50-Word Stories (Online) March 2022
It wasn’t until the final, near-miss horseshoe toss was disputed that things escalated into open warfare. Heavy metal shrapnel flew in almost every direction, none of it intended for its usual targets, all of it meant to send an unmistakably on-target message of protest. Neither team took home the gold.
The Birdseed (Online) March 2022
He
put a checkmark in the ledger next to his own name in the column marked
“Absent/Unexcused”. He was only a couple
of minutes late. No one really wanted to get down to business, anyway. No one
wanted to stay, but no one dared leave.
Only four or five of them had ever actually been struck by lightning.
Two were twins, but their identical siblings were elsewhere. Everyone was
dreaming, hoping for better days in far more hospitable places, but everyone
was, after all, only dreaming and—sadly—everyone knew they were only dreaming.
No one dared to wake up.
No one could wait for it all to be over with, least of all him. He checked his watch and double-checked the ledger; noted his own unexcused absence. He closed his eyes and made a silent wish.
A Story In 100 Words (Online) March 2022
Just before he’s seventy, just before 7:00 AM he
finds Shadowfax Marie at the 6068 Spa, lets her drift him into his morning
pages, levitate him, lets her let him forget everything, dismiss all of his
desires–even his morning coffee, even his Beloved (still in bed, dreaming he’s
still there, sleeping, beside her).
But his wings are only borrowed and
insubstantial. Before he can float away, he remembers his flesh, recalls his
agenda, and realizes that there’s a day ahead during which Shadowfax Marie will
inevitably fade; a day filled with no sound worth hearing, no vision worth
sharing.