Mark Stigers
Bio
One year after my birth sputnik was launched, making me a space child. I did a hitch in the Navy as a electronics tech. I worked for Hughes Aircraft Company for quite a while. I currently live in the Saguaro forest in Tucson Arizona
Stories (111/0)
Too Much Fun in the Sun?
I hate jet airliners. While I am flying, I think 35,000 feet divided by 16 is 2187.5. The square root of that is 46.77. That means that if the plane explodes and I am thrown free of the wreckage, it will take 46.77 seconds to hit the ground. Of course, the Armstrong Limit is the altitude above which the atmospheric pressure is sufficiently low that water boils at the temperature of a human body. I’m about 30,000 feet below that, thank God. The air is a much better 3.5 psi at -65 degrees Fahrenheit. It warms up quickly as you fall. Everything suggests that you would die from impacting the ground.
By Mark Stigers 3 years ago in Fiction
To Stone a Bull
When I was young, we would go to my Uncle Buck's country farm every summer in Ohio. The closest town was Gallipolis, which was near Waterloo. They were out in the country. We drove across America, and it was beautiful. I remember them building the Arch in St. Louis. We saw a mammoth crane put the gleaming sections into place in the Great Gateway Arch.
By Mark Stigers 3 years ago in Fiction
The Pod
The Sail Fish, a one-masted cabin cruiser, and I ran about four knots against the wind. It was a time to be alone. When a fat old sea lion shot out of the sea on a wave and landed on the deck of the Sail Fish. A pod of angry Orca swam around the Sail Fish. Two of the big ones started to ram me. I put on my life vest. Three hits, things started to get thrown around. Five hits, framing started to creek and crack. ten hits it is coming apart. I call on the radio. The GPS stops working.
By Mark Stigers 3 years ago in Fiction
The Chocolate Monger
Robert Mumford had always loved chocolate. He had chocolate every day in as many different ways as he could. Chocolate donuts at breakfast. Chocolate soda at lunch. At dinner, he had chocolate milk and chocolate cake for dessert. Mumford’s Chocolate Limited did a good business selling refined chocolate concentrate syrup to manufacture chocolate masterpieces. At Mumford’s, a huge tank of chocolate syrup did not wait long to distribute its contents to manufacturers that turned the sweet liquid into money.
By Mark Stigers 3 years ago in Fiction
A Point in Spacetime
It had taken three days to go through my Great Grandpa house. He had the old mill converted over to generate power for the property. It seemed to be working. That was good because I had no idea what to do if it broke. The cherry orchard he had inherited from his father. He had made it work for him all his life.
By Mark Stigers 3 years ago in Fiction
Cooking with Insane Jane
The aroma filled the air with the smell of carbolized Mary Jane and simmering butter. Victoria Heartt let it cook for well over an hour. As she was known to her close friends, Vic filtered out the solids from the hot butter. Then she let it cool. With that butter, she measured out the required ingredients to make three dozen chocolate chip cookies.
By Mark Stigers 3 years ago in Potent
