bones in the foot, just less blood than the head .

...Amazing Turtle still has such a head on his shoulders .

And I would like to also add; a mighty fine head on his shoulders at that.

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by Dark Mind

just less blood than the head

but if you're standing up, much more blood will gush out of the foot than the head!

Originally Posted by Dark Mind

...Amazing Turtle still has such a head on his shoulders

Sure amazing, yep. Take care of it T, from now on.

[Turtle]

I love my coffee. If I sieze on the good stuff I can get as snobby as the best of them, but I will drink the rankest cowboy swill if that's all there is. So today I had a pot of mid-level joe going & I drank a couple cups black from one mug of a set we have in the cuboard. Coming back from some chores I looked to find my cup, peered in to see some black coffee, & then decided to slosh in a touch of 2% milk & top off with the mid-level hot java. Now retiring to my cubicle cell to lounge I set to periodically sipping my brew & after several sips notice it appeared to taste richer; sip again...yes richer. Richer as if I had poured in 1/2 cup of whipping cream rather than a splash of 2% milk. Just then it hit me; I had picked up the cup my housemate had poured the grease off into after browning ground beef!

[ronthepon]

I was walking on a lonely road, in the middle of the night. I had only five hundred rupees left with me, and I urgently needed a lift to the next city.

My car had broken down, and I had walked two kilometers till now.

Suddenly, I saw a wierd looking person selling books on the road.

"Hello there" I said to him. "I..."

"I can help you" He cut across. "You can stay in the hotel nearby... and a bus leaves in the morning..."

The way he spoke gave me shivers.

I looked in the way he pointed, and I saw a hotel. It was incredible to think that I had not noticed it earlier.

I thanked him.

"Wait." He said. "Please buy a book to pass your night."

A fine idea.

"Take this one. It is extremely rare, and indeed very interesting..."

But what would be the cost?

He answered before I talked.

"Three hundred rupees."

"WHAT?!" I burst out. The price was outrageous. I had never seen a book of it's kind so expensive.

"Very rare. Believe me, if you take it... your life will change forever..."

I looked at the book. It was titled 'supernatural'

For some reason, even I cannot explain now why, I silently bought the book. My mind was empty, and I could not think. Later I'd realise just what an enourmous mistake I had done.

"Never look at the last page." He said. "Never do so. You will regret doing so for the rest of your life..."

I shivered.

Later, in the hotel I had sent some time to read the book. It was indeed very interesting.

At two in the morning, I woke up. It was very cold, and a wind was making me shiver. I moved to shut the window.

On coming back, I was shocked to see that the last page of the book hasd been opened by the wind.

I rembered his words. "Never look at the last page... Never do so. You will regret doing so for the rest of your life..."

Human curiosity.

It was the thing I had never thought of before. But now it was forcing me to do exactly what he had told me not to.


I looked at the book. My eyes opened wide in horror...























Cost price: 20 Rupees
Promotional price: 12 Rupees

Over ten million copies sold in print.