Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Ourselves
    Ourselves
    Ourselves
    Ebook16 pages11 minutes

    Ourselves

    By Stephen Cote

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In the not too distant future, Ty and Yula are two children returning home from school to their widowed mother, Lara. There they meet their deceased father, and so begins this short exploration into how the singularity could have fantastic ramifications on the world around us.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStephen Cote
    Release dateMar 9, 2021
    ISBN9781005419714
    Ourselves
    Author

    Stephen Cote

    I am a software and security architect and manager. I enjoy writing hard and whimsical science fiction, adult fantasy, and poetry. As an early advocate of Creative Commons licensing, many of my short stories and poems have been available online since 1996. If you would like to learn more about my writing, open source projects, please contact me at sw.cote@gmail.com.

    Read more from Stephen Cote

    Related to Ourselves

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Jan 1, 2022

      It was an unusual birthday. Colorful banners blanketed the backyard. Kids chased each other through the grass. Adults talked. It all went downhill from there. My little sister was turning five. On her birthday cake, painted in frosting, was a fat, pi

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Education of Mrs. R.

      Sep 6, 2022

      An adolescent shriek woke her. Cockerels, she thought, cockerels, with a wry twist to the word. She lay in the dark listening. There was no use in covering her head; the screaming still came through. The soloist was suddenly submerged in the chorus.

      13 min read

    • Article

      Under Covers

      Mar 1, 2023

      Alejandro Puyana is a Venezuelan writer living in Austin, Texas. His work has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2020, New England Review, American Short Fiction, Tin House, The Idaho Review, and other publications. He is at work on a novel. My

      18 min read

    • Article

      A Quick Thrill

      May 20, 2021

      A Quick Thrill
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Perfect Daughter

      Jul 10, 2021

      Standing in a handstand, Jane arched her back and lowered her feet towards the head. Scorpion pose. She saw herself in the mirror, balancing in this challenging position. It was close to perfection… And she felt sick at the sight of it. From the loud

      8 min read

    • Article

      Open Short Story Winner Tight Situation

      Apr 4, 2024

      When Carol first wakes up, she thinks it must have been a dream. The ringing phone had been distant, muffled as if the landline device had been buried in a bag of something soft like cotton wool - the packing material stuffed so tightly into its bag

      6 min read

    • Article

      Normal Life

      Jun 4, 2018

      At last the water went down as our mother said it would. Lona and I went out into the dark street to catch and throw the lopsided ball we’d kept up high. After her fifth expert catch, Lona took on a far look and stretched out an arm and pointed. “Lo

      9 min read

    • Article

      Reaching OUT

      Jan 17, 2024

      Reaching OUT
      6 min read

    • Article

      An Unspeakable Life

      Jan 10, 2022

      It was a perfect fall afternoon when Muriel found out she was pregnant. Tourists snatched up apple cider by the gallon at farm stands. Leaf peepers stood on the side of the road with their cameras aimed in all directions; wherever you looked, a quint

      12 min read

    • Article

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time

      Dec 1, 2023

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time
      9 min read

    • Article

      Gabriel & Holly

      Feb 8, 2021

      The first day was the most daunting. It helped that she’d arrived last night to settle herself in the cottage annexe before first contact this morning. Still, nerves attacked her as she stood before the door of the imposing but charming ivy-covered 1

      6 min read

    • Article

      Me & Davey Waters

      Jan 15, 2023

      Me & Davey Waters
      4 min read

    • Article

      Carrot Legs

      Sep 12, 2019

      Carrot Legs
      20 min read

    • Article

      The Hound and the Hidden Homework

      Feb 1, 2019

      The Hound and the Hidden Homework
      4 min read

    • Article

      After “The End”

      Oct 10, 2022

      I walked down the road with a hunched back and a wet cigarette in my mouth—the fire had died a while back. My hands were tucked into the pockets of my jacket, and my hair fell over my face, limiting my sight. But I wasn’t really seeing where I was go

      10 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      Practicing

      Mar 15, 2018

      This would have been her favorite season in the Allegheny woods. The shadows of the trees were rickety, and the wind had sap in its scent. But last week, Ty had left; now one day decayed into the next. Their house was abandoned. Only their father, si

      18 min read

    • Article

      LOVE Is The Word

      Jan 3, 2023

      LOVE Is The Word
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Family Plot

      May 7, 2020

      The Family Plot
      10 min read

    • Article

      Good Bones

      Mar 19, 2020

      Good Bones
      18 min read

    • Article

      Shruti Swamy

      Jun 15, 2018

      Not the scent of the smoke, but the sight of it, not the sight itself, but the screen through which it altered the sunlight—she couldn’t articulate the change exactly, it’s just that the light seemed odd, like the acidic light of a nightmare. She had

      13 min read

    • Article

      Human Contact

      Aug 10, 2022

      Beer tasted like wet money—or maybe just bad beer did. Viola had never tried any other kind. She preferred white wine, but there was no white wine at this party. “Drink it like medicine,” the guy manning the keg said. “It’ll loosen you up.” He wore a

      18 min read

    • Article

      The Almadraba

      Sep 1, 2018

      The Almadraba
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Bathroom

      Jun 10, 2024

      Content Disclosure: Sexual Innuendo The garage light flips on like a flashbulb, freezing me in a mug shot. “Del, you out here?” my wife says sleepily as she steps down the cement riser. She looks at me standing before the window; then her attention i

      12 min read

    • Article

      Partners

      Sep 15, 2018

      Enter,” she says, and is obeyed. He’s taller than before, or perhaps he only seems taller now that he’s here, in the house. She walks behind him, moving toward the living room, and wonders if he might be too tall for her house. It soon dawns on her t

      8 min read

    • Article

      The House of God

      Apr 10, 2023

      “I don’t want to go,” the child declared defiantly, and his mother felt her headache ratchet up another notch. “I know you don’t. And I understand why. But we still have to go, so please find your other shoe and put them both on.” She was almost enti

      6 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Jan 1, 2021

      “Psst, I need to talk to you.” My best friend, looking super excited, is pulling me toward the nearest classroom. It’s empty, and she shuts the door. “This is really big. I made a time machine, and it can take our brains back in time if you know how

      7 min read

    • Article

      Quiet Night

      Aug 7, 2023

      Quiet Night
      19 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Ourselves

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Ourselves - Stephen Cote

      OURSELVES

      by Stephen W. Cote

      Ourselves by Stephen W. Cote. Published by SmashWords

      https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/StephenCote

      © 2021 Stephen W. Cote

      All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact:

      sw.cote@gmail.com

      Cover by Stephen W. Cote

      Vector drawing via VectorStock at https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/family-vector-634418

      Ourselves

      A year later on a beautiful springtime afternoon, Ty and Yula played while walking home from school. I’m a Transformer, Ty shouted, followed by his emulating the cartoon sound effect of a robot transforming into a vehicle, in this case a hovering super car. More like a go-kart, Yula teased, and announced, Well I’m a Battle Baron, and wind-milled her arms to activate her high-tech armor. Baroness, Ty said. And so it went

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1