WEEK 378
As the plane touched down, Ricardo suddenly realized he'd forgotten to...


...signal the flare. His hands shook as he grabbed the gun. He aimed the pistol down river and fired. The small rocket arched through the narrow passage of branches and fizzled in the glistening water.

Ricardo stood on the pontoon while looking along the Amazon River's edge. He saw movement and heard the squeaking noises of a dozen taut bows being slowly released. Ricardo then saw smiling faces as his floatplane rounded a bend.

The Amazonian tribe celebrated Ricardo's arrival with cheering and music from three old guitars and five handmade drums. Women and children wearing red skirts and straw tops danced on the muddy shore. Smoke rose from a fire pit where a freshly slaughtered hog lay roasting.

Ricardo reached into the plane and pulled out one of several medical bags. The white cross against the red canvas was visible from afar. He raised the bag into the air and smiled. The tribe applauded and helped pull the plane to shore.

by Donald Stidham, Cleveland, TN

...give his apartment key to his neighbor, Amy.

Once disembarked, Ricardo called her. "Amy, I'm glad you're home. I forgot to give you my key yesterday."

"Don't worry about that, Rick, your door is open."

"What do you mean, my door is open?"

"My boyfriend is good with locks, he got it open."

"I didn't realize you had a boyfriend, Amy. I've never seen you with anybody."

"Oh, Jimmie got out the day you left."

"Got out?"

"Yeah, you know, out of prison."

"Prison?"

"Yeah, bad rap. Jimmie never stole ALL the stuff they said he did."

"Amy, what's that noise on your end of the line?"

"Oh that's Jimmie. He's carrying all my stuff out. We're gonna move now that he's out."

With that, Ricardo knew when he got back home, things would not be the same.

"Rick?

"Yes?"

"Jimmie wants me to tell you, he really likes your coin collection."

"Son of a ...!"

by Stewart Lindsay, Buffalo, NY