{"id":1622,"date":"2012-08-31T01:45:23","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T01:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2012-08-31T01:45:23","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T01:45:23","slug":"desert-kingsby-mike-mccormick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/desert-kingsby-mike-mccormick\/","title":{"rendered":"Desert Kingsby Mike McCormick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Desert Kings<\/h1>\n

by Mike McCormick<\/p>\n

Tanned arms swing from the windows of a bone-white vehicle. The truck rattles west, where the sun is bleeding all down the horizon.<\/p>\n

Inside the cab, clear bottles of water roll around the floor like crazy marbles. Four almost-men ride together in silence. Black athletic jerseys stretch over their golden torsos. The driver wears war-paint under his eyes.<\/p>\n

Outside the truck, hissing diamondbacks slink away from coils of their own dead skin. Unnatural plants arch their bodies up to the orange-scorched sky, which has not seen rain in weeks.<\/p>\n

Some miles pass. The youngest-looking player shouts up from the truck?s backseats.<\/p>\n

?Hey, anyone see that fox back there??<\/p>\n

His teammates ignore the question. The road shoots by.<\/p>\n

?That brown fox. He had a snake hangin? from his mouth.?<\/p>\n

The driver, the one with the war paint, nods his head at this.<\/p>\n

The others watch the horizon. In the distance, a new halo of blue light snaps on.<\/p>\n

The field awaits them. The driver stamps down on the accelerator.<\/p>\n

In a bathroom next to the football field, young girls paint their lips blood-red in a cracked and dusty mirror. They take desert flowers, all kinds of lovely faded purples and blues, and clip them into each other?s hair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tanned arms swing from the windows of a bone-white vehicle. The truck rattles west, where the sun is bleeding all down the horizon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t