DRABBLES

Note:  A drabble contains exactly 100 words, no more and no less.  For convenience, they will all be collected here.

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Tempus Fidgets

By A.A. Aaron

Jackie-boy must be getting quite desperate in his attempts to capture Buffalo Bill. Of course he isn’t desperate enough to come visit me himself, but still, he was willing to risk exposing a young student to me. Oh, I’m sure he gave her the usual warning about not letting me get inside her head. Apparently he feels that that absolves him of any responsibility for what will happen.
Actually, his choice of messenger showed a spark of intelligence. Not having seen a woman in eight years, I was susceptible to the charms of this comely young miss to the extent of impressing her with my olfactory skills and my ability to tell her a few truths about herself. I detected certain qualities in her that may prove useful for my agenda:  integrity, courage, ambition, courtesy. Jackie-boy appears willing to sacrifice her, and who am I to object?

Yesterday

By A.A. Aaron

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Summary:     Something is bothering Clarice. Hannibal hasn’t a clue as to what it is and she won’t tell him. Horror drama with some action, angst, humor and romance. Response to the Variations From Goldberg Quest.

Timeline:      After the end of the book, Hannibal.

Rating:          PG-13

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The song Yesterday is by the Beatles. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away

Now it looks as though they’re here to stay

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

~

We do not all reckon time the same way.  For Clarice Starling, yesterday began on the day of the dinner on the Chesapeake; the day when she first shared her love with Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Remember the Alamo

by A.A. Aaron

Timeline: Shortly after the end of the movie Hannibal

Rating:  R for suggested cruelty

“I’ll be meeting with the Prosecutor in about an hour,” said Clarice’s attorney, Arthur Welles. “I’ll see then what kind of deal they’ll be putting on the table. I think the best we can hope for is Man-three on all deaths, sentences running concurrently. I know that the FBI is finding the case exceedingly embarrassing and would like to see the whole thing just go away. This gives us some leverage.” Welles loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar. “Damn, they keep it hot in here. Air conditioner must be on the blink again.”

Clarice was wearing the standard issue shapeless orange prisoner’s outfit. The heat did not bother her. She was acclimated to the gamut of weather conditions in her many stakeouts and other menial tasks during her years as an FBI Special Agent.

She looked at her lawyer and thought how much he looked like the stereotypical southern senator with his bushy white mane and wrinkled lightweight suit. She also recalled seeing him perform in court once and being impressed by the sharpness of his mind.

Attila

by A.A. Aaron

Summary:    Clarice and Hannibal support Ardelia’s search for a serial killer. Mystery drama.

Timeline:      A short time after the Hannibal Chapter 102 scene at the Buenos Aires opera. Follows novel canon.

Rating:          PG-13

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“Have you read this week’s National Tattler?”

“No, why?” she asked, inserting a bookmark and laying her book aside. “Don’t tell me we’re featured again. Or let me guess – there’s been another Hannibal Lecter sighting, this time in some sleepy English village.”

“Not quite,” said Lecter. “It seems that another serial killer has surfaced with a most interesting modus operandi. Take a look and see if anything strikes you.”

He passed the tabloid to Clarice who leaned back in her chair and started to read the article. Halfway through she glanced at Hannibal who remained passive.  She finished reading and remarked, “A serial killer who partly skins his female victims after they are dead, who skins a different area of each victim’s body, who leaves each body in a different river apparently chosen at random, the first victim’s body weighted down so that it was the third one discovered – it looks like Jame Gumb is making a comeback.”

“Which is a rather remarkable performance for someone who is ten years dead.”

Honey

By A.A.Aaron

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Summary:    A man suffering from nightmares seeks psychiatric help.  Drama/Horror.

Timeline:      Set prior to Red Dragon, before Hannibal Lecter’s first murder.

Rating:          PG-13

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Call me Armand — Armand Schnitzelbender.  I play the tuba with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  For several years I have been experiencing severe nightmares almost nightly.  I’ve been to several specialists – Doctors Weeks and Eastburn, and Dr. Burnside at the Neurology Institute — and they were unable to find any physical cause.  Dr. Burnside concluded that the cause of the nightmares must be psychological.  He recommended several psychiatrists in the Baltimore area – yourself, a Dr. Doemling, and one or two others.  I became Dr. Doemling’s patient, but I was never able to develop a sense of trust in him.  Sometimes I feel that the world is full of paranoids and they’re all plotting against me.  After about a year of treatment it became apparent that my therapy was going nowhere and I stopped seeing him.  I’d like to try again with you if you think you can help me stop these nightmares…Can you help me, doctor?

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Delay in Transit

By A.A.Aaron

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Summary:    Clarice and Dr. Lecter have disappeared.  Now Clarice has reappeared but with amnesia.  The FBI plans to use her to recapture Dr. Lecter. Action drama.

Timeline:      Set after the banquet in Hannibal Ch 101.  Departs from canon.

Rating:          PG-13

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Prologue

The three men in the small conference room in the FBI Academy building at Quantico were Special Agents Jack Crawford and Clint Pearsall, and Assistant Director Noonan.  They were discussing an embarrassing situation.

Noonan was speaking.  “This amnesia story of hers seems mighty fishy.  How can we be sure she’s not making it up?  She isn’t exactly what you might call trustworthy.”

Crawford spoke.  “Dr. Bathgate at the Misericordia  Hospital is convinced she’s telling the truth.”

Pearsall interrupted, “He’s a good man.  We’ve worked with him before.”

Crawford continued, “I visited her this morning at the Hospital and she seemed genuinely unable to remember anything that’s happened from the time she became an FBI agent to the time of her accident.  At any rate, we lose nothing by assuming she’s telling the truth.”

The Census Taker and the Bath Sheet

By A.A.Aaron

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Summary:     It’s a humorous look at a typical day with Hannibal and Clarice.  Hannibal reveals more about the census taker, and about a childhood experience. A response to the Coral and Cream February Quest, and a Lecteresque romance.

Timeline:      Several years after the novel Hannibal; follows canon.

Rating:          PG-13

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A/N: Disclosure:  The characters Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling are the property of Thomas Harris and are used here without permission but in the spirit of admiration and respect.  No copyright infringement is intended, and neither the publisher nor the author makes any profit.

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There is something deliciously decadent about lying in bed naked, face to face with your lover, having a stimulating discussion while enjoying the view.  At least, Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling found it so, after a strenuous session of lovemaking.

The topic of their discourse was the DVD of the Cole Porter musical Les Girls that Hannibal had presented to Clarice for Valentine’s Day.  Hannibal maintained that Rashomon was the original and better treatment of the theme that truth is in the eye of the beholder; Clarice maintained that Les Girls was one of her favorite musicals and that she disliked having to read subtitles when watching Rashomon.

“Off-hand, the only movie I can think of with a subtitle is the German film Das Boot,” Hannibal remarked.

Clarice groaned in appreciation.  “The most intelligent man I know and he makes the most godawful puns.  Doesn’t it embarrass you?”

The Princess Cup

The Princess Cup

A.A.Aaron

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Summary:      Hannibal and Clarice are given an antique cup as a Christmas present.  This has unexpected consequences.  Response to the Merry Clarice and Hannibal New Year Quest. Light drama, with a touch of dark humor.

Timeline:       Several months after the Buenos Aires opera sequence in Chapter 102 of the Hannibal novel.

Rating:          PG-13

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It was a warm early-summer day, two days before Christmas.  Dr. Norbert Praetorius (a.k.a. Hannibal Lecter) and his wife, Laura (a.k.a. Clarice Starling) were celebrating her birthday by taking a long drive through the countryside near Buenos Aires, to a secluded region next to a small lake that he had come upon many years before. He was pleased to note that it retained the solitude and serenity he recalled from his former visit.

Practical Joke

By A.A.Aaron

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Summary:  In the near future, Hannibal and Clarice get involved with a TV series loosely based on their lives. Humorous work.

Timeline:    Near future with aspects of the movies and the novels.

Rating:        PG-13

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After making their daily contribution to that splendid structure, sex, Hannibal and Clarice made a practice of remaining in bed for a while, conversing on random topics.  Today the topic happened to be practical jokes.  The good doctor had strong opinions on the subject.

“In its most primitive form the practical joke consists of getting a laugh over the contrived misfortune of others.  Examples are numerous; for example, unscrewing the top of a salt shaker so that the next user spills the entire contents on his meal; or filling the sugar container with salt for the enlightenment of the next coffee drinker.  Undoubtedly, our primitive ancestors devised similar sources of entertainment before they were able to walk upright.”

Clarice interrupted to comment, “Have you ever noticed that if you take the word ‘examples’ and move the first two letters to the back, you get ‘ample sex’?”

“No, I’ve never noticed that,” said Hannibal.  “I’ve managed to get ‘ample sex’ without moving letters around.