Aug
Their Saturday Morning Walk
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“How was it Ed?”
By 10:30, Ed returned with Frodo, after their Saturday morning walk. Frodo, a Labrador retriever, immediately went to his food dish.
“I played fetch with Frodo in the park. He chased a squirrel, Edna, and they ran into the middle of a parade. I caught him, then we went by Sawyer’s place.”
“Was his forsythia in bloom?”
Cornelius Sawyer had an almost pathological attraction to his bush.
“Yeah…Frodo peed all over it, Edna. Then Sawyer threw a brick at him.”
“That was it?”
“No, he threw a tennis racket at me.”
“Oh…So, nothing unusual.”
From Guest Contributor David Sydney
Aug
Man’s Best Friend
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
My wife said I treated Tobasco better than I treated the kids. I walked him three times a day.
I took him water skiing and skydiving. I fed him rib tips and chili for dinner. He’s ridden shotgun
in my Ferrari more than my wife. She has a conniption because I gave Tobasco a 24-karat gold
funeral with a sterling silver tombstone and cremated her mother. The heifer didn’t like me anyway.
Tobasco didn’t complain about dinner, clothes, and require $1000 cell phones. He didn’t fail in
school and talk back. Excuse me while I cry and blow snot everywhere.
From Guest Contributor Gary L. Dozier
Aug
Release The Hounds
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The mob surrounded the exterior fence, wielding an array of weaponry, everything from baseball bats and hockey sticks to handguns and automatic weapons. Policy that made a lot of sense when the ire was directed at the liberal elites now seemed short-sighted.
“Thomas, let’s see what they think of our dogs.”
“Very good, sir.”
He’d imported a dozen trained attack dogs from Israel. Not enough to fend off a hundred armed individuals, but he found it hard to believe these peasants were prepared to shoot an animal.
The barks dissipated faster than he expected.
“They came prepared, sir. With steaks.”
Aug
Nameless Here Forever
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Something in the manner the June sun slants through my bedroom window sears my heart.
It burns through, red-hot, singeing its muscles and sinews but not its memories.
For it was on a blistering day like this that terror, treachery, vengeance and death engulfed.
A whirling hate storm, sowed by unknown faces in unknown places, which ravaged my known.
We could neither resist nor understand these demons who killed without remorse.
Who left us with our dead, the dregs of our lives and nameless here forever.
My homecoming, ten years hence, brings deep summer sadness, which will remain within forever.
From Guest Contributor Chitra Gopalakrishnan
Aug
Bad Parenting
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Brandon is so excited he can barely speak. “So Pain Cake climbs onto the top rope when the ref isn’t looking and drops onto Big Beef with his patented Jagged Edge.”
“Pain Cake?”
“Yeah. He flattens you like a pancake, and it’s extremely painful.”
“I see.”
“Then Captain Atomic runs out of the locker rooms with a German Shepherd and chases everyone out of the ring. And guess what happens next…”
“Mm-hm.”
“Mom, you aren’t listening!”
“I’m listening. I’m just driving. Go on.”
“This is literally the greatest thing that’s happened in my entire life and you don’t even care.”
Jul
Independence Day
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
It’s “Independence Day,” and I’m excited to see the fireworks show at the beach with my kids. I’ve packed a small picnic of chicken sandwiches and soda, nothing fancy and we’ll sit on the sand watching the sky light up. I want to make this day special for Charlie and Kenny since the divorce has been tough on them.
My youngest, Kenny, takes my hand and gives me a warm smile while Charlie is sitting cross legged waiting.
The sky bursts into red, green, blue and white and the look of joy on my boys’ faces is all I need.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Jul
Bricks
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Being a responsible sort, Pig Number Three set about building a house entirely out of bricks. This was before you could go online and order bricks delivered to your door. Besides, Pig Number Three had neither a door nor an address, so he was forced to make his bricks from scratch.
The process involved mixing clay, water, sand, and straw, then shaping the material into rectangles, drying them, and baking them at high temperatures in a kiln.
Pigs Number One and Two laughed at his labors. Everyone knew the wolves in the area had been hunted into extinction years before.
Jul
Sunday Dinner At My House
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I carry the steaming pot of paprikash to the table. It’s spicy and garlicky, and my mouth waters in anticipation.
“That looks amazing,” my sister says.
“You printed this?” My mother’s nose wrinkles, and she leans back in her chair.
“Of course,” I say as my sister shifts a bowl of buttered noodles. I set the pot down.
“You kids have it so easy. In my day, we had to chop our own vegetables and simmer the chicken for hours.”
My sister and I grin at each other, but my mother doesn’t notice. She’s already spooning food onto her plate.
From Guest Contributor Julia Rajagopalan
Jul
T-Shirt Sun Tan
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Look at your farmer’s tan.”
“We don’t call it that anymore.”
“What? Why not?”
“It’s derogatory to farmers.”
“How is it derogatory?”
“It’s mocking them for having to work in the sun all day.”
“They do work in the sun all day. Are you saying that just because they work in the sun it’s somehow undignified? That earning an honest living outdoors is not as worthy as sitting in an office?”
“You’re the one laughing at me.”
“I’m laughing at you because you look stupid, not because I have anything against farmers. Someone’s a conceited asshole and it’s not me.”
Jul
When One’s Owners Don’t Get It
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Hank, a large German Shepherd, wouldn’t hurt a fly; his owners knew he was a good dog, so they let him roam their street with a leash on, but nobody holding it.
However, Hank learned that many viewed with suspicion the apparent lack of human-affiliation that his unmanned leash seemed to signify.
Small children would take one look at him and turn to quivering jelly. Dogs on human-attended leashes preemptively barked so much, their owners had to reroute their walks.
Hank finally learned to bring the loose end of his leash to his owners whenever he wanted to walk around.
From Guest Contributor Susmita Ramani
Susmita’s work has appeared in over thirty different publications, including 100 Words, and she has a novella coming out in 2026. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, two teenage daughters, and a dozen pets. See her WordPress for fiction and Instagram for poetry.