The Little Grey Plastic Box With The Blue Button: The Perfect Job Plus Five Other Twisted Tales

1.      THE LITTLE GREY BOX WITH THE BLUE BUTTON: THE PERFECT JOB                 

Can a dream job become a nightmare? James has spent his whole life dodging work and responsibility. As a result, he finds himself in constant debt. Former friends and family avoid him, and only bill collectors want to talk to him. Getting a job is almost impossible because he has burnt too many bridges with past employers by being unreliable. On the verge of getting evicted, James searches the online job ads once again. One small ad at the bottom of the page offers serious money from a mysterious employer. All he has to do is answer a special cell phone and push a blue button on a little grey plastic box. That's it! When he does so, a blue envelope with five twenty-dollar bills appears in his mailbox. As James works at this 'job', he becomes debt-free, and people who had avoided him now seek him out. He upgrades his wardrobe, buys a car, and even meets Jessica, who teaches the daughter of a friend. Almost from the moment they meet, James falls for Jessica. As they continue their relationship, James's job gets to be a nuisance since the special phone can ring any time of the day, seven days per week, and has to be answered right away. This fun and frightening story shows that even a job that takes no more than twenty minutes per week can become a huge burden. James is torn between this too-good-to-be-true job and the love of his life. 

2.    THE FIRST ALIEN INVASION                                                                                                                                                   This all-too-real peek at a very scary and very real future for Earth reveals how something most of us take for granted could take us to the end of our existence. The first life on our planet was plant life, not animal life. What happens when the plants that brought life to Earth get tired of being kicked around by their more mobile ‘children’? Spoiler alert: Nothing good for mankind.

3.  ANY SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY                                                                                                                            

A little boy who is always looking at the ground and finding things gets distracted often. Other than a few coins as the result of his searches, he usually finds nothing but trouble. Until, one day, he finds something special on his way to school that changes his entire life.

4.    BAIT AND SWITCH

Two inseparable girls grow up as besties, swearing that they will never let anything get in the way of their friendship. Of course, they become teenagers, and one acquires a boyfriend who gets in the way. Friction develops and they part ways, but years later decide to reunite with surprising results.

5.    AN EARTHLY TALE OF HORROR ON THE HIGH SEAS FROM DISTANT GALAXIES

An unspeakable distance from Earth, galactic explorations take ‘sailors’ into unknown terror. What they experience becomes the frightening tale told on Earth about an eerie nightmare told and retold on our own high seas.

6.    LIVING RATIOS

They are frightening when viewed through microscopes. How much more frightening, then, do they become when they become larger than humans and begin to invade our towns and cities? Mankind battles for its very survival when these new invaders advance with no way to stop them.