Dance, play, or walk on the interactive art piece, Aqueous by Jen Lewin, outside Oklahoma Contemporary for a colorful experience in Downtown Oklahoma City. Yes, please touch the art!
You can visit Aqueous for yourself at Campbell Art Park at 1146 North Broadway Avenue in Oklahoma City. It will be on display every night until 11 p.m. until October 19, 2020. Oklahoma Contemporary is asking visitors to wear masks and observe social distancing practices. Learn more at OklahomaContemporary.org
I want to give a huge thanks to Jew Lewin Studio for commissioning me to capture b-roll and to edit several videos with the footage. If you watch Oklahoma Contemporary’s feed, you’ll see another video of Aqueous with different shots, including some drone footage by another videographer. (I’ll edit this post with it when they publish it.) Learn more about Jen’s work at www.JenLewinStudio.com
This is my first video shot with my new Lumix S1H. This video shows off what a beast this camera is capable of capturing. All the footage, with the exception of the slow-motion shots, were shot in 5.9K 10-bit HDR HLG. Despite the low light conditions, the image is so clean. I’m really happy with how well this video turned out.
Thank you to my supporters on Patreon for their continued support of making Uncovering Oklahoma possible! Supporters get awesome rewards, like early access to my episodes. Big thanks to superstar supporters: Revolve Productions and the Lynn and Steve Keller-Kenton Family.
Upon seeing a news story about his death, Jason visits the scene of the crime for answers.
I didn’t care about being made fun of for eating cake while watching the Friday night news. Everything was more fun with cake. It was part of my end-of-the-week ritual after my shift at the hospital. What wasn’t part of my routine was dropping my plate while seeing news about myself.
“In a strange turn of events, the serial killer known as the Isolation Cleaner has changed direction with their latest victim, Jason Sizemore,” the TV news reporter announced. Two paramedics dragged my disfigured and waterlogged body out of the river in the video clip that popped on the screen. “Police say, Jason Sizemore, Caucasian, male, age 27 is the youngest victim of the serial killer who in the past has only targeted senior citizens who lived alone. Jason was found earlier today along Green River at Fort Dent Park in Tukwila. Police are asking for any information.”
“This has to be a mistake,” I muttered as I replayed the clip on my DVR. “I must be imagining things.”
But I wasn’t mistaken. The news didn’t change when I rewatched the clip. I took a deep breath and decided I needed to know more. I searched online for directions to the park–a 15-minute drive–and grabbed my jacket, leaving my cake on the apartment floor. It’s not like I had any roommates who would complain.
Thanks to the bright yellow crime screen tape blocking a section along the Green River, finding the scene was easy enough. I was surprised to find that there weren’t any officers posted there. I hoped to speak to someone, but I took advantage of my fortune and crossed the tape. There had to be some clue still around to tell me what happened—anything as I wadded into the water.
What I did find was a bright flashlight in my face.
“What are you doing here?” the voice demanded.
“I’m Jason Sizemore, and I’m the person the police said they found earlier,” I explained, trying to see who I was speaking to, but she kept the light on my eyes. “There has to be some mistake because I’m not dead.”
I tried to step forward, but she ordered me, “Stay right there.”
“I’m staying right here,” I reassured, raising my hands while using one to shield my eyes.
“I tried to go to your house, but the address was fake.”
“I’m a private person.”
“But here you are. I had to go to great lengths to find you.”
Wait. Great lengths to find me? I thought. I had to ask, “What do you mean you went to great lengths to find me?”
“I hired some performers for a short film, which was the news clip of the police finding your body. Then I visited the local news station under the pretense of a story for my podcast. I set up a backdoor into their systems to keep tabs on them for when they would air a story about the Isolation Cleaner and replace it with you.”
As I listened to her tale, I began to recognize the voice. “You…”
She cut me off. “You got pretty cocky calling into my podcast explaining the Isolation Cleaner to me, like how you got off watching the news of your accomplishments while eating cake. But, you’re not the first serial killer I’ve tracked down and ended because I’m the Pacific Northwest Podcaster.”
I moved to run, but I wasn’t fast enough for her stun gun. I face-planted into the river, with the water filling up my lungs, unable to move.
This week’s short story was inspired by the writing prompt: “Your name, age, height, weight, and race all flash across the T.V. screen. You look in horror as you see your dead body being dragged out of a river as a reporter announces that you’ve been brutally murdered by an infamous serial killer who has been on the run for years.”
For my take, I thought I would have the prompt be a trick to lure out the real serial killer by another one, with the return of the Pacific Northwest Podcaster. One idea I had was to reveal her sooner with her interviewing him, but I decided it was best to keep the twist as late as possible.
A group of librarians in possession of a book that can make characters come to life decide to have a big Halloween party and in true literary fashion, everything goes wrong.
Not every detail of every plan goes accordingly. Even prompts to tell a story could take an unexpected direction as Katie was about to learn tonight. This young adult librarian could express countless words of joy for her love of Halloween–even if the holiday fell on a dreary Wednesday. Being in the middle of the week wasn’t going to diminish her determination to make this year the best Halloween ever, all with the help of an extraordinary book.
“Damn right,” Katie Haines confirmed as she walked down the library’s aisle of fantasy books while holding the aforementioned book. The gold lettering title, “Unbound Words,” provided a mystical sparkle that contrasted the book’s thick, black leather cover. “Now, describe me.”
Katie was an ideal candidate for reaching the books on the top shelf with her slightly above average height for a woman as she grabbed some books by Neil Gaiman. Her mouth was wide, with slightly protruding canines, and her eyes were an unusual shade of topaz. Her face gave the impression of a plotting fairy with her short haircut and a sprinkling of facial freckles, making her purple glitter fairy costume a perfect match.
“Not bad,” Katie complemented tonight’s narrator.
While holding the Unbound Words book, Katie opened the books she seized. A tornado of words and letters gushed out from the pages, popping out several fictional characters.
“Welcome to the Halloween Party of the Century!” Katie greeted with a dramatic flair. “We got food and drinks in the main lobby along with a DJ. There will be a murder mystery game later tonight, so be sure to put your name in the hat by the punch bowl if you want to play. Have fun!”
Katie made her way to the main lobby area, randomly dancing along the way. The 19,000 square foot library was able to pack a party. Earlier in the day, the staff got in trouble with the fire department for having too many people. Patrons came all over for the library’s extravagant character photo opportunity session, oblivious that the staff pulled the characters out from books.
Only the librarians knew the truth, and not even their families. When they found the Unbound Words book a few weeks ago, they swore never to discuss the magical book with outsiders. The staff was able to pass off the fictional characters as cosplayers without any problems. None of the characters could leave the library or harm real people. Though, one observation the staff made that they had no explanation for was that many of the characters would act uncharacteristically, like Dracula being a nice guy.
Katie returned to the lobby area, where the rest of the library staff gathered around the snack table. At the same time, Mad Hatter commanded the DJ booth. It was 9:30 pm, and the library was closed for the day, allowing the staff to have their private party. Katie stuffed her face with a piece of chocolate cake as the branch manager, Chuck Barkley, strolled up to her.
“I must admit, I’ve been rather impressed with how you’ve handled the unbound book,” Chuck praised. “Other than getting in trouble with the fire department for having too many people earlier today, there haven’t been any problems. Your creativity has kept everything in check and increased patron satisfaction.”
“Thanks, Chuck. Does that mean I’m getting a raise in the spring?”
Chuck laughed. “If the budget allows and nothing goes wrong.”
The kay phrase has been spoken.
“The what the what now?” Katie mumbled.
Whenever everything is going right, everything must go wrong. It’s a rule of storytelling.
“The narrator has a point,” Chuck agreed.
Katie whined. “But this is a party. Nothing has to go wrong.”
The music scratched to a stop.
“Let’s all get mad now!” the Mad Hatter laughed as he played a record backward.
All of the fictional characters covered their ears, but their effort was futile. The demonic noise had crawled into their ears. They began to laugh uncontrollably. Then, the laughter turned into madness as they all began to release their inner-crazy by destroying their surroundings, fighting each other, making loud noises, beating their chests, and so forth.
The librarians flipped over a table and ducked down behind.
“How do we get them to stop?” one of the librarians asked their group.
“If any of them touch the unbound book, they disappear,” another librarian, Amy, reminded everyone.
“But there’s too many of them,” Chuck remarked. “We need a way to kill them off at once.”
Katie glanced around the room. On the new arrives stand was a biography of American novelist George R. R. Martin. “How about we get a writer known for killing off characters.”
With Unbound Words in hand, Katie ducked and ran, narrowly avoiding food and furniture, as she grabbed the biography. She cracked open the book, and in a swirling storm of words, George R. R. Martin came to life. While Katie wasn’t a super-fan, she noticed something was off, like this fabrication wasn’t really him, and more like a stunt-double.
“Golly gee willikers, we got ourselves a mess here,” George spoke in a high-pitched voice.
Katie slapped her forehead. “Of course, the book decides to mess his character up completely.”
“Hey, there. Words can hurt people too, you know,” George sneered, reminiscent of Robin from the 1960s live-action Batman television series. “I might be different, but I can help.”
“Then, can you kill off all these characters?” Chuck said.
“Can I kill all these characters?” George mockingly laughed as he pulled out a tiny DOS computer the size of a smartphone from his pants pocket. He finger poked a paragraph’s worth of keys in a second with one hand while the other held the tiny machine. “Get a load of this.”
Dozens of white blobs erupted, taking the form of white-out white octopuses with baseball bat sized paintbrushes in each tentacle. The octopuses charged at the unruly fictional characters, brushing them out of existence. When the octopuses wiped away the last character, they turned on each other, cleaning themselves out.
“Thank you,” Katie said and then bopped the fake George on the head with the book, disintegrating him back into words.
“How are we going to clean all this up?” Amy grumbled.
Katie picked up a copy of Cinderella that had serendipitously managed to get tossed into the lobby. “That’s what Fairy Godmothers are for.”
This short story was vaguely inspired by the writing prompt: “There are some fictional characters you absolutely detest. You’ve even gone and made a list of them. Now all you have to do is hire the most ruthless killer of fictional characters you know; George R. R. Martin.” As you can tell, I basically had George save the day by killing a bunch of fictional characters to keep it in line with my universe.
I’m working on a book staring Katie and the Unbound Words book, which has her deal with an enormous problem the book causes. If you missed it, I wrote about Chuck in another short story, Moral Compass.
Thank you for your support and for reading this week’s short story!
Get a tour of the new Shop Contemporary retail space with manager Garrett Colton in this video I did for Oklahoma Contemporary. As Garrett shares, “The premise behind the shop is a microcosm of what we’re doing as an arts organization.”
Until you’re able to visit Oklahoma Contemporary, you can shop online.
The Study is a wine pub with a coffeehouse vibe and no pretentious attitudes. In my interview with co-owner Ian Bennett, Ian provided an overview of the Film Row venue, what types of drinks they offer, how they’re able to provide over 60 wines, and their cozy design. Plus, Ian went over their COVID-19 policies and practices.
I took advantage of YouTube’s new chapter feature so you can skip around to the different sections. I’ll have to update some of my older videos to feature chapters.
When I was chatting with Ian while I was setting up for the interview, when he was talking about his wife, I was like, “I should interview your wife for my science show,” and said, “You have.” I didn’t realize that his was wife was Dr. Elaine Hamm. If you want to see Elaine’s Yes! Science! profile, click here.
If you want to check out The Study for yourself, you can visit their website at http://thestudyokc.com or in-person at 701 West Sheridan Avenue in Oklahoma City.
Thank you to my supporters on Patreon for helping to make Uncovering Oklahoma possible, especially during these times! Supporters get awesome rewards, like early access to my episodes. Big thanks to superstar supporters: Lynn and Steve Keller-Kenton Family and Revolve Productions. You can join me and get exclusive access to the un-cut interview with Ian.
