WEEK 357
McIntire ran to the lighthouse, threw open the door, and shouted, "Quick! Somebody needs to..."


...run to the store and get as many candles as you can haul back here! The generator just quit and we're not sending out a beacon!" McIntire's two assistants sat transfixed as he began sprinting up the winding staircase toward the top of the lighthouse. "And don't get any of those little votive candles, just concentrate on the biggest pillar ones you can find! And make sure you bring back a lighter too!"

When Randal leapt from his chair, Sweeney just looked at him over the top of the book he was reading and muttered, "I don't think we need to rush, the store doesn't open for another two hours."

Glancing at his watch, Randal replied, "Yeah, right. But if we leave now, we can stop for coffee."

McIntire's voice roared from above, "And bring me back a double latte!"

"Now we leave", said Sweeney, rising from his chair.

by Stewart Lindsay, Buffalo, NY

...go up and check the light! It's not working!"

"Shut up and go away, you pest," came a gruff voice from inside. "I'm trying to sleep."

"But the light!" McIntire shouted. "It's not on!"

"I'm going to hit you with my boot," the voice said. "I said I'm trying to sleep."

"But the light! The ships! It'll be a catastrophe!"

A heavy boot flew from the darkness inside and struck McIntire full in the face, knocking him backwards off the lighthouse porch to land in a heap at the bottom of the steps. "Ow!" he cried. "That hurt, you jerk."

"I warned you, didn't I?" said Ronald Phelps, the keeper of the light, as he stepped out onto the porch. "I told you to leave me alone."

"But, the light..."

"Shut up about the light! Enough about the light! I'll turn on the bloody light when it gets dark!"

by Phillip Lynne, Knoxville, TN