The cop caught the criminal climbing the gigantic tree and tasered him. The criminal fell, landed heavily on him and fled. The cop managed to uncork his emergency Time Wine but accidentally swigged too much. The criminal freewheeled backward, landed on the cop and climbed the tree, again. The wine soaked into the ground, the tree collapsed on the cop who fell onto his taser, which arced up through the tree. Criminal and cop both died. Later, a farmer bulldozing the tree found the bodies, plus the bottle of nearly-empty Time Wine. Two drops took ten years off his life.

Author’s Note: I explored one outcome if ‘Time Wine’ were added to a regular cop’s arsenal of weapons.

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Max laid the net at Lily’s feet. “See? I trawled the whole world for words of love. It’s my gift to you.”

Lily shivered. “It’s a net, Max. I’m not a fish.”

He stared at her.

“Max, listen. All words trap meaning, and all nets trap, but your love’s a noun, a need, a list, a demand: dead, Max. But love’s a verb, living, giving. I told you before, I love someone else.”

“Not possible.”

“Believe me, it’s over, Max.”

He filled it with stones and tossed it away. Next day a cop knocked.

His net had hooked a corpse.

Author’s Note: Dorothy L. Sayers inspired this story, some passing comment on words made by her witty detective Lord Peter Wimsey.

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