July, 2016 Archives
Jul
A Day, A Span
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
At dawn I am brought forth into this world, howling, crying. Mama, a girl hardly thirteen, swaddling my small frail body in a torn shawl. Oblivious that I am a load, or so I think.
At noon I walk briskly through dusty thorny paths nobody else walks through. A long march that brings only thirst. Fighting a war with no combatants. I am an assassin. I aim, I miss. I aim again, I hit.
By dusk I am an old man walking out of this world, soon. Mama, so long a spirit by now. Papa, a boy hardly an adult.
From Guest Contributor Troy Onyango
Jul
She Was Beautiful
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I’ve never been accused of being a dirty old man and I’m not. I know it. I’m not even close. But I couldn’t help staring at her walking in the park. What a beautiful sight. Trim, lean, and muscled; a perfect specimen. A joy to watch. She had no idea how perfect she was. Perhaps that made her perfect. I stared at her and no one seemed to care. I even received a nod or two from others in the park. I can’t be sure, but I think they were watching her as well. A prize-winning poodle, she was perfect.
From Guest Contributor N.T. Franklin
Jul
End Of The Line
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Grace ran her finger over the word.
TERMINATED
She over-pronounced each syllable. The word crashed off her computer’s screen. The “t” chipped the floor with its hook. The “e” cracked the tile, and the rest of the letters tumbled into the void.
“Didn’t tell me in person.” The night beacon, bedroom clock blinked 11:15.
In her unkempt kitchen, she knelt beside the sink. Ants crawled, a living chain of perfect order. They bypassed her bait. Scouts explored on. Workers followed trails through the cracks. But in the hive, the queen risked nothing.
Life balanced on the pinhole of a hilltop.
From Guest Contributor Embe Charpentier
Jul
Budget Costs
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The detective leaned back in the seat, stretched expansively and roared. “Lazy fucking bastards!”
There was a sudden flurry of papers being shuffled, phones being lifted, and desk drawers being opened and closed.
“Aggghhh, not you useless lot,” he growled. “Not this time anyway.”
“Who’s offended the mighty Sergeant Prick, this time?” an attractive female police officer drawled.
“That’s Pryck … like dyke.” She’d rebuffed his many advances.
She merely generated a smug smile…pausing it for greater effect.
“Hrrmph, thought I’d a break on the Couples Killer…but the council couldn’t be bothered cleaning the CCTV lenses.”
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Jul
Adam’s Apple
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Where did you hear that? She asked, blonde hair peek-a-boo covering her naked breasts.
“An emergency meeting of Seraphim and Cherubim. I was passing by and overheard,” he responded. “You’ve passed that tree a hundred times. The one with the single piece of fruit at the very top. It looks like an apple. ”
“And it’s supposed to have magical powers?”
“The fruit. That’s what He said.”
“Nobody can climb that tree,” she insisted.
“The snake could. He could slither up. You could persuade him,” he winked.
“As soon as I finish hemming these fig leaves,” she winked back.
From Guest Contributor Reynold Junker
Jul
Never
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
She kept the Nevers in a shoebox. Most came from her mother, from childhood, but even now, she could sense her mother preparing more for Christmas. Her step-father gave her a few in the early years, but they faded to nothing as their relationship thickened to indifference.
The one from her father appeared the day after he died. Everyone thought she was too young to remember his return from the war, the nightmares, the gun shot, the funeral. Perhaps she had been, but she still kept the Never, like a scar.
She often wondered why he’d left her only one.
From Guest Contributor EM Eastick
Jul
Her Private Video Archive
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I had first come across her archive of personal video footage, when she left the house to me for a few months, on her trip to Japan.
She had a considerable collection of 8mm tapes, DVDs, and CDs filled with amateur video footage.
I remember clearly that, I spent a whole month locked in the house, watching her film the mundane and the eventful. When she did not return from the trip to Japan, I auctioned it to an art gallery for a considerable sum of money.
Her ‘Sans Soleil’ though was never seen, like her footage of the riots.
From Guest Contributor Debarun Sarkar
Debarun sleeps, eats, reads, smokes, drinks, labors and occasionally writes stories and submits them. Recent works have appeared or are forthcoming in Off the Coast, The Opiate, Aainanagar, Rat’s Ass Review, Cerebration, and here at A Story in 100 Words. He can be reached at debarunsarkar.wordpress.com
Jul
Absent Samaritan
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
He used the lamppost to drag himself to his feet, having groped for the muddy spectacles.
“Help,” he thought he called, clamping the damaged frame to his face to supplement the remaining arm. “I’ve been mugged.”
But he couldn’t have made a noise. Surely the trio who passed would have stopped if he had?
He steadied himself against pain and dizziness and tried to focus his remaining energy into a shout for aid.
He watched through smeared lenses as they faded into the rain: ghosts into oblivion.
He couldn’t be sure they’d heard.
The blood seemed the only irrefutable fact.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Jul
Shades Of White
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
He had spent the morning prepping: moving furniture, taking down curtains, removing pictures from the walls, spreading drop cloths, and taping: lots and lots of taping.
Finally, the paint was open and stirred. Before dipping the brush in the can, Paul looked longingly through the picture window at the gorgeous spring day. He sighed, knowing his friends were probably just finishing their round at the country club.
“Honestly,” he thought, “who can tell the difference between Yucca White and Painter’s Canvas. I just did this room two months ago.”
He hated painting, but when his wife said paint, he painted.
From Guest Contributor Simon Hole
Simon lives in rural Rhode Island where he taught fourth grade for 35 years, publishing essays and co-authoring a book focused on life in the classroom. Since retirement he has been playing poker, gardening, and writing short fiction. Some of his work can be found on-line at 101Words, The Zodiac Review, 200cc’s, and Bewildering Stories.
Jul
English Ivy
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Flamboyant scarlet blossoms arched twisting, winding heirloom English ivy. An
unexpected downpour ignored by the water-soaked guests. Whitewashed mason jars
splashed crimson pallets of rustic rural splendor. The music began, he stood nervously
waiting, looking down at his rented black shoes. She grasped her father’s arm. Fervent
desire charged fiery passion. Sugary words melted sultry shadows. Fireflies and fairy
dust lit moonless nights. Silence invited the darkness. Substance replaced by distance;
whiskey preferred to a kiss. Emotions frost bit in autumn’s showy splendor she’d climb
grasping, experiencing struggle with the fortitude of English ivy. She knew he watched
her sleep.
From Guest Contributor Christy Schuld