Free B003J5UJ4U EBOK by David Lubar

the oversized closet they called a dressing room.
    “Willis?” a man standing between him and the door asked. He was wearing a very nice suit—expensive, but not flashy.
    Flinch nodded, but kept his distance. He’d never had trouble after a set, no matter how badly he ripped anyone up, but he’d heard stories about comedians running into some hothead from the audience who took an insult too personally.
    The man reached inside his sport coat. Flinch relaxed as he saw ahead of time that the man was only pulling out a business card.
    “I’m Don Mackeson,” the guy said as Flinch took the card.
    “Whoa!” Flinch knew it wasn’t cool to act surprised, but according to the card, he was face to face with a talent coordinator for “Standup After Midnight,” a late-night cable show. “You offering me an audition?”
    “Nope. You just had your audition. I caught your act. Very nice. You’re a bit unpolished, in a charming sort ofway, but we like fresh talent on the show. And you have a lot of potential. We’re running a series featuring
new
faces. One of the acts had to drop out at the last minute. How old are you?”
    “Fifteen.” Flinch’s head was spinning.
    “Excellent. We’ll need your parents’ permission. And you’ll need a chaperone. But it’ll be a blast. We’ll send a limo. Put you up in a fine hotel. Treat you like a king. What do you say?”
    “You bet.”
    “Fantastic. We’re shooting this weekend at clubs in New York, Hartford, and Baltimore. You get your choice.”
    New York.
That was the big time for standup comics. There and Los Angeles, of course. And Chicago for improv. But to Flinch’s surprise, he found himself asking, “Are you doing anything in Philly?”
    “We’re at a club there tomorrow. But it’s kind of short notice. You ready to dive right in like that?”
    “Yeah. I was born ready. Can you make it happen?”
    “I can make anything happen. Pack your bags tonight. Call my office first thing tomorrow and we’ll work out the details.”
    Flinch laughed as Don Mackeson walked away.
    “What’s so funny?” he asked, looking back over his shoulder.
    Even now, still stunned and deep into day dreams of stardom, Flinch waited just a fraction of a second before speaking so his reply would have the perfect timing. “I never saw
that
coming.”

martin dwells on a box
    “ YOU’D THINK A couple of engineering students would be smart enough to keep their gas tank filled,” Martin muttered. He couldn’t believe the nightmare he’d been through.
    They hadn’t gone more than five miles when the car ran out of gas on some side road in the middle of nowhere. Neither of the guys had remembered to charge his cell phone. After arguing for ten minutes about the best way to go, the two of them took off to look for a gas station. Martin waited. He waited some more. He didn’t have a watch, so he couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but it seemed like a couple hours. Finally, he decided to start walking.
    As he walked, he couldn’t help reliving a day that was even darker. “I still can’t believe it.” It had been so horrible. And so sudden. He could remember every detail of that frozen morning in January when he’d learned the news about Trash. Of all of them, Trash had the most awesome power—the greatest potential of all. And he’d thrown it away for a joy ride. Martin had the newspaper clipping in his room. He didn’t like to look at it, but he couldn’t bear to throw it away. That was absolutely the worst day of his life. So far.
    Eventually, he reached a small town. Everything was closed. The clock in front of a bank flashed the news that it was 12:14. After wandering around for another half hour, Martin decided the best place to sleep would be in a narrow alley next to a shoe store. There were a bunch of empty cardboard boxes piled in a Dumpster. Martin spread them out and drifted through the night until the sound of morning traffic woke him.
    He staggered out of