One More Minute

This is my entry for Calamari’s Music Contest.

I am using the songs:

After Dark

One More Minute

Love Shine

So without further adieu …

It was well after dark. She had just finished watching Love Shine. She should really be getting ready for bed because she had to get up early for work.

“One more minute, just one more minute please. I want to read this new manga,” and with that she read until she fell asleep.

The alarm went off within minutes after she fell asleep. “One more minute,” She moaned. “Please give me one more, minute and I will be ready to wake up,” she hit her snooze button. From that moment until forty minutes later, she would hit the snooze button. Now with a jolt she woke up. She no longer could take her time and get ready for work. The shower would have to be skipped and her hair well let’s just say it remained unwashed.

She rushed out the door almost forgetting her brief case. She had to turn around and retrieve the brief case from the table where she had left it. She had to sprint to the bus stop. The bus was already there. One more minute! Please wait just one more, minute! she thought as she ran at top speed.

She was able to catch her regular bus and was on her way. She liked this bus; It dropped her right at the door of her job. By the time the bus reached her office, it was five minutes late. She pushed her way off the bus. She ran to the door and went to her seat. Taking the report disc from her brief case, she inserted it into her computer. Only one part had to be completed for the presentation that was scheduled at two.

At one, the boss told her that it was time for them to assemble for the presentation. What? I thought it was scheduled for two! She thought in dismay. “I need one more minute, boss. I want to check some of the calculations again,” She lied. She cursed herself for spending too much time in front of the television last night. Sleeping in had not helped her either. She was ready half an hour later.

Two hours later, she sat at her desk. Her portion of the presentation went over like a bomb. She had lost the company the account. She was in for a reprimand. Maybe even be fired over her biggest blunder ever.

On someone’s radio she heard, “We are still going on without any accomplishments ….” The story of her life is one more minute. Just give me one more minute and look where it got her.

Raven Vs The Huge Hulking Mass of a Bodyguard

It was another beautiful July day in New York City. The young master of the house wanted to go to Central Park for a walk. It was a strange time for the young master to take a walk. The day was not only beautiful it was a hot and humid summer day. The young master usually went to Central Park after the sun went down. What was so special today for him to walk in the park in the heat of the day?

The young master called for his bodyguard a bit begrudgingly. He would like to go out just once without that trigger happy man. He has gotten into many fights because of misreading the situation. The young master just hoped that today would not be like every other time they have walked in Central Park.

The bodyguard came around front with the limo. The young master groaned. Why does it always have to be the limo? Why can they not use one of the less conspicuous cars. He reluctantly got into the car. The bodyguard smiled and drove to the park. They got stuck in traffic just a block from the park. The young master was itching to walk in the park during the light of day. "Just park the car," he sighed at the bodyguard. "We can walk from here."

They walked the block in mere minutes. The young master lead the way to the lake in the middle of the park. It was one of his favorite places in the park. As they came out of the tunnel there was a flash of light. Enough to blind even those who were in the sunlight. That flash made the bodyguard tense up. Was someone trying to take the life of the young master. He pulled his gun from its shoulder holster and pushed the young master behind him. He fired even though he could not see his opponent.

The bright light was that of a ship appearing out of nowhere. It was too big for the lake. The bullet shot by the bodyguard ricocheted off the hull, hitting a light post next to the lamp. From there it ricocheted and hit a young looking person on the deck of the ship. There were yells of anger as the young blond person fell from behind the wheel. The people on board were scrambling to get to the young blond. All but one person ran towards the young blond person. A young girl with long dark braids looked out at the people staring at the ship. Her eyes were burning with anger. Who would dare to shoot at her ship, let alone her crew. Her eyes were drawn to a huge hulking being that looked somewhat human. "You there! Did you fire that shot?" She yelled down a this hulking creature.

The bodyguard just grunted and pointed his gun at this diminutive girl in answer. He pulled the trigger again, this time he intended to hit the girl yelling at him. Being a man of few words, he let his actions speak for him. The young master's safety was his only priority. He looked back at his young charge and was surprised to see anger on the young man's face. But he did not have time to worry about that look. The people staring at the ship had let out a gasp. He turned and saw the bullet he fired just hanging in mid-air. This angered the big man. He stepped away from the young master as he holstered his gun. He reached behind his back and pull his favorite weapon. The tommy gun had a sawed off stock and the barrel had been modified to his specification. He wanted to see if a hail of bullets would be stopped; as the single bullet had been stopped. He put the cartridge of bullets in place and pulled the trigger. There was one draw back with the tommy gun, you could not aim it. When the people heard the staccato gun fire they dove for shelter. This fight was about to get hard core.

The spray of bullets were cutting a path straight for the girl. Her eyes opened wide. It was like she never saw that many bullets come out of one gun before. "This is going to take some concentration," she said with disgust. "The spray is almost to wide to get them all. If I don't get them all, some of those strange beings will be hit by a bullet." With a wave of her hand she stopped the bullets. Another wave and hail became a rain storm without being too lethal. A third wave took the strange looking gun out of the huge creature's hands.

As the gun started to fly out of his hand, the bodyguard pulled something else from his coat pocket. He was willing to let the tommy gun go as a distraction. He had a running start and for the first time in his life threw his black jack at someone. It went flying and hit the girl just below the shoulder. The bodyguard smiled wickedly at the sound of her gasp in pain. His run brought him very close to the ship. He could make out the name of this strange ship. It was called the Ark. It was time for him to fight this puny girl face to face. He was going to take the fight to her and find out what she was actually made of.

"Raven," a young male voice called out. "Wolf is ok! You don't have to fight anymore!" But the girl called Raven was beyond hearing her young crew mate. This being had found a way to break through her defenses. This was no longer a fight. It was about to turn into a war. Looking about her for weapons, she smiled at the though of bringing this man down to her level. She looked over the side but could not see the creature. "Hey, no fair hiding mister." Raven yelled still looking for the big creature. That was when she heard a loud noise by the bow. There standing like a mountain was the bodyguard. He had taken advantage of her being distracted by being hit to climb a nearby rock face. It was a bit lower than the bow but he made it in one leap with about an inch of dropping to the walk below. He had fallen forward upon landing to stop from falling backwards. That is what caused the noise but it did not bother him one bit. He was here to kill this assassin. After that he could get back to the young master.

Raven could not believe this guy was boarding her ship. She was infuriated and she waved her hand. This sent her new weapons flying towards the hulking bodyguard. At the same time the bodyguard had pulled his pistol and fired. ...


...The weapons Raven chose to send flying were sharp, large railroad type spikes. She sent them flying right at the invader on her ship. She hoped a few would hit their mark as the invader (Raven no longer saw this person as a male or human.) advanced toward her. The invader's gun blazed fire as it continued to bark out round after round. Each bullet hit one or two of the spikes and knocked them to the ground. Infuriated, Raven looked around for bigger solid and pointed weapons. One projectile from the invader's gun hit the deck close to her right foot. Startled, Raven continued with the railroad type spikes. But with each wave she sent; her control wavered. I'm about to reach my limit, she thought.

The bodyguard was almost taken by surprise by the shear number of spikes flying his way. He started to fire continuously and change the cartridge rapidly if he wanted to avoid being hit by the spikes. As he fired he noticed that the spikes were coming slower and slower. This gave him a slight opening. He aimed at the little black haired girl and pulled the trigger. A smile crossed his beefy face as he notice the bullet hit the deck near the girl's foot. He noted that she got a start from that near hit. It won't be long now. She was tiring. He would wait her out by taking out her spikes. When she no longer had any strength to hurl spikes; he would take her life.

As the fight continued, the young master had asked the crew for permission to board the ship. He told them that he would get the bodyguard to stop the fight. Suspicious the young Rat lowered the ladder so the young strange could board. The young master thanked Rat. Then he turned and walked towards the fight.

Raven started to loose her concentration. Fewer and fewer spikes were sent towards the invader. Her eyes blurred as sent another flight of spikes towards her enemy. Again she sent another wave of spikes. A burst of light exploded behind her eyes which caused her to grab her head in pain. The invader had a smile on his face as he dodged the slower flight of spikes.

"Bastard!" Raven yelled in anger and pain, "Just what the heck are you! You should be dead by now!"

The bodyguard shook his head almost sadly. Almost buy not quite for he intended to drop the now smoking unusable pistol. He would use his stilettos for the next part of the fight. He saw the girl as she slowly fell to the deck. This was his chance to plunge one of the stilettos into Raven's heart. Raven struggled to get up but she was spent. She could no longer concentrate on the spikes. The dull ache of a headache kept her from focusing. The bodyguard stopped and stood above the young assassin. Blood dripped from many wounds where the spikes had hit him.

"Yikes, you're a monster after all." Raven whispered. "Why don't you feel like I do? You should have dropped before me!"

The bodyguard smiled as he knelt above Raven. His hand raised and came down quickly. Raven screamed and closed her eyes.. A sickening thud was heard by both combatants. Raven felt her chest for blood. There was none. A voice reached her ears at this time.

"S...stop both of you." the voice said in gasps. "T...there was no n...need to s...start this f...fight. I...i was n...never in d...danger."

Raven opened her eyes. Above her stood a beautiful young man. He had been impaled by the knife meant for her. The tip of the blade went through the torso of his body and dripped blood on Raven's clothes. From above this beauty a horrific cry of "Nooooooooooooooo!" was heard. For the first time the bodyguard spoke. The one word was filled with great anguish.

"Y...young l...lady, c...can y...you m...move? I...i am a...afraid t...that I...i am a...about to c...collapse on t...top of y...you." The beautiful young man stammered in pain. Raven scooted out from under this beauty a bit reluctantly. The moment Raven cleared the young man collapsed in a heap. The bodyguard reached to pull out his stiletto but a hand on his wrist stopped him.

"Pull that out now and he will bleed to death." The girl with the black braids wheezed out past a yawn. "You need to get him to a doctor's now or he will not make it. We can call this fight a draw due to being interrupted."

With that said Raven turned hobbled away. She watched as her crew came to helped the injured man. They would get the two men off the Ark so they young man could get to a doctor. They had no concept if this place had hospitals or not. The moment they were no longer touching anything attached to the Ark, it disappeared from the Central Park lake.

A few weeks later, the young master was brought home by the butler. The bodyguard was not allowed near the young man for a period of six months. He nearly lost his life at the hands of the young master's father. The bodyguard was glad that the girl's advise saved the young master.

The end.

Mr. Duck

This is going to be a short story of Mr. Duck.
Who is Mr. Duck? Well let me tell you.
He was a mascot that I drew in high school.
He is a mallard with an attitude.
I had at one time posted Mr. Duck at Tokyopop on a dare.
Lately, I have been wondering.
What if I wrote a story about him this time?
Could I capture the plucky mallard in words?
Would anyone read it?
Well will you?


It was the midday with a bright, bright sun. Once again the Missus was out shopping.
This left Mr. Duck to once again watch the kids. He had plans but dropped them
when the Missus stated that she needed to go shopping.
"Why am I such a pushover?" Mr. Duck thought. "I had a golf date planned with the guys.
But, nuuuuu, I had to let the little lady go shopping. Once again I canceled my plans."
So Mr. Duck sat there on the prickly, itchy nest. He sat there warming the children yet to
hatch. Grumbling and mumbling. Complaining and whining.
And then it struck him, the Missus was out for quite some time.
"What is she buying anyway? Just how much is she spending?"
Putting his head down, Mr. Duck just gave in to his fate this time.
"Next time, I am going to tell her absolutely not! I will not watch
the kids. I have a life too you know!" And with that he fell asleep.