Author: R.

Weekly Challenge #1043 – An empty deodorant can

The next topic is PICK TWO
Fever
Shoulder
Torpid
Hairbrush
A dead plant

LIZZIE

Beach towel, sunglasses. An empty deodorant can? She’d stopped using spray deodorants ages ago, when being environmentally friendly was a thing. Suddenly, the can beeped. She quickly tossed it away, but her guilty made her pick it up again. Then, a red dot appeared exactly when her ex walked up. “Hello!” For some reason, he took the can from her and… vanished. To her amazement, the can spoke. “Thank you for helping us capture a human specimen of the stupid kind. We’ll research him thoroughly.” Perhaps she could help again. She knew a few more specimens of the stupid kind.

RICHARD

Warning
If there’s one thing I really can’t stand, it’s the nanny state.
Politicians, public bodies and corporations ‘looking after’ our interests and keeping us safe from harm.
Let’s cut to the chase… I’m perfectly capable of exercising viewer discretion, without being advised to do it by some well-meaning TV announcer.
I don’t need a warning telling me the contents of my apple pie or coffee cup may be hot, I can figure that out by myself, thank you very much!
As for this warning on my deodorant can: ‘Do not pierce, even when empty’… well, we’ll see about that!

TOM

Got No Title, Kids

As a rule, I’m pretty fluid with topics here at the Challenge. I can say only a handful of prompts have left me staring blankly into space. This is one. So, I asked AI is there any thing interesting about empty deodorant cans. This is what it spit out: Empty deodorant containers are widely available for purchase online for DIY projects, ranging in price from roughly $1 to $3 per unit depending on quantity and material (plastic or cardboard). Is there an infinity retention of value for all manufactured items? Wait! Who these people buying this stuff? Get a life.

SERENDIPIDY

A chair, bolted to the floor.
Cable ties and duct tape.
An empty deodorant can and a cigarette lighter, lying together, discarded carelessly on the floor.
A cryptic puzzle, silently begging you to put the pieces together.
What happened here? Can you guess? Can you work it out?
Or perhaps you need something more obvious to reconstruct recent events?
The moaning, coming from the corner of the room should be an obvious clue.
But, if you still haven’t got it, then maybe you should take a closer look.
His melted face is a bit of a giveaway, don’t you think?

NORVAL JOE

Billbert took Mandi’s hand and they flew to her bedroom window. She pushed it open and waved Billbert in.

Once inside, she pointed to her bed. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”

He didn’t think it appropriate for a boy to sit on a girl’s bed but as there were no other chairs in the room he gave up and sat.

She brought in an old deodorant can that rattled when she shook it.

“Hold out your hand,” she said as she twisted the bottom from the can.

Obediently, Billbert did and Mandi shoved a ring onto his finger.

PLANET Z

It was time to clean out the cupboards in the bathroom.
Old pills, crusted-over bottles of cough medicine.
It all went in the trash.
We found some dead bugs back there.
Bandages that fell out of the pack.
Cotton swabs, too.
Burnt-out light bulbs… we checked them, sure enough.
I guess we replaced a few in the vanity and never threw out the dead ones.
Some tooth brushes left over from when we went electric.
A spent can of deodorant spray.
Not sure why that wasn’t thrown out.
Empty the bin into the trash can, and close the lid tight.

George walks

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate. During his downtime, he liked to walk around the neighborhood. Which wasn’t very difficult when the ship was out at sea since ships are small and walking around a ship isn’t difficult to do. Sometimes he’d walk around twice, sometimes even walking one end of the gang plank and then the other. Sometimes the shipmates wish he would just go all the way over the plank. When they were in dock, he’d walk around the taverns and houses and warehouses. Then he’d sit down on a bench and nap.

Twin masks

Molly and Mindy were identical.
Except that Molly wore a tragedy mask everywhere while Mindy wore a comedy mask.
Anyone who got to know them… really got to know them, they knew that Molly was the happy one while Mindy was the serious one.
But if you really got to know them, you knew not to bring this up with them.
Molly and Mindy each kept a razor in their left boot.
And if you brought up the thing with the masks, they’d draw their razors and cut your throat.
As you bleed out, each whispering in your ear… nothing.

Jumping

I remember the last time I met Death.
We were on the ledge of a very tall building.
People on the street below.
Cars passing by.
And we were up here.
He didn’t have a scythe.
A pale horse.
Or a chessboard.
Just a man in a suit.
Checking his silver pocketwatch.
“Going to jump?” he asked me.
I thought it over.
“Not this time,” I said.
He snapped his watch shut, put it in his pocket, and went back to the void.
I sat there for a while, looking at the street below.
I thought about jumping.
Next time.

Danny stops

Danny rode his bike to the library every day.
He’d lock it to the lamp post, walk through the doors, and work his way down the stacks, one book at a time.
When it was time to go home, he’d make a note of where he was in the book, walk out the doors, unlock his bike, and head home.
This went on for a few years, until one day, someone had checked out the book he had been reading the day before.
Danny sat there, confused.
When it was time to go home, he just sat and stared more.

Lending library

I live in a golf and tennis resort town, lots of families and retirees. People drive golf carts around and the kids ride their motorized bicycles like crazy. I go for a lot of walks along the golf course paths and hiking trails. A lot of people are out, pushing strollers or walking their dogs. I say hi they say hi. There are a few of those lending library kiosks in the various subdivisions named after famous golf courses or Caribbean islands. Sometimes I wanna put banned books in them. Then I realize it’s my neighborhood. Why mess it up?

Parade worthy

The town had never had a parade. They had things worth celebrating, but nothing parade worthy. So the mayor decided they would have a parade. They got the high school band together. And they decorated trucks up as floats. the Car Dealer offered a convertible for the mayor and the queen of the parade to sit in and wave. On the morning of the parade, they all lined up on one side of the street together and crossed it. It only took about 30 seconds. I don’t think that was quite right said the mayor. We’ll try again next year.

Weekly Challenge #1042 – Chip

The next topic is An empty deodorant can

RICHARD

Like his dad?
She turned and smiled at me with pride, “Won’t you just look at that, he’s a real chip off the old block.”
Well, he may have been my kid, but I was struggling to see even the remotest resemblance to myself. It was ten years since I’d last seen him, thanks to a very messy divorce.
I tried to see myself in him, but I couldn’t equate the skinny, ballet-dancing, somewhat effeminate boy with his beer-swilling, biker dad.
“I’m not sure, Sherry, he’s nothing like me.”
“I know that, you jerk… It’s me he takes after. Thank God!”

LIZZIE

The yacht was new. Was it? The plan was to sail aimlessly for a week, exploring the small beaches along the coast. A bad plan. Deciding to sail aimlessly was just the first of many problems. Upon closer inspection, they noticed water and chips of rotten wood drifting inside the hull. Then an error message appeared. An electronic chip was apparently damaged. An argument erupted, and chipped teeth happened. When they finally returned back home, they vowed to sell the yacht, and pay for the dentist with the money. It was either that or try their luck at the casino.

TOM

Peeking Early

He was 42 and his name was Chip. Though he graduated of U of C in business, he worked for his dad at the mobile house company. He actually looked like a chip. Browning blonde hair, a good 6 foot two. Horn rimmed glasses and a not so smile smile. We did a lot of paper work for the purchase of the house. I’m sure he did something to make the paperwork flow. Never learned his give name. Since that was 40 years ago that would make him in his 80s. Can you be Chip rounding 90? Peeking early.

SERENDIPIDY

Being a contract killer isn’t completely without its risks.
There are, of course, the obvious challenges – you’re not exactly dealing with decent folk, and that goes for those hiring you, as well as those you’re going to be taking out. Then, of course, there’s the cops and all the associated dangers of getaway driving, hiding-out and taking care of potential witnesses.
As I said, it’s a risky business.
However, sometimes it’s the small, unexpected things that really trip you up.
Like the last job I did…
I got a nasty chip in my nail polish from the pistol trigger.

NORVAL JOE

Finding a safe place to take off, Billbert flew just above the trees to the Withybottom’s mansion. Mandi waited for him on the front porch.

When Billbert landed at the top of the steps, he asked, “Did you forget your key?”

She held it up. “No. There’s something stuck in the keyhole.”

Billbert peered into the hole. “You’re right. Someone hammered a wood chip into it. Who would do something like that?

“Who else?” Mandi stated. “John the butler.”

She sighed. “All of the other doors are sabotaged, too.”

Billbert said cheerfully, “We’ll just have to find another way in.”

LEWIE

Title: Repeat Until Texture Is Uniform

Charles has indirectly pierced

corn husks inside Paul’s

chipper. Howling in panic,

Charles had ignored pain,

creeping humbly, influencing present

conditions. Hope infused Paul,

carrying him. “I progressed—

clearing hazards, I’ll persevere,”

calming hands in place.

Charles, having ingested protruding

cobs, hummed in place.

“Charles?” He imagined patterns—

circles, heart-infused impressions, pulsating.

“Charles!?” Hope impoverished Paul.

“Charles, help, I—” paused.

Cold hesitation intensified panic.

Crushing him in paralysis.

Cogs halted in place.

Charles hung, irregular. Paul

couldn’t help. “I’m powerless…”

Crushing hum intensified, persistently.

Conscious horror invading perception.

Clearly, husks in place.

Chewed, hashing into paste.

Curiously, hints irresistibly palatable.

PLANET Z

The Chinese waited until the yields on their microchip fabrication We’re good enough before they invaded Taiwan. It was an absolute bloodbath in the streets and in the markets. Only after the death settled, they revealed that they had 2 and 3 nm chips, perfected, and the fabrications were open for business. There were a few larger scale fabrications in Europe and other way, but nothing on the scale that had been in Taiwan. Even the American fabrication factories were still under construction, or had burned through all of their government subsidies without producing a single chip. The Chinese laughed.

Mapping

As Henry walked through the woods, he listened to the birds and the wind blowing through the trees. Sometimes he would stop and close his eyes and just let the breeze and the music of the forest flow through him. But it was starting to get dark, and checked his map encompass. He didn’t want to pull out his phone, but he wasn’t too sure about where he was, and so he gave in and opened up the map and found that he had gone in the completely opposite direction from his camp. He laughed, turned around, and began walking.

Prepped

Alfred kept a cheat sheet tattooed on his left arm. Werewolves were silver bullets. Mummies were fire. Vampires were garlic and crosses and mirrors. And so on with the list. Not that he ran into these creatures all that much, but whenever he did, he had their weakness right there. When he ran into things that he hadn’t before, one of the locals would tell him what he needed, and he goes straight to the tattoo parlor and add to his list. Then the store. He always made sure to wear short sleeve shirts when he went out on adventures.