She looked out to glimpse Howard Bay; soft clouds obscured most of her view. The song, fitting it seemed for the moment, bounced around her head; her resolve sharp and focused, as if to push her along. She stepped forward and expelled a frustrated breath. She looked at the gun in her hand and shook her head; not to deny, but to lament what she was about to do. She raised the weapon to her head and pulled the trigger....

Sorry for the long delay between chapters, The next one should be faster!

Chapter 5
Francine was ready to explode. She was making progress with Bethany on her first try and her jackass of a father ruins everything. She took several deep breaths to calm herself and then walked calmly over to the police officer guarding Bethany’s room.

“Officer, that man is not to have access to this floor until I say he can. Is that understood?”

A cabby's story.

Fiction by Johnny Cumlately.

Tabloid Tales: Memphis Interlude
By Ellie Dauber
Copyright 1999

This is the second of my two stories about Twentieth Century icons. Except for this one, all the “Tabloid Tales” stories were written by a very fine writer named Pyrite, whose work I heartily recommend. The stories are part of a VERY long line of tales set in a pub, bar, or other drinking establishment by authors ranging from Lord Dunsany to Spider Robinson. In the Tabloid Tales, the characters are all writers working at tabloid newspapers, the sort of paper sold in the checkout line in grocery stores. Since they write about the odd and fantastic, they’re willing to listen, at least, to any sort of story told by one of their own. In this story, it’s a fellow named Billy McNeil, who has a KING-sized tale to tell.