Posts Tagged ‘Guest Contributor’
Sep
Heroes
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The fire blew the windows into the street, and pedestrians ran from the area. I entered the house with my fellow firefighters, and the intense heat hit me like a weight. In the distance I could hear someone yelling for help.
“You check downstairs, I’m going upstairs, I hear someone.”
I followed the screams to the bedroom and kicked the door in. Smoke filled the room, but I could see the woman struggling for air. I lifted the tiny woman and took her down the stairs outside to the waiting EMTs.
I went back inside, and we extinguished the fire.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Sep
You Know Birds
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Look, Ed. the Sun’s coming out.”
“The Sun, huh?”
Actually, it had been out, fusing protons into helium nuclei in its core. Daily, unendingly, for billions of years, it kept at it. Cloud cover had temporarily blocked Edna’s view.
“Look at the trees. Let’s go out on the patio, Ed.”
Squinting, she turned from the window.
“But the birds in the trees like to crap on me, Edna.”
It was true. They aimed for Ed’s head especially.
“Yeah, Ed. But they’ll hold off.”
“What?”
“Your hair’s a mess…You know birds. They’d rather splatter you after your shampoo, not now.”
From Guest Contributor David Sydney
Sep
Revenge
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
When I think of the nights we spent together snuggling and planning the future, it makes my stomach ache. How could he have an affair with my sister who I adored. I remember when I walked into the bedroom, Sarah screeched, and Jeff’s mouth dropped. I nearly trampled his cat Muffin fleeing the room. I could hear their footsteps following me down the stairs and calling my name, but I rushed out the door and into my car peeling down the street. I blasted the radio to distract the images of their naked bodies entwined.
Now, I plot my revenge.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Aug
Linda
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
When I opened my eyes, the room spun, and the immense pressure in my head caused my stomach to churn. I surveyed the room and realized I was in a hospital, laying in a bed, my arm hooked into intravenous. I heard footsteps and then a nurse walked in.
“Hi, Linda, I just need to take your blood pressure. How are you feeling today?”
“I don’t know. How did I get here?”
“You had a terrible car accident. You’re very fortunate. I’ll be back later to check on you.”
She called me Linda, but I didn’t remember who I was.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Aug
Forks In The Road
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Darcy and I stare at Walter through shatterproof glass at the prison during visiting hours.
Walter’s handcuffed knuckles, pressing against his temples, are white. “Toasting forks?! Those thirty-inch-long skewers you use for toasting marshmallows?”
I nod. “I put them out with the salad at dinner.”
“How could you?” he sputters.
Darcy grimaces. “Sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to get expelled for jabbing people.”
“It’s not your fault, Darce,” Walter says. “Mom should’ve known better than to give you the exact weapons I used for the trail of destruction that landed me here.”
I sigh. “I was trying to normalize them.”
From Guest Contributor Susmita Ramani
Aug
Change Of Heart
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Think of it as a substitute pump,” the surgeons encourage him. “Latest technology, stringent testing. Equally life-enhancing as the heart God gave you.”
Will it buy him time for his daughter’s imminent wedding? Or beyond, and a new grandchild?
“Side effects include problematic emotional disorders.”
Surely morning birdsong, leisurely travel, favourite classical music will quiet unexplained turmoil.
He acquiesces, yet flails against this plastic invader into his chest.
Without warning, a fog enwraps his mind, shrouds familiar feelings. The mystifying retreat of joy, sorrow, empathy panics him. Why has love for his daughter vanished?
Oblivious, his new heart pumps steadily.
From Guest Contributor Gary Thomson
Aug
Superhero
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Pay attention to your other senses, the blind man said, words muffled by my failing ears. They’ll take over if you lose one. He laughed, and I pushed our shared plate of sushi towards him, because I knew his touch was in no way enhanced. I watched his lips then: I’m no superhero. In the silence, the sushi tasted the same, the salt of tamari, snap of wasabi. Still I’d hoped: I’d envisioned a saving grace, sniffing people out by their soap’s scent, the sweetness of body lotion. The blind man, wishing for another roll, groped around on the tablecloth.
From Guest Contributor Colleen Addison
Aug
Chloe
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I loved the way Chloe licked her lips after an ice-cold drink, and when her long black hair blew in the breeze. When she tilted her face backward, she looked beautiful.
Chloe set up the picnic while I stood under the tree and watched. She was gorgeous in the way she shook the table cloth and neatly placed it on the grass.
The diamond ring was in my pocket, and I was set to propose on this bright warm, sunny day. She’d love it.
Chloe waved me over and I was ready. Then the unthinkable happened.
It thundered, then rained.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
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