Radiation Plantation

by Winston C. Mars

October 13, 2003

"Radiation Plantation,"
I spoke the information.

"Scott?"

Scott blew snot on a pink carnation.

"Ready the gammaram,
and prepare for floatation."

"Aye aye, captain,"
he replied as he spied a crustacean.

So at last we'd found it,
in the deepest of space!

This holiest of grails,
the prey in our chaseâ€¦

Who'd have believed it!
Real, and true?
Nobody! But you were all wrong! And screw you!

Pausing to blink in the thick radiation,
I surveyed the scene with a keen adulation.

The orange peaks protruding from a backdrop so drabâ€”
"Scott, now goddammit! Don't kick that space crab!"

Christ! On the cusp of a discovery so vast
it would make the wheel itself seem half-assed,

I was cursed with a first mate so wantonly inept
that I put down my somascope and wantonly wept!

No good! No use! Might as well pack it in!
My half-life had been wasted, chucked in the waste bin.

Twenty long years been spent in pursuitâ€¦
Now the ass of my dreams was being kicked with a boot!

The free energy here could boggle the brain,
with atomic atoms and radiant rain.

It could power a nation and make a man rich.
"Scott, stop rolling around in that space ditch!"

It's useless, it's hopeless! It's patently absurd!
There he is throwing rocks at a space bird!

A competent crewman would be my salvation.
Oh, I picked the wrong weekend to ask for visitation!

"What is it now Scott? Can't you see I'm distraught?
With no way to prove that I was here or not?

The mission's a failure, no one will believe
that I ever found this place. Now let's us just leave!"

"You found me a present, well yippie and woo-hoo.

Wait, this is the space shell of a radiant shrew!

It's only found hereâ€¦ our failure undone!

Oh what a genius I have for a son!"

Milestones

1999: Raoul Dunkin's first play, The Touch of Love, is put on in the commune break room by giggling staff reporters who find it unguarded in Dunkin's desk.

Now Hiring

Park Ranger. Duties include curtailing activities of bears, from large-haired picnic-basket stealing fun-lovin' bears to savage, towering vicious grizzly bears. Encountering bears is unlikely within the office, but your presence should finally shut up bear-phobic Ivana Folger-Balzac.

Top Enduring 2004 Election Scandals

1.	Bush didn't really win; they forgot to count the comatose vote
2.	Identical twins voted twice, ignoring "1 Face, 1 Vote" principle
3.	Every 13th vote discarded as "unlucky"
4.	Too many precincts used antiquated paper ballots
5.	Too many precincts used newfangled electric voting machines
6.	10,000 Florida voters cast ballots for dead man: John Kerry
7.	Too many military absentee ballots were marked for Bush: Now that's just stupid
8.	No paper trail for southern state "applause-o-meter" polling technique
9.	Oh sweet Jesus, Bush really won!
10.	Eskimos kept away from polls by sheer geography

The Insomnia of Ransom Ripple
Ransom Ripple's twisted nipples kept him from his sleep. The night was long, as Ransom's thong straight up his ass would creep. An incessant dripping at his ears was nipping, as it echoed from the sink. "This noisy room will be my... (9/29/03)

Nature
Lovely limping little lepers like to lick my Dr Pepper. Lice feel nice as honey-nuts buzz right up a buzzard's butt. Screaming beetles weave through weevils so rude they chewed all my Big League Chew. "Motherfucker!" go call Smuckers ... (9/15/03)

Waiter!
"A ball bearing wearing ranch dressing blessing Blanche's wedding? Upsetting," Ted grieved as he weaved his sleeve. "Hey, what did you say?" Nate was late. "Speak up toward my head, Ted." "Whose blues did Louis use?" Ted said. "Choose? I... (9/1/03)