one hundred and seventy-four words...
This story has to do with a young man who was deathly afraid of snakes. It is difficult to emphasize enough his horrible snake phobia. The most dangerous, deadly serpent in his corner of the world was a snake called Nathan. To make a short story longer, Nate the Snake was without a doubt the worst, the very worst, a creature of the young man's nightmares.

To carry the plot even further, we have to talk about the evil space aliens who abducted our young man and Nate the Snake. As such creatures often do, they gave the young man one of those irreconcilable and unavoidable choices in which, whatever you do, you cannot win. Behind one door was a large lever that when pulled would bring about the end of the world. Behind the other, of course, was Nate.

The end of the world, or a meeting with his nemesis, Nathan? Which would it be? Finally, the young man remembered the maxim that saved all the rest of us: Better Nate than lever.
(dxg, Sat 7 Mar 2009, 17:04, Reply)