Flash Fiction Friday 035: ‘Revenge is a dish best served…alive’ by Christopher Farley

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the thirty-fifth piece of flash fiction in this series. This week’s is a 701-worder by Christopher Farley.

Revenge is a dish best served… alive

Brian saw the legs first. Two of them. Then there followed another, then another.  He counted eight. He was unsure as to why it had come out from behind the wardrobe only to sit on the floor and gaze at him; at least he believed it was gazing at him.

He heard a crash downstairs, Margie was cooking and swearing all at once, he chuckled to himself as a list of expletives, possibly borrowed from the army parade ground, turned the air blue.  It still looked at him.  Frowning, he reached for the remote control and turned on the news.  News?  Death, starvation, natural disaster, murder.  No news there, he thought.

The spider had moved.  He didn’t know where but it had gone, disappeared, hopefully back to the hole it had crawled out from.  He gave a final sweep of the room and turned over the TV.  More rubbish.  He was convinced that evening’s viewing was programmed by people who do anything but stay at home in the evening. After rigorous use of the remote he found a motoring channel and let the host guide his way through the intricacies of some flash sports car.

“Margie”, he shouted, “bring us up a beer love would you?”  He heard the voice below in the kitchen, mutter something or other, muffled by the distance and the walls.  A few minutes passed and still no ale.  The spider was back.

“Margie!” Louder this time. “Get us that beer love”.  It wasn’t a request.

Again a minute or two passed.

“Margie!!!”

The spider disappeared.  30 seconds later the door opened, two hands holding a can and a glass arrived and handed both to him.

“You took your time love”.  Not even thanks.

Margie looked briefly into his face as she turned and walked from the room, closing the door behind her.

“Did you just look at me?” he called after her.  He heard her footsteps on the landing then the top of the stairs, the way the floorboard creaked between the banister and the bathroom door was a giveaway.  Then she was back in the kitchen.

He poured the beer from the can and let it settle, continuing to top up the glass slowly.  Raising it to his lips he let the first mouthful wash down his throat.  The spider was back.  “What an ugly brute” he thought.  He considered calling Margie to bring the fly-swatter hanging up in the kitchen.  “No,” he said to himself, “let’s see what it does next”.

After a further 5 minutes of motoring TV he realised he was hungry. “Margie,” he yelled, “bring me a sandwich love.” The spider regarded him.  For a second or two Brian considered throwing something at it but the only things to hand were his beer and the remote control, both necessities and not available for launch.  The spider turned and disappeared.  A short while later the sandwich appeared. “Cheese?  “You know I don’t like cheese in a sandwich.”

“It’s all I got in the fridge,” came the reply.

“Where does my housekeeping money go?”

“I haven’t been to the shop, I haven’t felt well, remember?”

“You won’t be feeling well if you talk to me like that again. I’m the man of the house.”

Margie went downstairs.  The spider appeared. Brian heard sobs from the kitchen. “Bloody woman,” he said.

As if in response, the spider raised itself up on the back two sets of legs, looking at him.  It charged, racing across the room.  Brian watched fascinated, even when the spider struck, biting his foot.  He didn’t feel anything, just a strange numbness; which then started up his left leg, reached his thigh then started down the right one.  Brian sat following the spider with his eyes as the strange sensation crept into his abdomen, then his arms. Finally he could no longer move his head.

The spider returned to the wardrobe, going backwards under the door, studying the man in the chair.  It disappeared.

Five minutes later Margie came through the door with an assortment of cutlery.  She closed the door behind her.  Looking at her husband she sat down and took the knife and fork in her hands… and waited.

Wow. I loved that, thank you, Chris.

Christopher Farley.  He lived a sheltered life in the wilds of Kent from where he was saved by the written word.  So much so that he still corresponds with certain people with A PEN AND PAPER!!

Upon moving to London, a bit like Dick Whittington, searching for streets of gold, he happened upon a beautiful Italian lady who later decided to take him to the sunny realm of southern Switzerland, where he can still be found, smiling inanely, continuously in search of Weissbier.

When he is not working or drinking he sits in front of the computer, searching for fictional inspiration. You can find Chris via his blog http://talkingtosh.wordpress.com where he says he longs to make a living writing but…

I know that feeling As Chris pointed out when he emailed me his photo, doesn’t his picture (the background anyway) look like Edvard Munch’s The Scream (which I wrote about recently).

If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here.

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with historical / romance author Kristy K James – the three hundred and seventy-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.  I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Story A Day May 2012: May 18th – Bill the Bag Man

Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.

And here we are a year later doing it all over again. Today’s prompt was to write a story featuring a loner, so here is my 726-worder. And it’s another sad one, sorry about that.

Bill the Bag Man

They say everyone has someone, but there are those few who slip the radar, made someone their everything then lost them, moved area for a fresh start.

Bill’s wife Laura had been the one interested in shopping, he’d just sit reading the sports section until she either bought (usually) or moved on to another shop (or both).

She’d been the one with the good job. He’d never understood what a gorgeous sales executive had seen in a bin man like Bill but he made her laugh, they made each other laugh and when they were told they couldn’t have children it didn’t seem to matter. They used the money a buggy would have cost to go away for the weekend, a cot bought them a London show.

Whenever she bought a new suit she’d call it an investment but to Bill it looked the same as the one she’d been wearing the day before. “Quality over quantity,” she’d say and she seemed to have both but it was her money and it made her happy, so Bill had no complaints.

“We should do a car boot sale,” he’d suggested but then agreed when she’d said they’d only get a fraction of the money back and that she still wore or used everything she’d bought and he’d nodded again.

But then she started buying smaller sizes, seemed paler each shopping trip and when she’d collapsed he’d wanted to cry at how light she felt lifting her in the car.

As she got thinner the trips increased; she’d wanted to explore while she could, then her mode of transport changed from the London Underground to a wheelchair by the sea front. Finally shopping was all she enjoyed but she’d buy things for him, saying she had more than enough to last a lifetime. Bill knew she meant hers.

He’d not wanted all the clutter around the house before but when she’d died he began to see its attraction; it kept him company. Inanimate objects they may have been, but every now and then he’d get out a bag and look at the contents; smiling if it was something he’d bought, crying if it was hers. So he kept up the tradition, went in every shop with a ‘sale’ sign then bought regardless of whether reduced or not, adding it to the pile when he got home.

He started having to step over things, cupboard space a premium but it felt like exercise. He’d become practiced at making mounds that stayed upright despite resembling the leaning Tower of Pisa. They incorporate tunnels and he felt like his childhood guinea pigs nestling through straw. He’d even chirruped and laughed. He wasn’t sure how Laura would have felt about his existence but he knew she wouldn’t have wanted him mourning and having all her things around him grew soothing.

Routines kept him sane; Tesco Monday afternoons, picking a different assistant each time, the library Wednesday mornings where self-service meant he could be a no-one. Friday lunchtimes were foil-wrapped sandwiches in the park with a bottle of orange juice on a warm day or flask of tea when cold.

He began thinking that retirement wasn’t as bad as people made out and he’d pop into the pound shop on the way home, filling a couple of carrier bags with anything bright and cheerful; toys for grandchildren he’d never have, squeaky bones for a dog long gone, short date shortbread from a Scottish loch. He’d have them with his cup of tea so he treated himself to the local paper from Mr Patel’s.

Pulling out the shortbread, he started a new layer of bags in one corner of the lounge. He’d put the kettle on and stretch his legs in the garden then work his way back to his favourite chair to see what the outside world had been up to, according to the Holford Gazette.

The kettle was boiling when he remembered he’d left his mug by the chair and nestled his way knowing every square inch of carpet. He’d just turned round, mug in hand, when his foot kicked a bag and he heard plastic shifting. It was his back that felt the blow first, then a hip, a shoulder, his head.

As Bill took his last breath he saw Laura’s face and he knew everything was going to be OK.

If you like working from prompts you might be interested in my 365-Day Writer’s Block Workbook (Vol 1).

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.  I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Author interview no.373 with children’s and romance writer Jackie Anton

Welcome to the three hundred and seventy-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s author and romance novelist Jackie (J.M.) Anton. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Jackie. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Jackie: Thank you for this interview opportunity. My writing began as a civics assignment in junior high, what is now called middle school. That was one of the most frightening events in my life. Shaking like a leaf in a windstorm, I gripped the lectern to keep from falling over. Following that trauma, my writing became a very private past time for many years. Ohio has been my home for most of my life.

Morgen: I’m pleased your nerves didn’t put you off when it could easily have done. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Jackie: Most of my works that will be published are family-friendly chapter books. The Backyard Horse Tales series was intended for readers ages 8 to 12. However, after meeting adult fans ranging in age to 93 at a recent book-signing event, I now promote the series as reading level 8 to adult. A change of pace and genre are the adult romance novels.

Morgen: Both very popular genres. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?

Jackie: Backyard Horse Tales / Sox 2nd edition was released March 2012. Sox’s story like the entire series is narrated from the horse’s point of view. The first four chapters of the third book in the series was published on Feb.6, 2012 in response to fans asking for Love’s tale. “Don’t Call Me Love” can be purchased or sampled at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jackieanton. I do write the adult novels under the pen name J.M. Anton.

Morgen: I love it when fans ask for things (like asking for short stories to keep going). Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Jackie: I guess anyone who writes has had rejections. My first one was in 2005. It was the catalyst for my returning to college, after a nearly thirty-year absence, to bone up on English composition and creative writing classes.

Morgen: That’s dedication for you. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?

Jackie: Not yet, but my editor has urged me to enter several. Sox’s tale has been gathering some great early reviews, so I think that I will enter a few this year.

Morgen: Oh great, do let me know how you get on – we can put an update at the end. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Jackie: No I don’t have one, though I have interviewed several. Agents are probably very useful for approaching traditional publishers.

Morgen: I would say so but it’s more difficult to get an agent than a publisher, certainly in the UK, so a lot of people are going their own way, like eBooking. Are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?

Jackie: I think in today’s market you have to have an e-book offering as well as a print version your books. I purchased my first e-reading device last November, mostly to see what books looked like in that medium. I have read and reviewed several e-books, but I love the feel of a real book. I am much more comfortable with the good old page-turners, and it is much easier to turn back a page or even to a previous chapter with physical books.

Morgen: Most people have said that. Only a handful have said they prefer an ereader or would never try eBooks. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Jackie: I market as much as possible, and still continue to write.

Morgen: A balancing act, I’m sure. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?

Jackie: Sox tale would probably make a wonderful animated film.

Morgen: I can just imagine the horse on your cover coming to life. Did you have any say in the title / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?

Jackie: Yes I do have the final say in both the title and the covers. That is the biggest drawback to traditional publishing, not having a say in what happens to your work.

Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?

Jackie: The 2011 NaNoWriMo winning entry, “The Universal Search for Mr. Right ” is in final edit. It will be an e-book in late April, and print by July of 2012.

Expect “Backyard Horse Tale 2 Frosty and the Nightstalker” in the fall, and the completed version of “Don’t Call Me Love” in time for the Christmas season. Excerpts of my pending works as well as release dates may be found on my blog http://jackieanton.com.

Morgen: You certainly sound very busy. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Jackie: I try to write a minimum of 500 words a day. If I hit a snag on something, I just work on one of my other projects, edit, or go ride my horse and forget about it for a while.

Morgen: Good plan. I’d only just realised recently that 300 words a day is a 100,000 word novel which is astounding when you come to think of it. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Jackie: A little of both, I guess. When I get an idea I jot it down then develop the characters. I may work out the plot and a time line ahead or during my edit and revision process while I am developing the story. It really depends on the storyline and genre.

Morgen: You mention characters, do you have a method for creating your characters?

Jackie: Most of my characters are based on composites of family, friends, strange experiences and events.

Morgen: So they’d have to be nice to you. Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?

Jackie: Horse club newsletters, coming events fall under non-fiction. There are a few short stories waiting to see the light of day.

Morgen: I love short stories and I think it’s great practice to write different lengths; it makes you think about de-waffling novels (as I’ve had to do). I can better tell where I’m going wrong these days so I can chop before I start going off somewhere where I know is only going to be chopped later. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Jackie: The more writing I do the less revision and self-editing is required, before sending the work off to an editor.

Morgen: Exactly. It’s just practice, isn’t it. Do you have to do much research?

Jackie: I do a lot of research. Works with historical content take considerably more time than modern time lines that I either have personal experience with, or can research quickly online.

Morgen: Aren’t we lucky, being writers today with all this information to hand. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?

Jackie: I use first person for Backyard Horse Tales, but mostly third person on other works.

Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Jackie: Notebooks full of them!

Morgen: Oh dear. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?

Jackie: It is fun developing stories, and seeing characters develop. Time away from family and friends has to be the downside to my writing endeavour.

Morgen: It’s the same for me; the creating is definitely the best bit. Time, though not from family and friends (because the latter are mostly writers too) is definitely my bugbear. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Jackie: Keep at it.

Morgen: Absolutely, a successful writer is one who didn’t give up. What do you do when you’re not writing?

Jackie: My husband and I ride our horses on most days. I still draw and paint some, work in the vegetable or flower garden. Visit with our grandchildren.

Morgen: Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?

Jackie: One of the most helpful links for aspiring authors is http://www.livewritethrive.com. I’ve subscribed to this site and find it very helpful in keeping me focused.

Morgen: I don’t know that one, thank you. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?

Jackie: I have spent a lot of time on getting acquainted with the LibraryThing, and recently participated in their review give away in exchange for member readers reviews. It was well worth doing.

http://www.librarything.com/profile/BackyardHorse My facebook page has been very helpful in reaching other equine enthusiasts.  http://www.facebook.com/jackie.anton2  Linkedin writing, and equine groups have been very helpful. I love the National Novel Writing Month group, and the New Authors Need Marketing Ideas group. The list of groups is available at this link.

Morgen: LibraryThing is another new one to me. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Jackie: That is a tough question. I think e-books are going to be with us for the foreseeable future. However, my grandchildren ages 10 and 12 still read books, they put them on their birthday and Christmas lists every year. They have even purchased books at the local bookstore using their own money! When they visited us at Thanksgiving, after traveling two days from Houston, Texas, they arrived with iPads! There wasn’t enough space in the family vehicle for the number of books that were crammed into that e-reader.

Morgen: That’s why I love them both, knowing I have hundreds of books if I go anywhere, and now I have a Kindle Touch it reads it to me (whilst I’m checking emails). Where can we find out about you and your work?

Jackie:  Backyard Horse Tales / Sox 2nd edition can be purchased from the book website www.backyardhorsetales.com or from amazon.com, and other online retailers.

Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Jackie: Sox’s second edition will officially kick off at a well-attended local event. I will be signing books, and participating in door prizes at the Annual Valley Tack Shop Midnight Sale, in Valley City, Ohio, and will be my second year participating in this event. I’ll update you on the results, and other scheduled events still in the planning stages.

Morgen: Oh yes, please do. Thank you, Jackie.

I then invited Jackie to include an excerpt of her writing and this is from Frosty and the Nightstalker…

One more night would be spent in these mountains before we could return to our home in the lush Wallowa Valley. Nights were already cold up here, and we had tracked through an early snowfall during the day’s hunt. Back at our camp we added several mountain sheep to our hunter’s growing tally. Travois and pack animals would be overloaded with dear, elk, a couple of moose, and a brown bear that decided to help himself to a deer that was hung from a tree to drain. Like us the bear was preparing for a long winter. Eating as much as he could before hibernating, he had the misfortune to try stealing the hunter’s deer. Now, instead of hibernating in a cave that brown bear would help fill the larder of the Nimi’ipuu. Nimi’ipuu is the people’s name for themselves. In English they are called the Nez Perce. Most of the people live in small bands that are usually extended family units. Our band lives near the Snake River.

Guards were assigned to keep watch over us, and protect our precious winter stores. Old or injured predators unable to catch their own game sometimes would try to sneak up close to camp looking for the right opportunity. Mountain lions, bears, and, occasionally, wolves would follow the hunting parties.

An accomplished equestrian, with a life time of experience: as trainer, exhibitor, 4-H and youth club coach, as well as a horse show judge, the author brings many years of experience working with horses and young riders to her “Backyard Horse Tales.” Sox the second edition expands the story of the mutual love between Sox and Emma. You will love the new ending just make sure you have a box of tissues handy.

Update May 2012: Since I interviewed Jackie she emailed me with this update… “Backyard Horse Tales: Sox 2nd Edition” is entered in two award competitions. Finalists will be listed July 1, and winners announced September 1. This week Readers Favorite Awards & Reviews sent me two five star reviews for Sox’s Tale. I’ve also been given a five star review from my blog host of May 15th and her eight year old daughter. She is the youngest reader to participate in a review to date. For the run of this tour which ends May 23rd, the first five people who buy Sox 2nd edition will get a free copy of BYHT 2 “Frosty and the Nightstalker” when it is available this fall. Print purchasers will be mailed a print copy. E-book purchases will receive a free e-book of BYHT 2. My e-mail address and other contacts ore listed on the book’s web site www.backyardhorsetales.com where your followers can purchase the print version. Amazon, B&N, and Apple are a few of the sites that have the e-book.

Update November 2012: In June “Backyard Horse Tales: Sox 2nd Edition” was awarded the Mom’s Choice Award of Excellence for Family-Friendly Media.

I did a three day event at a yearend championship show where I sold additional copies of Sox’s tale and signed books that folks had already purchased.

That event was also the kick off for my print version of “Fateful Waters.”

Fateful Waters is the published title for the NaNoWriMo winning novel that was then titled “The Universal Search for Mr. Right”. This Adult Romance which is available as and e-book as well as in print.

October also saw the release of “Backyard Horse Tales 2: Frosty and the Nightstalker” as an e-book. The projected release date for the fully illustrated print book is March of 2013.

Also new is my author web site: http://talesbyjackie.com and fans can e-mail me at talesbyjackie@yahoo.com.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.