Category Archives: Flash Fiction

Nov13

Can You Tell a Story In …?

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Can You Tell a Story In …?

For Esther’s challenge:

Can You Tell A Story In…

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Can you tell a story in 61 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • BABY
  • ICE-SKATING
  • ALBUM
  • SALAD
  • FRIGHT
  • CAMERA

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girl wearing winter clothes ice skates clipartCameras rolled. lively album music played, and the show  started. It was recital day at the ice skating rink. First up was the baby class; the youngest students learning to skate on ice. Their theme was fruit salad, and all were dressed in colorful fruit costumes. Some children were frightened, but  they did well, and the parents were proud of them.

(61 words)

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Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2025 BS

Nov6

Can You Tell A Story In …? Three Parts

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Can You Tell A Story In ..? Three Parts

For Esther’s challenge: This week

Can You Tell A Story In…

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NOTE: These are the past three weeks prompts so I put them all together into one story = 3 segments. Start with the bottom one, then the middle one, then the top one. 🙂

🙂 🙂 🙂

Can you tell a story in 77 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • WISHY-WASHY
  • MARSHMALLOW
  • IMPOUND
  • EAGLE
  • VIOLIN
  • BALCONY
  • ROSTER

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Part 3

Gerry Gerbil psyched himself up for the challenge. He told himself not to be wishy-washy, just take a stance, aim the dart, and throw. Glancing at the winner’s roster, he saw only two had won before him. The carnival barker sat in the balcony playing a violin dirge to distract him. He took a breath, said a wish that an eagle would fly over, grab those marshmallow soft slippers out of impound and bring them to him. (77 words)

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And the one from last week:

Can You Tell A Story In…

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Can you tell a story in 46 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • PORTAL
  • DROOL
  • SLIPPERS
  • MARKSMAN

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Part 2

Gerry was already in trouble, so figured he would stay at the carnival. He entered the portal of a sideshow tent and began to drool. Prizes were  fluffy slippers! He wanted some, but he had to bust balloons with a dart. He was a good marksman. (46 words)

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For Esther’s challenge: From the week before  …

Can You Tell A Story In…

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Can you tell a story in 54 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • GERBIL
  • WONDERLAND
  • ZIP
  • AFTERSHAVE
  • BANSHEE

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Part 1

Gerry Gerbil screamed like a banshee as he hurtled down the zip-line. It was a wonderland of new experiences for this little after-shaver adventurer. This was certainly a thrill, but even more so was his runaway escapade from home. He feared the trouble he’d be in when he got back. He would be grounded! (54 words)

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2025 BS

Oct23

13 Days of Samhain # 4 – The Ferryman

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13 Days of Samhain # 4 – The Ferryman  

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For Sammi’s challenge:

13 Days of Samhain (volume vi) – A Horror / Halloween Writing Prompt Challenge

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Ferryman Ferryman Ferryman

The girls giggled as they said it three times.

“This is just a myth, a joke.”

“I don’t know, maybe. I heard it was real. ”

“What, that if you say it three times there will be a boogyman, called the Ferryman that will come steal your soul?” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“Let’s try it again.”

Ferryman Ferryman Ferryman

Silence

The girls were never seen again.

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2025 BS

Oct21

13 Days of Samhain # 1 & # 2 – They Gather Souls

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13 Days of Samhain  # 1 & # 2 – They Gather Souls

 

list of prompts day by day

For Sammi’s challenge

13 Days of Samhain (volume vi) – A Horror / Halloween Writing Prompt Challenge

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This is a new challenge I just saw listed, from Sammi. The first prompt is to write anything about ‘dust to dust – ashes to ashes.

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As they gather, they shriek

Hot west winds roar over the Rockies

Picking up pieces and souls

A norther comes blowing in

bowing branches and bringing bodies

Easterly tempests snatch entities ethereal

And the southern breeze wafts sinuously silent

They gather

They gather

Ashes to ashes

Dust to dust

Grave robbers pick the pieces of our souls

***

img_4157

a small fenced in graveyard

And for Day # 2 – Dead and Buried

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LOST SOUL

~

I could bury your lost soul in fog,

The mists of time mysterious…

Seeping through my brain’s lament,

You make me most delirious.

I will not bury you now,

To let you rot away…

You are the beating of my heart,

And there you’ll always stay.

As I release you out of my mind,

I see you in my dream…

A ghost upon my psyche…

So present, yet still unseen.

I cried when you were finished, then…

But never were you diminished…

A breath of life I gave to you,

And now you are replenished.

I write your story on my soul,

To bring you back to life…

A supernatural being, now

free of pain and strife.

Your cryptic ghostly wanderings,

Your still alive remains…

I write your story on my soul,

And sing your sad refrains.

***

~this is an elegy poem~

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Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2018 & 2025 BS

 

 

 

Feb8

The Case – Flashback Friday – February 7, 2019

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The Case – Flashback Friday – February 7, 2019

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — February 7th

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Here’s a little story I wrote back on February 7, 2019 from a picture prompt.

The Case – Fiction Photo Prompt for February

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this photo shows a large elephant pushing on a small blue house that is up in a small tree and it is snowing heavily.

Pixabay image by Marianne Sopala

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The Case

Early this morning, while fetching my morning newspaper by my front door, I noticed a slip of paper there on my porch step.

The images glued onto a piece of copy machine paper was amature at best. Random bits and pieces cut from a magazine, showing a gigantic elephant, almost as tall as a tree, and a tiny little house was stuck in the branches.

And what was this white stuff spattered all over the page…globs of paint with cotton fluff? Was that supposed to be snow? I had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

I never expected to get my next assignment in this fashion. As chief code interpreter for the FBI, I was used to solving all kinds of strange missives, but this…this just took the cake. What was I to do with it?

I notified my superiors in the agency, of course. They had no explanation, so I was on my own with this one.

There were no words or letters on the thing, so I tried dusting for fingerprints, even running it through a special computer app, to no avail. Was this a serious warning of some dire future event, or a hoax?

Taking a break to think, I sipped my hot coffee. Think…think…what else was in the picture? Mice? Was that what they were up in the little house? I got my magnifying glass to have a closer look. Hmmm…kind of looked like mice, but still not clear. They looked more like Siamese cats, to me. Okay, here’s what we have…elephant, tree, tiny house, mice/cats, snow?

The first letters of each were E T T H M C S. Was it an anagram? METH, SETS, CHET, THEM, SETH? I sighed…no clue. I really needed to get to work, go into the downtown office, and get my mind on other cases for awhile. So, I ate breakfast, showered, and left my house for the day.

~

Returning home, later that afternoon, I greeted my little neighbor, Lucy, sitting on my porch.

“Hi, Lucy, how are you doing?” I asked the little six year old.

“Hi, Ms S,” she said and smiled, looking up at me. “Did you get the picture I made for you? I left it right here this morning. I know you like animals, and we went to the zoo and saw an elephant, and he was real big, and it’s gonna be winter soon, so I made some snow, and there’s cats and mice, and a little house for them all to live in when it’s cold, and…”

Lucy went on explaining all the things in the picture, the way all six year old kids do, going on and on.

I smiled and nodded.

Case solved.

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2019  & 2025 BS

Jan2

No Theme Thursday – Wolf Standoff

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No Theme Thursday – Wolf Stand-off

No Theme Thursday: 01.02.25

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Kevin, at The Beginning At Last, has several AI pictures to choose from each week. I chose the large dark furred wolf with red glowing eyes to write about. This is my first time participating in this challenge. See more at the above link.

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This is a painting I did many years ago of a gray wolf with yellow eyes and purple and yellow background.

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Wolf Stand-off

Big Bad Wolf, “I’m the biggest, baddest wolf in the woods!”

Little Gray Wolf, “hahaha No you’re not. You are just a big artificial picture someone made up.”

Big Bad Wolf, “So what? You’re just an amateur painting someone did, by looking at a magazine picture.”

Little Gray Wolf, “Yeah, but at least a real person made me, not some robot who has no feelings. So nonnie nonnie boo hoo.”

Big Bad Wolf, “Wow, you are so immature with your put downs. I rule the woods – what do you rule – the wall you hang on?”

Little Gray Wolf, “Sure I do. And where are these imaginary woods you call home? I don’t see any woods, just some squiggly lines. Can’t your robot make trees?”

Big Bad Wolf, “I wanted to look mysterious and fierce.”

Little Gray Wolf, “I’ll give that point to you, you do look mean. Those red eyes … are they from crying or drinking too much?”

Big Bad Wolf, “You shut your mouth, pipsquesk! My red eyes are from my otherworldly power force. They can zap you!”

Little Gray Wolf, “oooh I’m so scared … not! Go on with your bad self – go home, or whatever dungeon you crawled out of.”

Big Bad Wolf, “That’s enough! I’ve had just about enough of your insults. I’m going, but beware of when we meet again.”

Little Gray Wolf, “See ya – wouldn’t want to be ya.”

They go their separate ways, both to live another day.

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2025 BS

 

Jul30

Fandango’s Story Starter – Intruders

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Fandango’s Story Starter – Intruders 

Fandango’s Story Starter #160

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She knew she needed to keep very still while she waited.

The intruders would be gone soon enough.

AI generated picture – small gray aliens in a bedroom

The grays appeared in her bedroom as if from her dreams. She managed to crawl under the bed before they could grab her. Now they searched.

Frightened, yet curious, she watched and made mental notes. She could somehow hear their jabbering words, but they made no sense to her. Soon, she relaxed and decided they would not find her, as they seemed very stupid. The aliens had not even thought to look under the bed. She almost giggled.

Now she was getting bored. What was taking them so long? One kept staring at their image in the mirror, while the other just sat there.

She wondered what would happen if she jumped out and said ‘boo’? No, too risky. She just kept waiting for them to leave.

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2024 BS

Sep18

Monkey – A Silly Story

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Monkey – A Silly Story

Coloring page shows 5 little monkeys. Two are upside down at the top. Three have red flowers, and two are holding bananas.

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I wrote this and posted it in November of 2015. I’d forgotten all about it, but as I was browsing around here I found it again.

I was feeling silly, I guess, and took a bunch of movie titles and connected them with a story line. Here’s how it turned out:

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🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒

MONKEY

Harvey was taking a sightseeing tour one Night at the Museum in Philadelphia. As he viewed a life-sized diorama of a cemetery, with a large Tombstone, he heard an eerie voice. It was a Ghost, relating some disturbing news. It seemed The Man With One Red Shoe had captured a monkey, and was trying to start an Outbreak with him.

“What is the matter with The Jerk?” Harvey said, aloud. He suddenly had a vision of some Gorillas in the Mist, down in Brazil, who were enraged at what the man was doing. They were so close to Bringing Down the House on the man, but needed back-up help to stop him.

Harvey knew he had to do something, to save that little monkey, and the world. He Summoned, by text message, Donnie Darko, the Bounty Hunter, and his Army of Darkness, and begged them to go down to Brazil in order to stop the man.

Donnie Darko, and his Army of Darkness agreed to help, and he was Gone in 60 Seconds, to go on this mission of Saving Private Ryan (the monkey’s name) from this tragedy. Along the way, his army of Young Guns marched with him, down Revolutionary Road. He told them the Ugly Truth of what was going on, and they would have to stop the man by using Necessary Roughness as their weapon.

It was a long journey…it took them 9 1/2 Weeks to reach the area. They kept marching From Dusk til Dawn without stopping. When the army got there, it took only 8 Seconds to The Hour to stop the man. They’d gone all Raging Bull, kicking him all the way Back to the Future where he was never seen again. The monkey, and the world was saved.

***

© 2015 & 2023 BS

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

Aug27

Abandoned – Weekly Prompt Weekend Challenge – Narrow

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The Attic

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Narrow

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This is a piece I wrote for the WP writing course 101 way back in 2015. It has the word narrow in it. 🙂

ABANDONED

The late summer’s, afternoon sun has made the attic room at the top of the stairs unbearably hot. I’m already sweating from climbing the rickety, wooden stairs…upward into that sauna of an attic room.

Pausing in the doorway, I take a long look around. There’s nothing much to see…an unadorned window, framed in weathered wood, the slanted wall boards, giving this area of the room a tri-angular shape.

There is no hint in daylight of what is to come at nightfall.

I make my way back down the narrow stairway, taking note of the steps that creak. I must remember not to step on them later.The house is over a hundred years old…now abandoned in it’s declining years. There are spider webs in the shadowy corners, and dust particles make me sneeze. I must remember to wear a mask, when I return.

Sweat now trickles down my forehead, and my t-shirt is soaked. There are signs of mice living here…the only living creatures, besides the spiders, to call this place their home. I hear a skittering behind a wall, and smile. I’m not afraid of the mice. They’ll keep me company tonight, as I search for the abandoned souls of the dead.

For I am a ghost hunter…this is what I do.

***

Here’s the opening to our attic. It is in the garage. It looks spooky up there, and I’m always thinking maybe someone is hiding out up there, or has been living up there for years, and we don’t know about it. I think they spy on us, through little holes in our ceiling. 🙂

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Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

©  2015 & 2023 BS

Feb7

Check and Mate – Lucky Dip – Story Cube

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Check and Mate – Lucky Dip – Story Cube

 

Lucky Dip – Saturday Mix, 4 February 2023

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We are to look at the story cube symbols, and write something using some or all of them. Here’s mine:

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It was autumn on this side of the world when the trees were gold and red. We’d already had the time change to fall back on the clocks, like we do every year. It’s annoying, I know.

We were on our way to the book store to stock up on reading materials, because once the snowflakes began falling, we’d be stuck indoors.

As we drove down the street though, we had to pull over to the side. A police car, with sirens blaring and lights flashing zoomed past us. We had no idea what was going on.

A few days later, we found out when we heard the local television newscast. It seemed the police had been chasing down a couple of criminals who’d robbed a convenience store. Now they had been put in a line up and identified by the store manager. The scales of justice would determine both the criminal’s fates. They would not be pawned off with a slap on the wrist. Check and Mate!

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2023 BS