<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><channel><title>Ryric on Gromet's Plaza Archive</title><link>/authors/ryric/</link><description>Recent content in Ryric on Gromet's Plaza Archive</description><generator>Hugo</generator><language>en-us</language><lastBuildDate>Sat, 30 May 2026 20:13:47 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="/authors/ryric/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Curiosity</title><link>/stories/2010/05/03/curiosity/</link><pubDate>Mon, 03 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2010/05/03/curiosity/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Chrissie peered around the corner
at the van in the alley. She was pretty sure it was the same van as before,
the one that had been there right before her neighbor Vanessa disappeared. As
the van pulled away, Chrissie considered calling the police. She didn&amp;rsquo;t really
have any evidence, just intuition, so she figured the cops would blow her off
unless she had something more substantial.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She ran to her car and began following
the van, deciding to give up if it headed to a bad neighborhood. On the contrary,
the van headed for the ritzy part of town. It pulled into a driveway with a
gate, which closed behind it.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Curiosity</title><link>/stories/2010/05/03/curiosity/</link><pubDate>Mon, 03 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2010/05/03/curiosity/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Chrissie peered around the corner
at the van in the alley. She was pretty sure it was the same van as before,
the one that had been there right before her neighbor Vanessa disappeared. As
the van pulled away, Chrissie considered calling the police. She didn&amp;rsquo;t really
have any evidence, just intuition, so she figured the cops would blow her off
unless she had something more substantial.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She ran to her car and began following
the van, deciding to give up if it headed to a bad neighborhood. On the contrary,
the van headed for the ritzy part of town. It pulled into a driveway with a
gate, which closed behind it.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Cost Effective</title><link>/stories/2008/01/02/cost-effective/</link><pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2008/01/02/cost-effective/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;It was a warm summer day, and Jessica had decided to go visit her boyfriend Rick for lunch. She knew he was in the construction business and was working over on Lark St. So she walked down to Lark Street and saw a construction site with workers moving all around. Not seeing Rick right away, she decided to go investigate. Unbeknownst to her, Rick was actually installing drywall in an office building down the street.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Cost Effective</title><link>/stories/2008/01/02/cost-effective/</link><pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2008/01/02/cost-effective/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;It was a warm summer day, and Jessica had decided to go visit her boyfriend Rick for lunch. She knew he was in the construction business and was working over on Lark St. So she walked down to Lark Street and saw a construction site with workers moving all around. Not seeing Rick right away, she decided to go investigate. Unbeknownst to her, Rick was actually installing drywall in an office building down the street.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Equal Sentence</title><link>/stories/2007/11/12/equal-sentence/</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2007/11/12/equal-sentence/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Sam Johnson stared at the letter in his hand:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Dear Mr. Johnson, How unfortunate that you felt the need to testify against Jimmy in the trial, despite our arrangement. I told you that if Jimmy was convicted, your family would pay the price. Well, this letter is to inform you of what that price will be. We currently have possession of a certain wife of yours named Sarah. You may have noticed she didn&amp;rsquo;t come home on time. We&amp;rsquo;re going to keep Sarah for as long as Jimmy is behind bars. According to the judge, that&amp;rsquo;ll be 16 years. Better hope he gets an early parole. If you go to the police with this, I can absolutely guarantee Sarah will never be seen again. See you in 16 years. Tony&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Equal Sentence</title><link>/stories/2007/11/12/equal-sentence/</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2007/11/12/equal-sentence/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Sam Johnson stared at the letter in his hand:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Dear Mr. Johnson, How unfortunate that you felt the need to testify against Jimmy in the trial, despite our arrangement. I told you that if Jimmy was convicted, your family would pay the price. Well, this letter is to inform you of what that price will be. We currently have possession of a certain wife of yours named Sarah. You may have noticed she didn&amp;rsquo;t come home on time. We&amp;rsquo;re going to keep Sarah for as long as Jimmy is behind bars. According to the judge, that&amp;rsquo;ll be 16 years. Better hope he gets an early parole. If you go to the police with this, I can absolutely guarantee Sarah will never be seen again. See you in 16 years. Tony&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Holding up the Building</title><link>/stories/2007/11/12/holding-up-the-building/</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2007/11/12/holding-up-the-building/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Jenny was having the time of her life on her Egyptian vacation. She had spent much of her day enjoying the mummy wing of a local museum, and when she left for dinner, she noticed they seemed to be building an expansion onto the museum. She stopped and asked what was going to be in the new wing. The worker, who didn’t seem to speak English, led her to a tent near the site. Inside an Egyptian man with glasses was examining some plans for the building.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Holding up the Building</title><link>/stories/2007/11/12/holding-up-the-building/</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/2007/11/12/holding-up-the-building/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Jenny was having the time of her life on her Egyptian vacation. She had spent much of her day enjoying the mummy wing of a local museum, and when she left for dinner, she noticed they seemed to be building an expansion onto the museum. She stopped and asked what was going to be in the new wing. The worker, who didn’t seem to speak English, led her to a tent near the site. Inside an Egyptian man with glasses was examining some plans for the building.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Sculptress &amp; Art</title><link>/stories/1/01/01/sculptress-art/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/stories/1/01/01/sculptress-art/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Julie woke up, groggy and wondering where she was.  The last thing
she remembered, she and her roommate Kirsten had just gotten into Julie&amp;rsquo;s
car to drive home from a movie, and Kirsten remarked that she smelled something
funny.  Now Julie was here.  The room she was in was about 8
feet square, with 3 featureless walls.  The fourth wall had a small
niche in which was a basin about 2 feet square.  Several bags of cement
mix were stacked in the corner near the basin.  In the center of the
room was a large metal x-frame, to which Kirsten was attached, naked.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item></channel></rss>