« Previous Issue | Main | Next Issue »

June 30, 2005

Volume 2, Issue 30

This one should be simple:

The theme word today is

PEPPERMINT

• Comments (13)     Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit

Ted; The Peppermint Beach Club

On 17th street in Virginia Beach used to be a little club called the Peppermint. Four dollar cover, two drink minimum, big-assed dance floor, and Warren Zevon played a gig there every year.

Three years running I saw him there. The way he did a live show was amazing. "Roland" was a fifteen minute song, live. "Hasten" had the girls crying. "Werewolves" was the fan test. If you blew 'and his hair was perfect' the bar was closed to you the rest of the night.

The Peppermint closed, then it burned, then Warren never played Tidewater again. Enjoy every sandwich.

• Comments (1)     Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit

Stacy: Invasive Schminvasive

He hefted the machete, whacked experimentally at some foliage, then, confident of his swing, began chopping in earnest. The pungent fragrance of the cut leaves filled the air around them, making their eyes sting and water.

She followed gingerly behind him, careful to avoid the cut ends and the oozing sap, which could raise blisters on unprotected skin.

He cut a few more feet and they were through, into sudden sunlight. They collapsed on a bench, sweaty and tired, leaves stuck to various spots.

He glared at her, “You’re the one who wanted to plant peppermint in the back yard.”

Read more from Stacy's .

    Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit

Michele: I Want Candy

The first thing Dave saw was the leg; shiny, bloated and sticking out from under the sofa.

The first thing he smelled was death. Not funeral home death, which smelled like Lysol and face powder, but rancid, rotting death - a smell that made his nostrils quiver and his stomach do a seasick lurch.

“Here.” The captain handed him an old-fashioned, single-wrapped candy.

“I don’t like peppermint.”
“You prefer the taste of death?”

Dave walked away, intent on examining the leg without benefit of peppermint. Two inches from the limb he stooped over and vomited on the crime scene.

“Stupid rookies.”

    Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit

The Eschatologist: On The Efficacy Of Certain Perennials In The Family Lamiaceae

The genus Mentha is typically associated with true mints, especially peppermint, with it's small purple or white flowers and fragrant aromatics. M. piperita is the most commercially viable species, with a wide variety of uses. Specifically, the leaves of the herb are dried for flavoring (for instance in certain teas or confectionaries), but the bitter leaf oil can be used to alleviate certain stomach ailments, act as a stimulant, or as a disguise for the disagreeable tastes of certain poisons. Referencing the latter, Owen wondered quietly what the dead botany professor lying on the floor thought of his D-average now.

• Comments (1)     Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit

Tanya: Homeopathy

She sat in the darkest corner, silently watching the midwife toil by the fire. There was indeed a tiny life growing inside her.

She wondered if this could change anything. Would the beatings stop? Could a child make her husband merciful? Or would it only give him another target for his cruelty? Could they stow away on a ship to the continent? Or even to America? She knew she was dreaming.

The midwife returned with another pot of tea, the scent of peppermint oil and leaves overpowering. As she began drinking the fourteenth cup, she finally felt the miscarriage begin.

    Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit