Tuk-tuk Archives - James Strauss

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Four, Chapter XXVIII

I rolled off the cushioned bench seat behind the table and onto the floor, my fake Bacardi Coke coming down on top of me, like it was seeking some sort of safety itself. The neat crystal glass rolled across the hardwood floor to stop before my eyes. There was no shot...

The Cowardly Lion, Volume Four, Chapter XXVII

by James Strauss | 42 comments

There was no place to go, the small privacy room was built to hold one human being at a time and had thick wooden walls so telephone calls could not be overheard. I stepped outside, letting the spring action built into the door, and slowly close it behind me. That the...

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Four, Chapter XXVI

by James Strauss | 48 comments

I stood stunned. The weights at the bottom of the ceramic characters he’d given me were not lead. I thought for just a few seconds, remembering handling the pieces and putting them into the special broken down manger scene I’d made myself in the garage. There were too...

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Four, Chapter XXV

by James Strauss | 58 comments

Nguyen let his Chinese version of a soup spoon settle into his bowl of traditional Korean soup. The sounds penetrating the thin walls assured that no listening devices, if planted and that didn’t seem remotely possible, would hear nothing. “When I stopped by your...

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Four, Chapter XXIV

by James Strauss | 62 comments

I stared at the two security men in their strange civilian, but severe attire, in shock. How could I respond when there was no possibility of selling an American-based life insurance policy to citizens of another country without licenses or permissions? My device to...