Larry walked through the door and the first thing he noticed was that the dog’s water bowl was empty again. Letting out a breath of exasperation, he dropped to the floor and stared at the empty bowl.

“Missed it again” he said to nobody in the room. He looked at his watch and calculated the time since he last filled it. Five minutes. He filled the bowl, gathered up the trash bag, walked the trash bag outside to the pickup container and returned. Five minutes. Five minutes and the bowl was empty again.

He went to the refrigerator door, grabbed his list and slowly started going down it.

Water
Milk
Cherry Kool-Aid
V8
Cranberry Juice
Milk Of Magnesia
Doctor Pepper
Orange Juice

Orange juice was the last item he had placed in the bowl and by far the fastest to disappear. He put the list back on the door and looked at the empty bowl. Determined to find out what is happening to the liquids in the bowl, he filled the bowl back up and sat across the room staring at it. Charlie disappeared more than a week and a half ago – so he knew his dog wasn’t drinking it. In fact, had Charlie not been gone, he may never have noticed that Charlie isn’t the only one drinking from the bowl.

Taking a position on the opposite side of the room, Larry sat and watched the bowl. Minutes turned into hours and nothing had happened. He got up to stretch his legs when he thought he heard a scraping sound. Sitting back down immediately, Larry continued his vigil. Moments later he was rewarded for his patience in the form of a small clear tube rising out of the hardwood floor. He could see no hole in the floor, the tube seemed to begin at the floor and was extending itself slowly, moving towards the bowl.

He watched as the tube made its way over the lip of the bowl and then slowly slipped down to the orange juice. There was a short sucking sound, and then the orange juice was gone. Shortly thereafter the tube also disappeared into the floor. Larry was stunned. Although he had no idea what to expect, he did not expect this. He stood up, intent on continuing his experiment, but upon looking at the clock – decided that sleep would be a better idea.

The next morning he got out of bed and went straight to the kitchen. He looked at the bowl and an odd thought occurred to him. He wondered what the tube operator would not drink. Retrieving the list from the refrigerator once again, he studied its contents. So far, everything that he had put into the bowl had disappeared within an average of ten hours. He had gone from one extreme to the next, even went the silly route and tried Milk Of Magnesia, but nothing on the list was incredibly tart. Grapefruit juice. Unsweetened grapefruit juice would be his next test liquid.

After eating a quick breakfast, Larry filled the bowl with grapefruit juice. He went to the other side of the room and waited. Not even three minutes had passed before he heard the scraping sound and then saw the tube appear through the floor. As before, the tube made its way to the bowl and dipped in. Larry watched with fascination as the liquid flowed through the tube and made its way through the floor. As the bubble to liquid ratio increased, and the bowl was pretty much empty, Larry was surprised to see a blue liquid rising up the tube and flowing into the bowl.

He sat and watched the bowl fill until the tube was empty. Then watched as the tube retracted itself back into the floor. He waited for a little longer, not sure if the tube was done, then got up and walked to the bowl. He lifted the bowl and sniffed the contents. It didn’t smell bad. He swished it around in the bowl and the consistency didn’t seem offensive, whatever that meant, he thought. He touched it and it felt as much like any other juice he had known.

There was only one thing left to do. He grabbed a ladle from the kitchen drawer and put about six ounces of the substance into a small glass and set it on the kitchen table. He then took a seat and stared at the glass. Now what? He had no family to speak of. Charlie was gone. He had a job, but so what?

He picked up the glass, gave it one last sniff and drank. At first the liquid tasted sweet, then he noticed that it had a bit of a twang to it that caused his mouth to pucker up – then he found that it had the kick of a good southern whiskey. When he got to the last stage of the flavor sensation, he folded up like he had just done a double shot – that moment when the burning sensation hits your throat and you’re gasping for air but don’t want to take a breath; when you scrunch your body up tight like you want to cough, and you squeeze your eyes shut to fight back the tears.

“Whew,” was the only word he could get out as he sat with his eyes still closed, recovering from the drink. He opened his eyes when he felt something cold and wet against his hand. He reached up and found a muzzle, and then the rest of the animal.

“Charlie?”

Charlie whined that happy, “Gosh I’m glad you’re here” noise that dogs make when their owners come home from work. Larry rubbed his eyes and blinked them a few times, “Why’s it so dark?”

seven isn't bad for the first shot!

i really enjoyed the results of this fine experiment! the diversity was cool - and for all of us - true to form in respect to our genre's.

a unique variety, i'm convinced - one or two or three or four or five of us are nuts.

all of the stories were great. all of the stories were self contained, and regardless of our individual preferences - perfectly readable. while some of us wandered off into the twilight zone (and may still be there), a few decided to stay on earth.

and i have to admit, that staying on earth is the harder story to write. i chose a mundane line to start the story with. to take the sentence for a walk into the twilight zone is easy for me - but taking a mundane sentence and making a story - a good "real world" story out of it takes skill. so my hat is definitely off to the "stayed in the real world" writers!

for my twisted little mind, i think that the most unexpected characters were the little guys in space suits... for sheer novelty ending alone, that one got my attention.

the stories went the full gambit - from the real world - to the surreal world - to another world.

pretty blasted good for seven nuts connected by cables, i think!

Queen Lori is next up to bat, by the way. I'll be shooting her a quick message in a moment - so who knows... you may be finding out before she does!

write on!

Thanks a lot Tarhead....okay guys give me a little bit to come up with something cause I have an idea. Twisted and sick maybe, but hey, we are all a little insane on here. I will post it under a new thread name so look for it at some point today. I will probably manage to get it on here before most of you log in this afternoon anyway.

At least Tarhead admits that I am the Queen....

Well what started out as a plan for me turned into a real f%^*$ed up day. Sorry for my French, but that's how bad it has been. So, y'all will have to wait with bated breath for this weeks topic. I have an idea, but I need to completely formulate it, if that makes any sense. So forgive me for having a crappy day at my crappy job, and being sick on top of it....

Kiss the Queen...hahahaha!!!

Take your time Lori and congrats on your story. Listen i was thinking maybe we should post our stories on the same day. Lets say monday( any day that suits everyone).
Let me know what every one thinks.
*I leave bowing to the qwueen.*