Flash Fiction Challenge - Indies Unlimited

 

I decided to enter the Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge this week - after a little prodding from a fellow author.

For those who do not know what the challenge is about, I will give  you a little summary.

You are given a starting point to the story and must finish it within 250 words. Yes, it is that easy ... or that difficult.



The prompt this week:

George walked the halls of his old high school with the lavishly-wrapped package in hand. He’d seen it in the airport and immediately knew it would be the perfect gift for Mrs. Davies – his English teacher during his senior year. George grinned as he smoothed the lapel of his Armani suit. She’d told him he’d never amount to anything. He’d already proved her wrong, and then some. Now, he couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she saw him…and opened the gift. He knew the twenty-six dollar sign was going to be worth every penny…


My entry:

George reached the office that he was certain still belonged to Mrs. Davis. Turning the doorknob as he knocked and slowly peeked in, he couldn’t wait to see her reaction.

“Can I help you?” an elderly man asked from behind a filing cabinet.

“Is Mrs. Davies in today?” George disappointedly questioned as he fumbled with the sign and the airport gift in his hands.

“Mrs. Davies no longer works here. What brings you here, son?”

“Well, I thought I would pay Mrs. Davies a visit since she was one of my favorite teachers in high school …” George stammered as he tried to make up a good lie.

“Wait, I remember you,” the old man exclaimed, “you’re George Smithfield from my English class a few years ago.”

The old man began to tremble – like Mrs. Davies had on the last day of school when George had told her what a witch she was for failing him in English.

Not graduating on time still angered George. But, in a stomach-churning change-of-heart, George realized that he had made a monumental mistake in coming back.

Regaining his composure, Mr. Davies calmly said, “I guess no one told you about my gender reassignment surgery.”

“Well, um, no,” George murmured as he desperately tried to hide the sign and the box containing the coffee mug engraved with “if the broom fits, ride it”.

Flush with embarrassment, he left the office. As the door closed, George could hear the wicked laughter.

He had failed again.


**Updated on 3/6/2015 - I won. :-)

In Jayne's World, 25 Word Hint Challenge

 

 

Jayne Martin offers up a challenge this week to get us writing after the long weekend. Her blog post is HERE.

Per Jayne:

The challenge:  Write a story (beginning, middle and end) that hints at a larger story, but is complete within itself, in 25 words or less.  The most famous piece of hint fiction was written by Hemingway:

            For sale:  Baby Shoes.  Never worn.

Hint Fiction demands reader involvement.  “Why were the baby shoes never worn?” we’re left to contemplate.   It hints at much more, yet is complete in and of itself.

Here is one from Jayne: 

                                  “News at Eleven”

          A shiny, new tricycle on the sidewalk, abandoned.

          A single, blue sneaker at the curb.

          From the house, a mother calls:  “Tommy, supper!” 

Write your story on your own blog, then come back here and add a link in the comments below and also add your link to Jayne's blog HERE.  

Be sure and visit everyone else’s offering and support your fellow writers with a comment.  If you don’t have a blog, you may leave your story in my comment section below.  Write and post as many as you want.  

Here's mine: 

Too Soon

Pink flowers lay on the grave. Too short a life buried beneath. Tears uncontrolled, swallowed the congregation in a tidal wave of agony and grief.

And the Winner is ...

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful support during this week's Flash Fiction competition at Indies Unlimited.

My winning entry is recognized with a special feature HERE and a place in the collection of weekly winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.

Indies Unlimited Weekly Flash Fiction - April 16, 2014

It's time to vote in this week's Flash Fiction contest at Indies Unlimited.

For those who are not familiar with this contest, it is a weekly writing exercise through Indies unlimited.  The entries are limited to 250 words (no exceptions) and the winning story is published in an anthology at the end of the year.

The winner is chosen by the number of votes received during the voting period, which ends on Thursday, April 17 at 5:00 PM (PDT).

If you like the below story, please vote for it HERE under author S.A. Molteni.


The Three Little Bears

We were given the following prompt:

The little blonde-haired girl watched as the bear cubs groomed each other.
Disgusting, she thought. But they were occupied, and that would give her the chance she’d been waiting for to sneak into their house and steal back the basket of goodies she was going to take to her grandmother.

What she didn’t know was that someone else was watching her, and he meant to get that basket of goodies. Just the thought of it made him wag his tail in anticipation…

My entry is below:
 

The goodies, baked fresh that morning had been through many different paws that day and she was determined to get them back, no matter the cost.

Sugar, flour and fruit were in short supply and it would be another week before she could afford more ingredients. If she did not get them back and deliver them to her grandmother, the sales at ‘Grannies Cafe’ would plummet and they would most likely not make the rent.

Those bears were really getting into grooming, obsessively and compulsively so. What triggered in their brains for them to continue this behavior, she had no idea. But, it was her best chance to grab the goods and make a run for it.

She leaped into action and in one continuous swoop, retrieved the basket and dove through the same window she had used to enter the cabin. Like a ninja in the night, she was gone in an instant. Not one bear noticed her stealthy departure and they all continued grooming.

That was too easy, she thought to herself as she scurried down the path to grandmother’s house.

“Whoa!” the wolf barked as he stepped onto the path in front of her, the basket falling to the ground and the contents scattering.

“What the heck …” she stammered as she tried to understand what had just happened.

The bears looked on from their front porch, each eating a fresh blueberry muffin and wondering why the little blond girl had stolen their basket of pine cones.