Episode 5: "It's Not The Labour, It's The Parts"

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 5, for Saturday the fifth of October 2024.

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It's Not The Labour, It's The Parts

by Elizabeth Guilt

I waved as he disappeared. I held my breath.

He didn't come back.

I waited a couple of hours, but still no cheerful creak as he shouldered open the door, brimming with stories.

Perhaps things weren't as predictable as we'd thought. Maybe our calculations were off.

After a year, I had to know the worst. I thrust a spade between the roots of our old oak tree, riving the ground apart until I found the metal box, rusted after a century in soil. It was stuffed with letters. He loved me, missed me, but could not repair our time machine.

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Episode 4: "New Tricks"

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 4, for Friday the fourth of October 2024.

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New Tricks

by Elizabeth Guilt

Girls love a boy who's spliced in dog DNA. They can't wait to ruffle Hugo's fur, fondle his ears. Sylvie doesn't notice that the hand curled around the glass is too much paw these days. Doesn't see him when his money's run out, snapping and snarling over bones in the gutter.

"You'd look cute with a tail," she says.

"That's not for me," I murmur.

My changes are minute, easily hidden. Fly DNA for reflexes. Tarantula and scorpion for stealth and defence. Enough to pull off the deals to pay for more splices.

This isn't about girls. It's about survival.

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