ONE: One for the money, Two for the show

Well, its one for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
Now go, cat, go go go...

but...

The room was dark.
Nowhere to go, the moonlight peeping in from the broken window.
Jhonny "Shoelace" Dow rubbed the bump on his forehead, wincing at the dull throb of pain.
He stood over a dead body, splayed on the marble floor.
The full moon was reflected in the pool of blood, slowly spreading around Jhonny's feet.

Elvis was grinding on the turntable somewhere in the next room or next door or what ever "next" there was from here. Strange song for the occaision, Shoelace always found that song strange, and now it was almost eerie.

Jhonny could not see the face of the dead,
could not remember why he was here,
or where he was just before he came here...
He remembered wearing his fine dark suit in the morning, remembered fixing his date with the sexy Niki, his babe of the month, for later tonight, but tonight was now, and he was here. Nowhere.

What Jhonny could see was the squat, old fashioned table on his side, and the two open boxes on it - the sleek black leather box and the not-so-sleek cardboard box. There was a note in the sleek box.

In the dark room, he saw no exit, only could see his face reflected in that huge mirror right opposite him, he could just make out his face in the cold, feeble moonlight. He felt as if there was something wrong with his face:

probably the bruises, probably something else, but first get out of here...aarrgh! all this wet blood on this cold cold night!!!

Jhonny picked up the note, it read:

Wanted: A wizard to wield the wand.

Footstep!!! Too many to be friendly!

Jhonny looked around... He was... He didn't know where he was, or what options he had, all he knew was that there was the dead body, and his feet were wet...

He quickly picked up the other box, the lid said:

Clickity Clickity Clickity

left heel to go beyond

Clopity Clopity Clopity

snub right toe to turn around

He opened the box and inside were a pair of...

Blue Suede Shoes.

Too bad they'll be all messy with my bloody feet in them.

The footsteps were coming closer...

Shoelace looked at his wet feet, wet with blood of the dead, blood that was now cold, and did not waste any time. Shoes on feet, sleek leather box in his jacket pocket.

Wait! what is this wad of cash doing in my pocket??? too late, no time...

Crash! Someone shot at him from behind! Jhonny ducked, the mirror in front of him shattered...

Ah! so that was where the door was!

But the door was now blocked, blocked with a loaded gun.

Clickity Clickity Clickity
left heel to go beyond

What the hell, what else was there to do?

Play Dead...

or Play Dorothy...

Clickity

Clickity

and as Shoelace's left heel reached the marble for the final clickity...

a sharp ounce of metal left the gun ..

BLAAMMM!!!

To tell a truly tall tale...

A game of Exquisite Corpse or Consequences.

Quiet like AmillionPenguins

A little different though.

What me and Sumukh have decided to do is to write a story, the way Exquisite Corpse is played.

I write a piece, then he follows it up with his, then I follow it up with another and he with another and so on and so forth...

Watch out for the multitude of twists, many characters and a rock hard plot.

A few rules:

1. No chapter starts with "well..." or "well friends...", Well, what I am trying to say is that even if it is a cliche, try not starting it as one...
2. No character is inroduced with out action. Never say "There was a king..." say "The king was marching with the army for the great war.."

and by the way... unless I forget, it's a ScienceFictionFantasy, ... at least that is what I think it is...

Let's see how it all develops.