Posts Tagged ‘Words’
Jan
Cut And Paste
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Today’s story has a special format, and so we had to take a photo to insert it. Enjoy!
Barry O’Farrell is an actor who sometimes writes, living in Brisbane, Australia.
Barry’s stories have appeared in Cyclamens & Swords, The Flash Fiction Press, 50-Word Stories, 101 Words and of course here at A Story In 100 Words. One of Barry’s short stories was runner up in the 2015 Arts Alliance competition.
Oct
Journey
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
This is a long haul, intercontinental flight. In the allocated, limited space on the plane it is a matter of organizing myself.
The challenge is to get as comfortable as possible. In such a tight space it is not easy. I keep shifting position.
I can’t believe how cramped conditions are and quietly curse the designer.
A saying pops into my mind. It is the journey, not the destination.
Common words yet concise and sagacious, they resonate immediately.
The most contradictory thing about this wise saying strikes me; globally quoted, all the while remaining completely unknown in the airline industry.
From Guest Contributor Barry O’Farrell
Barry is an actor who sometimes writes, living in Brisbane, Australia.
The Arts Alliance of Pine Rivers has announced Barry’s piece RETREADS as runner up in their most recent writing competition. Also, Barry’s story ARMED will appear in The Flash Fiction Press during the last week of October.
Jul
Gone
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
A little red toy truck rolled across the floor followed by quick scurrying steps. He picked up the truck, looking to the door, then to his grandmother, who was quietly waiting by the stairs. A light rapping on the door. The woman knew what this was.
Opening the door, quiet words were exchanged. Just as quickly, the door closed again.
The boy’s grandmother gave him a pat on the head and made her way up the stairs, unable to speak to him.
His eyes followed after her. He clutched the little red toy truck that much closer to his chest.
From Guest Contributor Nicole Rand
Jun
Basic Behavior
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
All I could say to my mother as she stood haggard over the sunken sink and washed the dishes; rattled the stainless steel pots trying to make some type of noise to fill up space that the silence had long held ransom was, “I don’t mean to be sad.” I gripped at the air as I said the words; tried to catch eloquence and understanding in my palms. I wanted to give her a better answer, a better reason. I wanted to appease. “I don’t mean to be sad,” again. Basic. All I could be…everything I could say. “I’m sorry.”
From Guest Contributor Endya Goliday
Endya is a fiction writer and playwright who resides in Saint Louis, Missouri.
May
Her Little Plum
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The plum blossoms dance in the spring breeze like pink snowflakes across the yard.
A boy again, mother lifts me into the limbs to pick ripened fruit. “Be careful, my precious squirrel.”
“Ready, dear?” my wife asks.
“Yes,” my voice chafes. I inspect my dark suit, adjusting my tie in the window’s reflection. Wipe my face and rub wet fingers together.
“Your speech is in my purse.”
Words. An inadequate parting gift.
My mouth waters as mother sets down a steaming plum pie.
After her funeral, floodlights illuminate wreckage of the fallen tree. A brittle heart splinters. Sobs erupt anew.
From Guest Contributor Eric Schweitz
Dec
Single Sin Manifest
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
There had been a theory, more of a folk tale really, that hummingbirds were angels come down to Earth. They flitted about madly and we were attracted to their beauty and awed by their delicate nature.
The angels actually turned out to be the elephants and rhinoceroses, which makes sense when you think about it. They were heavy and profound and their words carry weight. Unfortunately, we hunted them to extinction and now we’re down here on our own.
The hummingbirds are still among us. Each one is a single sin manifest and they are growing more numerous every day.
Dec
The Statement
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
He studied the statement in his hand, trying to focus only on the words, not on their meaning. He couldn’t think about anything but the words.
He’d been the Emperor for as long as he could remember, since childhood. He’d never been just Glenn. He’d never heard that name spoken, and he’d rarely ever thought about it.
But after he read that statement out loud, Glenn was who he would be from now on.
The Emperor put down the statement and took off his glasses. He wondered how long it would be before the new emperor decided to execute Glenn.
Jul
The Sound Of Duty
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The silence wrapped around us tightly, even as we fought against it. There we tears, the quiet kind, and anguished expressions. More than one person collapsed to the ground.
I’d been through this before. We all had, so there was little to be gained with words.
We dropped our weapons and left them where they lay. Without any order, we gradually made our way back to the city. We refused to look each other in the eye.
The sacrifices were necessary. The welfare of our entire civilization depended on them. But we each vowed this would be the last time.
Dec
The Dictionary Of Forgotten Words
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
He found it long ago, in his grandfather’s attic. The cover said Dictionary, but it looked more like an old journal: yellowed, desiccated, stained and crumpled. It contained a list of words, one to each page, words he had never seen before.
Every time he discovered an unfamiliar word, he wrote it down on a clean page. The next time he opened it, the definition had magically appeared, in his own handwriting even.
Once the word was scribed into the book, however, it escaped from the language, never to be uttered, written, thought of again. His dictionary that consumed words.