My Cousin Elmo says, “How can I trust the COVID vaccine when I know that Pfizer is in the business of raising the dead? I mean, they still make ‘Viagra,’ don’t they?”

“No, it won’t hurt,” the doctor at the Institute said, “You’ll be given a shot and you won’t feel a thing.”

Margaret felt relieved. The pain was always her biggest fear as the time for the procedure approached.

On the appointed day, Margaret gathered to stand in line with the others. Each person wore the same paper garment as they approached the separation point.

At her turn, the elderly woman smiled up at the Synth and said, “Thank you.”

Without a word, the Synth stabbed a needle in her neck. Margaret fell dead on the conveyor belt like a perfect citizen.

My Cousin Elmo says, “While some people have aged like fine wine, I aged like milk. Sour and chunky.”

Considered exceptional as a youngster, Ellen was the top of her university class. After graduation, she received a letter from the State Medical Institute wishing to examine her.

Upon waking, she found she could not see, speak or move and couldn’t understand why.

Ellen sensed more than heard the voices urging her not to panic, directing her, “Allow yourself time to regenerate.”

Beyond her, a conversation, one she could not hear, was taking place, “This is our newest acquisition, 510-10512. This brain has one of the highest IQ’s the institute’s ever seen and is now surgically connected to the Central System.”

He walked a mile in another man’s shoes. A crooked politician. He left them for someone else to wear. Now, no matter how much he scrubs them, his feet will never feel clean again.

The little boy was right when he said, “We’re so thick, sunlight can’t shine through us.”
“What makes you say that?” his mom asked.
“My shadow,” he answered, “It’s so dark.”

It was a gentle rumble, one Modi had heard so many times over the years he’d been at the monastery. He rolled over in bed, stretched, then got up.

The state-run radio was playing in the background, the announcer’s guest saying, “There are no such things as real dragons. They are imaginary, and therefore not to be feared.”

The hot air balloon would soon arrive and he’d have visitors for the rest of the morning. The sound grew louder as he walked out onto the terrace of the building that sat high in the rocky crag of a mountain.

He could see clear to the horizon, where the sun would later set. But Modi would not see it that evening, as he fell prey to a dragon’s rumbling stomach.

“Interesting,” he thought, as the beast swallowed him, “that a hot air balloon’s real burners should sound like an imaginary dragon.”

There is a house that is high on the hill. Its lights are on and it is meant to be a shining example for all the world to see. But no one is home, and ‘We the people,’ no longer live there.

Jericho lost his device from his work-station. He searched everywhere but finally had to report the loss.

“Unable to track,” the automated voice of the screen said, “You will receive a new device in three days.”

All-day Jericho remained distracted, anxious, eventually growing sick to his stomach, profusely sweating and trembling uncontrollably. His productivity dropped below 10 percent, triggering an alert from Human Resources.

That night, Jericho couldn’t sleep and was found wandering the hallways of his apartment complex talking into his shoe. He remains in the psych-ward, a poster child for why carelessness is frowned on by the State.

Newly elected Republican Nevada Assemblywoman Annie Black of Mesquite, Nevada was in Washington D.C., in support of President Donald Trump when the Capitol Building was stormed.

“I’ve attended over a dozen Trump rallies over the past few years, including the one in Bullhead City in October,” Black wrote in an op-ed. “They’ve been nothing but peaceful, fun events. Wednesday’s started out that way … but went horribly and tragically wrong.”

“Regardless, I don’t care if they were Antifa, rogue Trump supporters, white nationalists (or) whatever,” she continued. “Those who rioted inside the Capitol should be identified, arrested, charged, prosecuted and severely punished.”

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to positions in state legislatures, called for Black’s resignation, along with 11 other state legislators from around the country the organization said were involved in the chaos.

“There is blood on the ground at Capitol Hill and Republicans have nothing to say about their own elected officials who cheered on the rioters,” said Jessica Post, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee in a statement. “There must be consequences for these shameful actions.”

Nevada Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, and Assembly Minority Leader Robin Titus, R-Wellington, released a joint statement stating that it would be “disappointing to learn of any elected leader at any level of government participating in violent or criminal activities.”

“Nevada families deserve representatives who take their duty to uphold the fabric of our democracy with the level of seriousness it demands,” the statement read. “Any activities deemed criminal should be handled by law enforcement and any actions taken against any member will be carefully considered if appropriate, but we will not be distracted from doing the work Nevadans elected us to do to get through these unprecedented times.”

No one in either party called for Gov. Steve Sisolak’s resignation following a video that aired on KTNV, where at about the 5:56 mark, Sisolak says, “To those who will be out on our streets asking to be seen and asking to be heard, I thank you.”

This comes right after acknowledging that LVMPD Officer Shay Mikalonis was shot in the head and left paralyzed by a Black Lives Matter rioter. Sisolak then went on to call for police to be “patient” with the rioters.

Edgar Samaniego has since been arrested and charged with the shooting of Mikalonis.