And..."Click"

The droplets on his Budweiser trickled down in a thin serpentine stream, mirroring the path he had taken a few hours ago. It had been worth it, as paradise was just as it had been described. From his vantage point on the golden sand, he saw the endless ocean merging with the clear blue sky.. Lazy westerners lay scattered around him, half clad and without a care in the world. His gaze shifted to the chequered battlefield on a table beside him where knights and bishops awaited the return of their puppet masters to resume their warfare.

He paused for a minute to steady his trembling hands and picked up his camera. He captured the image before him with a monochromatic setting, which he reflected, was best suited for his subject- a battle of black and whites. This was a war of the gray cells without the spillage of a single drop of crimson. If only all the disputes on the planet could be settled on a game of chess, he thought.

Even as the temperatures soared, he felt a chill in his spine. The rare sighting of a dolphin an instant later captured his mind and he began to fervently change the settings in his camera. It had been a good investment, considering the versatility it offered. However, his trembling fingers found the dolphin a very elusive subject, when compared to the wooden soldiers on the table.

He gave up the attempt and closed his eyes. The saline fragrance of the most abundant entity on the planet flirted with his nose for a minute. His legs were twitching uncontrollably. The effects of a long bike ride were showing on his body. He took a sip of warm beer and fell asleep....



As a small lump of ice floated in front of the cruising ship, a passenger shrieked in horror, recognizing a human profile hidden in it. When the rescue crew finally opened this frozen coffin, the upward curling lips suggested that the unfortunate victim had passed with a happy and serene thought...