I had first heard about the contest that authors John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton were sponsoring through Twitter. Dubbed the “Wil Wheaton/John Scalzi Fan Fiction Contest to Benefit the Lupus Alliance of America,” writers were asked to provide a short story about a particularly odd painting. The winners of this contest would then be pooled together into a charity anthology that would be published through Subterranean Press. After seeing the painting, I just had to enter. For your enjoyment, I’m posting a picture of the painting by artist Jeff Zugale and my contribution entitled THE CONTRACT.