Flumpf

The wind caught the reserve canopy, billowed it out. For a hideous instant, he thought the reserve lines would wrap around the mains and he’d repeat Komarov’s messy death. Then—Flumpf! The reserve canopy snapped open, seemed to yank him skyward.

This time he had the grenade launcher, and it was as ready as he was. He held the rifle near his hip and squeezed the trigger on the launcher. Flumpf! The grenade lobbed out of the barrel and crashed into the pavement in the dead center of the remaining crowd.

He paused in front of the sofa, holding his breath as one long claw emerged from beneath it. The pod was getting ready to make a run for it. It was now or never. Angus carefully laid his baseball bat to one side, waiting for the right moment to pounce, then—Flumpf! “Gotcha!” He flung himself on top of the malicious pod, squashing it flat.

A man fell out of the sky and landed at my feet today. Plooff! As easy as you please he sailed down and then, flumpf! He landed.

It was true enough that Thomasina was on her terrace and looking into his apartment, although spying was a harsh word. “I’ll fix that,” Steve said. He moved over in full view of Thomasina and let the Venetian blind down with a flumpf.

A flumpf of falling snow makes me look up and then Steve shouts. I see a flash of silver; it must be a real springer.

Murphy barked again, sat down with a flumpf on the metal deck, and began scratching behind his ear with his back leg.

He sniffs himself suspiciously and then flumpfs into the couch, still wearing his peel.

Abruptly, Cleo flumpfed down onto one of the chairs, her ears ringing unpleasantly.

I put down my muesli mid-guzzle and flumpfed into a kitchen chair, all the get-out-of-the-house adrenaline leaving my body with an almost audible whoosh.