Foes

Staring at the computer screen, Ernesto Palabra considered an arctic scene in his story.  He wondered if the character Andro-Toid X33 should use laser-emitting fans of war or arrow-launching armlets to defeat a skyscraper-tall ice monster.  All descriptions about the 50-foot mechanical defender of mortals satiated his need for heroism.  Something about having a genetically designed meta-intelligent human brain in an automaton appealed to him.  Even the idea of it looking like a Samurai in blue-colored armor had great allure. Details about the arch-enemy, a humanoid-shaped mutation created by global warming, addressed the writer’s didactic needs as well.  Their battle continued in Ernesto’s mind.  It just needed a dénouement.  

“Ernie, it’s 3:00 in the morning.  Are you coming to bed?”  The sci-fi composer’s girlfriend screamed from their bedroom. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there soon.”

Something about his companion’s screeching voice made Ernesto type faster.  Torrential tapping noises filled the living room.  Heavy-handedly, the logophile banged out more paragraphs about the war-waging duo on his laptop. 

“Turn off the light and come to bed, man.”

“OK, I will.”

“Now damn it.”

Right alongside remembered philistines and naysayers, the creature’s head fell after the automaton shot out incendiary arrows from two extended arms.  The vanquisher wanted to defeat other foes, but the writer fueling his existence turned off the computer.  It was either that or verbally wrestle with another adversary on a Queen-sized bed. 

Bob McNeil, writer, editor, cartoonist, and spoken word artist, is the author of Verses of Realness. Hal Sirowitz, a Queens Poet Laureate, called the book “A fantastic trip through the mind of a poet who doesn’t flinch at the truth.” Among Bob’s recent accomplishments, he found working on Lyrics of Mature Hearts to be a humbling experience because of the anthology’s talented contributors.