- Recommended Age Range: 12 and up
- Formats: E-Book
- Approx. Length: 13,000 Words
The cows and chickens have gone mad. So have the people of Dairy, Wisconsin!
Three offbeat outcasts must come together to discover the town’s dreadful secret in “Bad Mood”, a quirky and humorous tale of science fiction and horror. Why is everyone else acting insane? What does it have to do with the corporation that seems to control the town? Will it spread to other cities, to the entire world? You won’t know whether to laugh or scream . . . This novelette by Lori R. Lopez can also be found in her eccentric collection Oout-Of-Mind Experiences.
This short story is currently being enhanced for a new E-Book version!
Samples
“I guess they’re right. You can’t go home again. She left, now everything was different. The place became Bizarreville, U.S.A.”
Perhaps that explained what happened to the town. Old age amnesia. An outbreak of senility caused by fetid cheese, spoiled milk.
(There were fewer and fewer young farmers these days, loyal sons and daughters like Craig, carrying the torch . . . Let’s not dwell on a painful topic! she censored.)
She preferred the alien-invasion theory.
~ from Bad Mood
WHAT WAS THAT? The blonde’s coronary muscle jumped to a state of hyper-drive, inspired by innocuous scrapes which might be anything from withered leaves rustling to a stark branch caressing a house.
Nothing, she discounted and resumed her clumping stiletto gait. Stupid heels! Could you be any more conspicuous?
It wasn’t just creepy sounds that unnerved her. A lot had changed between pursuing “The Dream” and returning home (not tall or sleek enough, a failure at twenty-plus) to Dairy, Wisconsin. The folks she’d known her entire life were acting peculiar.
Like pod people replaced by aliens, she thought as she walked familiar streets carting groceries in the premature twilight of autumn. She shifted the bag’s weight and crossed a deserted intersection, neglecting to look both ways.
It wasn’t that she was careless, or disrespectful of the law. It was something else. It was . . .
Weird, she assessed. The burg was practically a ghost town after sunset. Everyone afraid, cowering in bed. Mom, of course, denied there was anything amiss. Her father claimed terrorists were to blame. (Used to be Communists.) The strangest part was how, suddenly, every human resident of Dairy had turned vegetarian, like the city passed an ordinance. You could expect such behavior in California, but not The Midwest. She used to be the only vegan for miles.
I guess they’re right. You can’t go home again. She left, now everything was different. The place became Bizarreville, U.S.A.
Praise
“I don’t want to give anything away, so suffice it to say — buy the book and find out for yourself. You won’t be sorry!”
“Insanity reigns in a small Wisconsin town and three unlikely people band together to find out who or what the culprit is. Why is this happening and how far will it go? I found this book insanely funny and full of terror at the same time. The writing is good and keeps the reader guessing as the plot unfolds. I don’t want to give anything away, so suffice it to say — buy the book and find out for yourself. You won’t be sorry! Thanks, Ms. Lopez for an interesting, frightening, thought-provoking read! And folks, watch out for mad cows and chickens. They may be on the prowl!”
Linda Baumann
Smashwords Review
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