Dr. Horton entered the room and took a deep breath. “There’s been a slight mix-up. We accidentally replaced some of your plasma with plasma.”

Brownell frowned. “I’m not following.”

Across the hall, nurses rushed into another room.

“You’re familiar with the plasma in your blood?” Dr. Horton said.

“Not really. I know there is such a thing.”

“Well, this plasma is different.”

“Different like it’s from a different person?”

“Different like it’s a completely different substance with the same name.”

“We need five words from you,” the acquisitions orangutan said.

Webley gnashed his teeth. “Does it have to be five?”

“Five.”

“Exactly five?”

“Five exactly.”

“I’ve got some great stuff in the one-hundred-word range.”

“Not concise enough,” the orangutan said.

From Laura: A Novel: For Olivia, the love of my life, and my best friend

From Outlandish Badland Justice: A Collection of Short Stories and Vignettes: For Olivia, who has stood beside me through more trials and tribulations than any one person should have to experience