Dec
Eight Maids a-Yelping
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“What’s a milkmaid to do? The only thing bovine hereabouts is the Silly Cow who owns the place. During the first seven days of Christmas, she let her true love convert her manor house into an aviary.”
“Tell me about it! I’m a housemaid, but I don’t do windows and I don’t do guano.”
A barefoot parlor maid lamented, “Look at my bloody feet after half a dozen geese pecked my corns.”
The other five recently-hired maids commiserated with them.
“Let’s tar and feather the harpy. We can substitute pine pitch, in a pinch, and there’s no shortage of feathers.”
From Guest Contributor John H. Dromey
John’s short fiction has appeared in Mystery Weekly Magazine, Stupefying Stories Showcase, Thriller Magazine, Unfit Magazine, and elsewhere.
Dec
That Day
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
He dreamt of one. Then another and another…until the sky was
crowded with them. Umbrellas. Pristine white. Open. Descending from up
high. Why?
They were irrelevant in his daily life. Not so for his wife who needed
different umbrellas to complement her wardrobe.
Upon awakening he realized what triggered the scene he envisioned. Why
he told his boss he wouldn’t be at work that day.
“Does this go with my sweater?” his wife asked, opening an umbrella by
his bedside.
The man quietly slid back under the covers.
No way was he going to move on Friday the 13th.
From Guest Contributor Krystyna Fedosejevs
Krystyna, a former librarian, gathers tidbits from around the
world in her travels, strings them into delectable morsels of poetry
and prose, and stores them in her gopher hole in the Canadian
Prairies. She is open to sharing, upon request.
Dec
The Gift
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Timothy wants a brother for Christmas.
His mother, divorced, comes up with an alternative solution and sits Timothy on her lap. “Honey, there’s another way we could give you a similar present. Each month we can sponsor a child.”
Timothy tilts his head. “What does that mean, Mommy?”
“Well, each month we’ll send money to help the boy get food, education, and whatever he needs. Some children in other countries can’t afford these things and need help.”
Timothy’s face lit up the room with his radiant smile. “I like that, Mommy.”
In Bangladesh, a little boy has a happy holiday.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Dec
One Last Time
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Be a good boy,” said my mother. “Stop playing cricket in the graveyard with you likkle hooligan friend. I don’t want to hear that you trying to see duppies by washing you face with rice water.”
I didn’t want to disappoint my mother, a God-fearing woman, who left Jamaica ten Christmases ago to work as a hospice nurse in Miami, comforting the soon-to-be dead. I’d been a good boy until last week when she came home in a box. So who could blame me (and I know she would forgive me) if I tried to see her one last time.
From Guest Contributor Geoffrey Philp
Geoffrey is the author of Garvey’s Ghost
Dec
Deaths In July
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
On 17th July, Adhakanta’s twins Tompi and Shompi were found hanging from the tamarind tree their forefathers had planted outside Dhemaljote for the demons to rest in. Both had been national-level Kho-Kho players. Mairong Sarkar, their distant uncle, also an ex-KLO turned social worker, supported them as their father’s 0.07 decimal land was engulfed by the malicious river Balashon.
The scene ignited Mairong’s innermost despair and he took to the jungle again. Their father dead since last July, he untied the dupatta around his daughter’s neck.
Next July, their mother Meera eloped with Kanai, the infamous sand mafia of Balashon.
From Guest Contributor Nabanita Roy
Dec
Moon Shot
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
You can open your eyes now. The walls are covered in scribbled physics equations. Nothing wrong with that, but someone has to get on that rocket and get blown up, maybe. Take it from me, you don’t want to overlook product warnings (“Do not insert in rectum or vagina using fingers or mechanical device.”). Awareness is just so important. Everything happens too fast, as if hurled in irrational anger by the hand of God, though it’s really fluid dynamics. Even a momentary lapse in concentration can result in the sky cracking, dripping, burning, and the blue of night remaining unsolved.
From Guest Contributor Howie Good
Howie is the author most recently of Stick Figure Opera: 99 100-word Prose Poems from Cajun Mutt Press. He co-edits the online journals Unbroken and UnLost.
Dec
Invincible
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Vainly, her vulva strained to become prehensile. With her digits and her digestive tract things of the past, her vaginal aperture was the only anatomical feature that could hope to get a grip on the handle and shut off the valve before all the veal broth leaked away again. Yes, they would probably replace it with venison consommé, which might well be more flavorful—but existence is fraught with uncertainties. She suddenly remembered that she had once seen a man visibly twitch his large, convoluted, rather hairy ears. If he can do it, I can do it better, she thought.
From Guest Contributor F.J. Bergmann
Dec
Postcards Of Joy
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Mother loves postcards. I wish you could see this cathedral. I miss you. I have been constrained by tradition. I move from friend to friend. Wake in one bedroom, slumber in another. No personal markers, photos. Gifts conveying motherly intimacy. My favorite Yates novel, a radio, a train set. Living with Mother was rife with frenetic energy once Dad left. He called her a senseless dreamer. Life was defined by bottles, hissing wine. Cackling laughter, dissolved smiles. I want Mother at ease. Instead, I conjure her flitting about cathedrals, mistaking facades for joy. I tell her I’m happy. Try to believe.
From Guest Contributor Yash Seyedbagheri
Yash is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA program in fiction. His story “Soon,” was nominated for a Pushcart and he has also had work nominated for The Best Small Fictions. Yash’s work is forthcoming or has been published in journals such as 50-Word Stories, Silent Auctions, City. River. Tree. and Ariel Chart.
Dec
Dungeons Without Dragons
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Old castles and dungeons. Wizards and dragons. Evil Orcs and bewitching princesses. And he above all, The Mighty Knight, the warrior chosen to save the world from eternal doom.
One flash of lucid light and here he is again, imprisoned in his own dungeon, in his dusty boy’s room, remembering days playing tabletop fantasy games with friends and reading Tolkien, back in the time when he was just a teenager. Now he feels so old, lonely, and helpless. Not even a witch by his side, no magic spells to pay alimony, no more ideals worth fighting for.
Nothing but memories.
From Guest Contributor Ivan Ristic
Dec
Giving Thanks
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
With Thanksgiving approaching, Ellie wanted to do something special. She dreaded listening to her sister complain about cooking Thanksgiving dinner when there were people that would give anything to have a meal and a family.
Ellie’s small fingers typed on the computer keyboard searching for anything she could do to help those in destitution and found it. Her eyes locked on a three-year-old girl from Africa who needed a sponsor. She had the brownest eyes and deepest dimples. Despite her cuteness, she appeared frail and that’s when Ellie came to a decision.
A little girl was very happy that year.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher