B-Movie War Read Free

worked for weeks on end with little to no sleep, he would’ve laughed at how the babies were conveniently in wicker baskets next to the windows.
    The sound of wood hitting wood, the birds peck the soldiers to death. Through the back of their heads, strings of brains are sucked up into the beaks. The entire fleet of soldiers are dead. On the horizon, cars drive up to meet the birds. They are locals from Varney Carn, Missouri. Women in plain non-flattering dresses. Baby-sitters. Mothers. Grandmothers. All of whom have lost their newborns to the storks.
    Each of vehicles come to a screeching halt. Out the women come with shotguns in hands, ready to take on the threat in the sky…
    Jules was distracted from the film. His office was large enough for his desk, his file towers and promotional posters he saved from previous movie showings. Now the space had somehow expanded. It wasn’t logical, but neither was his wife coming back to life. He didn’t care. He was happier this way. Reality, or false reality, Jules embraced it. This was for the best.
    He stood up to stretch. The kink of his spine was electric. He had been hunched for hours and hours on end, working tirelessly to perform the simple job of cutting reels and piling them up.
    â€œTake your shoes and socks off,” a voice suddenly called out to Jules from a distance. Darlene sat on a red and white checkered blanket. She wore a red skimpy swimsuit. She was sunbathing.. Her black hair was fanning out from the blowing wind. The breeze was just right. Cooling, but not too cold. “Lay next to me and relax. I’ll rub lotion on you.”
    Jules sat down, his entire body sore. He was older, and she was so young. How come she was here when she was dead? And how was this beach scene in his office possible? He stepped on what felt like real sand and smelling the salt water come off the ocean. The questions melted away as Darlene took his shirt off and rubbed sun lotion into his shoulders and whispered sweet nothings into his ears.
    Darlene talked about how they first met at a showing of Cleopatra at The Odyssey Theatre. Jules ran the place for two years on his own before he met Darlene Purtee (He liked calling her Darling Pretty; cheesy, but it got the job done. The woman married him!). She was the only other person who attended the showing. They were both in their late middle age. Jules had seen her come and go into movies alone many times before that day. Sometimes she’d buy popcorn and licorice and a Diet Coke, and other times she didn’t buy anything. That particular day, she hadn’t purchased any concessions, so Jules bought her favorite goodies and sat right down next to her and gave her several free tickets and the treats on one condition. They call the movie a date. Six months later, they were married and co-owned the theatre. She was a hardcore movie fan. Darlene ran a local fan club in honor of classic movies. Jules allowed the group cheap rates to attend the movies they requested. He ordered the reels and fulfilled their requests. Romance blossomed so naturally between them. But when she died, the film group disbanded. It seemed Darlene had that special power over people. Without her, the magic was gone. Her radiance was missed to the point the theatre slowly became less popular. The business was failing. Any day now, collectors would kick him out. But that didn’t matter. Here Darlene was kissing him, holding him close and reminiscing about those good times. It was like she was never gone.
    He tried to ask her why he was cutting up the reels, why he was confined to his office, how come she was back from the dead and in a much younger package, but each kiss, each touch, melted him and those concerns. He closed his eyes and lapped up the affection and attention as she unclothed him and they made love with their backs to the ocean.
    Jules didn’t see the group of scantily clad women playing volleyball on the beach in the far