SECOND SHORT STORY PUBLICATION CREDIT

Rock, Paper, Scissors is going to take another of my short stories, "The Methuselah Project." This is my second fiction publication credit. They published "The Paperless Doctrine of 2152" last year.

"The Methuselah Project" is a story that will be included in my Master's thesis, "Keeping Watch," along with "The Paperless Doctrine of 2152" and a few others. It is about a drug that was sold to pregnant couples that wanted to give their child an edge in life, that of a long life. The problem is that no one new the true power of the drug. There is also a faction composed of religious zealots that believe that any child or person affected by the drug is an affront to God's glory.

The story is told from many perspectives, including M1 or Methuselah, the first to have been treated with the drug. At the time of the story is already more than 150 years old, but looks and feels like someone between 25 and 30.

The government, now run by the religious zealots has rounded every last person affected by the drug for execution. This is where they discover what M1 already new, a person affected by the drug can not be killed. They can be dismembered, they can be incinerated, but eventually they will live again.

Here is a short unedited teaser (the journal will be available in the late fall):

The Methuselah Project

The Interviews 10/25/2150 – Tessa Roy

TR: I didn’t choose this.

M1: None of us did. Tell me when you realized your gift.

TR: Gift. We’re been rounded up and numbered. How could you?

M1: It will be easier for both of us if you answer without the hostility. Please. Tell me when you realized your gift.

TR: I hate you. I really do.

M1: I know. Please.

TR: It was my fortieth birthday party. My father and a few friends knew that I loved old cars. The tail fins. The stripes. The leather bench seats made for sex. My father picked me up at 3:30. It was going to be just him and me. I had just divorced my second husband. The paper work had gone though two days earlier. My father surprised me by pulling up in classic black 1956 Cadillac El Dorado Seville with chrome rails and a pearl hardtop. We drove up the PCH along the coast until we got to a lookout and he parked the car and got out.

M1: So he told you?

TR: He had pictures from my twenty-fifth birthday. Close ups.

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