Hello and welcome to the Drabblecast, episode 507.

The Drabblecast is an audio fiction podcast magazine that brings strange stories by strange authors to strange listeners,

such as yourself. I'm your host, Norm Sherman. Well, folks, we're six months into

2006, and it's still somehow January. At least we got a good story for you this week to pass the

time. We bring you Fatal Conditions by Chris Campbell. Chris Campbell's a writer of speculative fiction and critical imagination. His stories appear in Asimov's, Faya, and more, and he's the editor of New Year, New You, a speculative fiction anthology of reinvention. Follow him on blue sky at Chris Campbell, or visit www.clundee Campbell.com. Our stories read to you by Onesia Mueller. Award-winning Caribbean comedian

Anishie Mueller regrets leaving Sunny St. Martin for Windy Chicago. Her weekly humor column,

Just Being Funny, is Chicken Soup for the naive skeptic soul. She gave up crime reporting to write

silly thoughts for American greetings, The Daily Herald, Hello Giggles, Huff Post, and others.

Join her newsletter for funny stories and stand-up comedy at Onesia-Muller.com.

And so, without further ado, we bring you Fatal Conditions by Chris Campbell. A mean yellow eye fixed on me from the other side of the window where the white

turfalcon perch.

He'd been tapping on a glass for hours.

Big Ma had used the same nasty familiar to summon her line for as long as any of us remembered.

I'd known it was a matter of time before she found out I was dying.

Follow the Falcon, and we would have the confrontation I'd been dreading.

Look at me, girl. She would cup my chin, leveling me with an eyeball that could teach her

bird a lesson. Her hair tied back in one of her bright handkerchiefs, short, tight curls,

long-turned white with age, peeking from under the fabric. Didn't I teach you better? Magic ain't for fools. Big Ma had stood

over six feet tall in her prime and time had done little to diminish her. They said Old

Sylvie had been a great brawler. Old Sylvie is what they used to call her, but now most everyone called her

big mom. They said she'd take on any challenger, be they man or woman, black or white, even beasts

or demons. When it came down to fists and feet, she was unbeatable, and for the few who had

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