Walter Nielsen's World

5...4...3, the clock ticks down. They dribble the ball down court, it's fired into the quick hands of #22
Walter Nielsen, 2.5...1, he launches the shot. The opposing star, Adrian Shepard, goes for the block,
but it's too late. The ball flies like an eagle, up and up, toward the basket. 1....0----Buzz!!!! The
buzzer rocks the building, as the ball comes nearer and nearer the hoop, the crowd leaps to it's feet
and...

...and the basketball falls on the cold, merciless concrete, the air-ball. Walter looks around the empty
basketball court. A cool, eastern wind picks up, and the goosebumps cover Walter's skin, and prickles his
body. He checked his watch. 5:30 pm. Time to get home. He runs and picks up his ball off the grass. A
dog barks in the distance. "Man, it sure is lonely around here," Walter thinks, shivering as he stands. He
turns and walks slowly home alone...

...alone, on the cold, hard streets of downtown L.A., Walter Nielsen, the rich CEO of CyberTech, trudges
along in silence, his eyes darting from eriee shadow to eriee shadow. The silence is deafening. Suddenly, a
movement from one of the alley-ways. Walter stops, his heart begins to race from anxiety, worry, and fear.
A trash can lid crashes in the alley-way. And then --- they are there. Bolting from the shadows, gangstaz,
4 or 5, Walter took no time to count. He turned and shot off at full sprint. But the hoods were gaining,
fast. Walter turned and shot out into the street. A cab driver came barreling down on him, slams on the
brakes, and then proceeds to floor it around him at the sight of the gang. Walter turns and runs...

...and runs into his house, leaving John and Billy Gibbens yelling outside the fence. "Bullies," Walter thought,
a sigh of relief echoing from his throat. He seeks some comfort in his house.

The next day, Walter walked down the school hallways, hardly noticed by the "chicks" and "studs" around him.
He grabs his books from his locker and proceeds to History Class. As the teacher drones on about the Civil
War and General Stonewall Jackson...

...Stonwall Nielsen paced the floor of the strategy room. "There must be a hole in their forces by the South
Ridge," Stonewall said, pointing fircely to the crudely drawn map," We shall muster 300 troops and punch
throught there, and attack from behind their lines! Then ----" Bullets had suddenly rang through the air.
"Enemy attacking!" Yelled a young soilder. "Great, all I need. Ok men, man the cannons and the gunmounts!!
Full defense!" The powerful Stonewall jumped on his horse and galloped toward his command post on the
other side of the fort. He was almost there when something pierced his side hard...

...hard, and so I need your answers," said Daryle, a popular sophmore sitting next to Walter. "Why should I?"
Walter replied. "Come on, dweeb, it ain't gonna hurt you none, so let me see them." "Screw you!" Walter shot
at a suprised Daryle. "Guess I told him," Walter thought...

...thought has crossed my mind, Magistrate, but, no, I will not lend you minerals. Learn to study and plan
to conserve your own resources, dweeb," the High Commander Walter Nielsen said to Magistrate Daryle
Mengst. "Now, out of my sight." "You will regret this," Daryle muttered. But Walter had no worries. After all,
he had conquered the entire Terran galaxy. He was all powerful, nothing could hurt him...

...him, and hard. The blow mashed with locomotive speed into his side. "Eat my shorts, son," Daryle spat.
As Walter painfully lay on the ground, he sat and wondered, "Do I repell from being my friends? Or are people
not worth being friends with? This sucks." The last doors shut for class. The second bell rang. "Oh crude,"
and he hurried to his next class.

--Michael Fitzpatrick