Read Death by Ploot Ploot for Free Online

places!"
    Krue chucked his
youngest son up the backside of his head.
    "On the other hand,
this Charl had witnessed too much. He also did not want to suffer like his
comrades . . . "
    Yaniff stroked his chin.
"When you are as old I am such suffering
can be yearned for. Perhaps even begged for. Why did I not send
myself on such a journey?"
    Traed snorted.
"Because, you always seem to send me in your stead."
    Yaniff shrugged,
unrepentant. "And did I not tell you, you would thank me one day?"
    Rejar ducked, expecting
Traed to pull out his light sabre and lob off the old wizard's head. But the
dark-haired man merely stared blankly at the old man. Not amused. Or amused.
His secret.
    Deana was not about to
be dissuaded. She was finally nearing the end.
    Lorgin stood as she
approached him. Looming tall above her, he stared down at her through his dark
lashes. His incredible amethyst eyes flashed intermittently. On standby, no
doubt.
    "Death
or Ploot Ploot?" she asked.
    "Death," his low voice declared
firmly.
    Deana blinked at him.
    His eyes sparked at her.
"I would rather die than commit 'Ploot Ploot' with anyone else but you,
Adeeann."
    Awwww. The whole St. Valentine’s Day concept? He completely nailed it
with those words. Leave it to the big galoot to get perfectly, wonderfully
mushy and almost ruin her punch line at the same time!
    Oh, who was she fooling;
he had her at “death”.
    However a joke was at
stake here and she took her jokes seriously. She squared her shoulders. Lowered
her voice.
    "The leader nodded
and raised her hands high in the air. She loudly proclaimed: Death . . .”
    Pause, wait for it.
    “By Ploot Ploot!"
    Everyone
roared.
    Deana was pretty sure
the joke would find its way around Aviara in various and sundry forms until it
was all but unrecognizable.
    Her work was done.
    What was more, the
‘barbeque’ wasn’t half-bad either.
    The next day, when Deana
returned home from a trip to the local version of a brewery where she had
arranged for a delivery of mir for Yaniff, she was not surprised to find the
family in various states of 'flop' around her yard. It was still very warm out
and it was much cooler in the Tree.
    What she was surprised
about was the stack of items piled in the center of the main level.
    "What is
this?" she called out to anyone who would answer.
    "They are presents
for you, Adeeann," Lorgin responded without glancing up from the laughing
face of his daughter who was bouncing merrily on his knee.
    "Presents
for me? What do you mean?"
    "For
St. Stooges Day, Adeeann," Suleila beamed at her. "We have all brought you
gifts to show you how much we care for you as you asked."
    Oh, God. Deana covered her face
with her hands. They didn't. She peeked through her fingers verifying
the mountain of gifts. They did.
    How had they
misinterpreted her like this? Why did Aviarans get everything bass ackwards?
She groaned.
    "We want you to
feel at home, daughter," Krue added.
    Eep. Now she really felt like
a tool. "I didn't want you to– that is, I–"
    Lorgin stopped bouncing
Melody to look at her. "What is it?"
    "Well, you don't
quite have the gist of it . . . although I thank you for these great presents.
You see, you don't give one person gifts .
. . this is about conveying your intimate thoughts with a gesture
or a token of–""
    Lorgin's brow instantly lowered
and his lips flattened. "I pray this is not like a ‘ pan-el ’
discussion, Adeeann."
    Her husband had been
introduced to the art of panel discussions at the science fiction convention
they had attended. Years ago. And he was still irritated over the pompous
moderator! Every now and then he still threatened to go back and skewer the
obnoxious professor.
    "No, no, nothing
like that. You all don't give a gift to me, you give gifts to your special
loved one."
    As this germ of information
sank in, Suleila immediately brightened. "You mean our mates gives us
gifts?" She gave Deana a meaningful glance which Deana had no trouble
interpreting. It