Welcome to the 100 Word Stories podcast at oneadayuntilthedayidie.com.
This is the Weekly Challenge, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
We’ve got stories by:
LIZZIE
Look Away, Please
A crowd gathered near the collapsed bridge. The front part of the truck was stuck on one side of the bridge, the back on the other.
“Icy pavement?”
Heads shook.
“Where’s the driver?”
They checked security cams, interviewed witnesses, searched the truck. Nothing.
“So, no one was driving the truck?”
Elsewhere, monitors showed live images from the accident.
A man adjusted the noose around the woman’s neck.
“Let’s get this tighter.”
She didn’t last long.
The man smiled. Improving his obsolete technological skills opened up a whole new world of possibilities. They would never catch him.
RICHARD
#1 – The Tiger on the Corner
The tiger on the corner
I encountered yesterday
Told me to wear a tie
if I wished to pass that way
Ties are not my thing:
An obsolete, old fashioned style,
But a detour would require me
to walk another mile.
I asked if he’d reconsider his demand,
But his stare – cold as winter – underlined his command.
He smiled a webcam smile,
showing all his teeth
And a shiver passed right through me,
and led to my belief
That I’d be tiger food
if I pushed my luck that night.
So instead of turning left,
I turned that corner right!
#2 – Spank Me!
“Please tie me up”, she whispered, “and spank me with a fresh haddock”.
It wasn’t the most bizarre request she’s made of me, but it was up there with the best of them. What really made it something out of the ordinary was the setting.
Most previous escapades had taken place in the privacy of our own home, apart from one memorable experience at the local swingers’ club, but this was a first for both of us.
The middle of McDonald’s on a Wednesday afternoon!
And where the hell was I going to find a fresh haddock in these surroundings?
TOM
Let the Leaf Fall Slowly
Cornered Tiger lifted his hand towards most honorable Obsolete Winter. “Please,” said Tiger. Winter floated to the center of the mat. They locked arms and pressed in fits and starts. The match went back and forth over the hour. Tiger ahead, then Winter ahead both encountered the raging chi of the other’s particular form of deep power. The whole affair was produced on a shoe string budget. No high def cams. Just two webcams that streamed it to a public server in Seoul. In the end the match was a tie, but 50,000,000 viewers rated the match a monumental success.
SERENDIPITY
From the moment you encountered me, your fate was sealed. You knew it as well as I – your death was inevitable, the only question: How you would eventually meet your end.
I thought you deserved special treatment… Not for you the quick, clean end, brought about by piano wire, rope or poison. Neither would you experience the sudden, sharpness of cold steel, or a bullet to the head.
I had something different in store for you – call it poetic justice.
Surrounded by your hunting trophies, shackled and bound… Now the hunter had become the hunted:
Time to release the tiger!
JEFFREY
Fetish
by Jeffrey Fischer
Aviv’s webcam was discretely located in a corner of his bedroom, hidden by stuffed animals. Those who spotted the camera assumed Aviv enjoyed recording his amorous encounters. Aviv was a minor celebrity, known mainly from advertisements. He would have no trouble inviting women to his place.
Susan, a former conquest, who had noticed the webcam too late, hired a burglar to steal the footage. She didn’t want her sighs and moans made public, and thought the opportunity for blackmail too good to pass up. When the thief turned over a thumb drive, Susan was surprised. Aviv did indeed have a fetish. Again and again the camera showed Aviv dressing in a suit and tie, arranging several stuffed animals around a child-sized table, enjoying tea with the animals. All except for the tiger, who didn’t care for tea and sat contemplating a glass of milk while Aviv chattered away.
TURA
The Dudelsack
———
The dudelsack is native to the Jura mountains. It is a protected species nowadays, but in times past it was hunted for its skin. Even then they were rarely encountered, for they are secretive creatures, quick to flee from any disturbance. In winter they hibernate in burrows they dig for the purpose. This was the season when dudelsack hunters would search the hills for their secret dens, and take advantage of their drowsiness to trap the prey without damaging its hide. It was chiefly prized for making Alpine bagpipes, and this is why the German word for bagpipe is Dudelsack.
NORVAL JOE
Barry was a proctologist but not a very good proctologist.
He paid bottom dollar for a failing practice in a low income part of town.
He refused to pay for any newer technology. In fact he would typically use worn out or obsolete tools unless he was cornered and threatened with a law suit.
At one point the ancient proctoscope that came with the practice finally gave up the ghost.
Did Dr. Barry Pokenbottom shell out good money for a new one?
Nope.
Finding materials in a storage room, he tied a webcam to a broomstick and used that instead.
DR. ALEX
Jeremy spent the last week preparing himself for battle – tweaking his blank stare after heading advice from his webcam chat room buddies.
He knew he was ready. Then he heard it: “Let’s play Family Feud!”
First to the podium and ready to face off against an exquisite brunette named Sally, little did Jeremy know that she had also prepared. Her with her leopard print slip under her pencil skirt.
Jeremy, however, was not to be undone, for he had chosen well: his tiger striped bow tie that showed proudly.
With a flick of his wrist. Buzzer! “Answer?”
“Banana split!” Ding!
DUANE
Obsolete and Please
The new GF25 comes out tomorrow. Now nobody likes hearing that their girlfriend is obsolete, but you have to keep up with technology. The “25” is smarter, faster and has a pleasure rating of 89. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.
I’ll probably just take the trade in even though I could get more on Craigslist. I don’t like answering all the questions about scratches and dents and performance problems.
Teaching a new girlfriend is the only drawback. I wish you could download your likes and dislikes from the old one, but the GF25 isn’t compatible with old girlfriends.
PLANET Z
Diana liked to point her webcam out the window and stream the scene in her backyard.
The snow, falling through the old willow tree, blanketing the ground in white.
Every now and then, a bright red cardinal at the bird feeder.
It was beautiful. People from around the world watched her webcam’s feed.
So, when the feed vanished, the discussion boards exploded in worry.
What happened to Diana?
And then, eventually, a final screen capture appeared: a girl in a night shirt, hanging from a rope by her neck from the willow tree.
And a knocked-over chair, half-covered with snow.