Unflappable

786171

Chef Jean Boudreaux was eager to be a part of the renaissance of New Orleans, and so he decided to open a restaurant in the French Quarter. But surprisingly, he opened a Chinese restaurant.
Precisely because it was such an unexpected choice of cuisine for its location, “Le Vieux Sécret Chinois” was a smashing success.
Another reason for its success: Chef Boudreaux’s legendary sangfroid. Nothing bothered him.
One time, some dumplings caught fire in the kitchen after having been left in the wok too long. Responding to the excited sous-chef’s shouts, Boudreaux was unflappable.
“Laissez les Won-Tons brûler,” he said.

Biggest Fan

721290

Hundreds of millions of people adore Guitarman’s music, and every one of them claim to be “Guitarman’s Biggest Fan.”
You see, that’s the title track of his number one album: “Guitarman’s Biggest Fan.”
Would they swallow a snake for him? Hell yes.
Would they jump off of cliff for him? Oh, hell yes.
Some of Guitarman’s fans take the title literally and eat themselves into a bodymass competition.
They keep score online, constantly updating their weight.
Wait… Two-Ton Tommy’s gone? Dead?
Heart attack. The funeral’s Sunday.
That puts me in second place, Mom. Second place!
Pass the mashed potatoes.
Please?

Good Humor

777399

The little white truck rolled slowly through the suburban neighborhood, its arrival heralded by the intermittent jingling of bells.
Excited customers poured from the houses, clutching shiny quarters. They queued up, jostling each other for position. The truck halted; the driver hopped out, looking jaunty in his starched white shirt. The chrome-plated money changer on his belt caught the sun.
Jimmy was first in line. “Gimme a tube of Astro-Glide, please.”
Mary was next. “I’ll take the Warming K-Y.”
The Lubes-On-Wheels driver smiled. Nothing put his customers in a Good Humor quite like the arrival of the Vice Cream Truck.

Dancester

618157

They called it Dancester – the place to download dances.
Just put in your credit card, sync up your iMind, and you’re ready to dance like the best dancers do.
Of course, not everyone wants to pay for their dances. That’s when the pirated dances started to appear.
The Lords Of The Dance didn’t like their dances getting ripped off, but Dancester couldn’t do anything to stop it.
So a series of pirated dances commanding dancers to slash their throats appeared on pirate sites.
Nobody could prove anything, but the piracy ended quickly.
The Lords danced for joy at the news.

Manny and the Pickle Factory

782589

Manny had worked at the Pickle Factory since he was a teenager.
As the years passed, he developed a sick obsession. Day after day, a single thought pounded inside his head: He wanted to stick his dick into the pickle slicer.
Too bashful to discuss his obsession with his wife, he sought psychiatric help. But the drugs the headshrinker prescribed were powerful, filling Manny’s head with an unpleasant metallic buzzing. He stopped taking them.
Eventually, Manny yielded to his impulses.
His supervisor caught him in the act. Horrified, he fired Manny on the spot.
He fired the pickle slicer, too.

Sick Sick Sick

1058428

Today is June 6, 2006, which may be variously rendered as 06/06/06 or 666.
Believers in the literal truth of the Book of Revelations are collectively Shitting a Peach Pit, for 666 is the Number of the Beast. Whereas, 36D is the Number of the Breast.
It is the birthday of Auntie Christ…and Uncle Christ will be in a world of pain, for he forgot to buy Auntie a present.
And it’s the area code for Arkham, Massachusetts.
I will observe the day by coloring in my Coloring Book Out Of Space. There’s a lovely picture of Cthulhu in there.

Mime 2

643549

Andrew Ian Dodge continues the tale of the mime…

Maurice was trapped in a bag on the Thames. Those who had been harassed by the mime would find delicious irony in this fact. Maurice assumed he was heading downstream as he wasn’t overly hot in the bag; his face-paint remained in tact. He tried to move a bit in the bag and was able to move around a tad. He couldn’t sit up at all; he could hear others mumbling to themselves. Occasionally he heard voices speaking in an odd language; one involving lots of gutteral grunts and clicks. He was overwhelmed by the fishy smell. The boat stopped…

Perseids

749343

Perseus, Kentucky was the place to go to watch the Perseid Meteor shower.
In early August, Perseus bans all outdoor lighting to make meteor-viewing easier, but some years the full moon ruins the view.
The city council came up with a plan: launch a rocket during the new moon and shoot artificial comet dust to burn up in the atmosphere for a spectacular show.
It worked brilliantly.
Pretty soon, every community wanted their own meteor shower, more brilliant than the first.
Leave it to those crazy rich Saudis to go overboard.
Allah’s will, they whined.
Who needs an atmosphere, anyway?

Weekly Challenge #17 – Colon

6279295

Welcome to the seventeenth Weekly Challenge, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was colon.
Ten stories were submitted this week: one rookie, and the never-ending volcano of insanity from Planet Z.
Go ahead and listen to them by clicking on the grammophone thingy there in the left column and then vote for your favorite:

Who has the best story this week?
Caroline
Tom from Footnote Podcast
Lisa from Lemons and Lollipops
Kolek from the Kollektive
Laieanna
Caleb from Black Tie Martini Club
Andrew of Dodgeblogium
Stephen
Houston Keys
Elisson from blog d’Elisson
Planet Z
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Thanks to everyone for sending in their stories, and I look forward to what you’ve got to write (and say) next week.
The theme will be posted shortly, and for God’s sake don’t blame me for it. You’re the ones who voted.

Buzzed

726771

Gene Krantz’s cigarette fell from his lips and bounced off of his console.
“What the fuck did Neil say?” he asked.
“Houston to Eagle, repeat,” said Mission Control.
“I’m King Of The Moon!” said Neil Armstrong. “Bow down to the King Of The Moon!”
“Maybe Buzz slipped him something?” asked a doctor.
The cameras showed the mad astronaut advancing on another with a probe. “I dub thee Sir Aldrin!”
“Back off, Neil!” shouted Buzz Aldrin, scampering back up the ladder.
“Cut the feed,” said Gene. “Thank God for the tape delays. We’ll just go with what we filmed last month.”