Irish Bowling

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You hear that sound?
Dull thunder, passing every home on the lane.
Finnegan O’Hara’s out bowling the roads again.
Irish Bowling. Throw the lead shot along the road, fewest throws wins.
Champion of Cork County five years running.
I swear, the man can hook along any curve you throw his way, any road, any where.
But throwing at midnight? Alone? Nobody to shout clear the path?
Madness.
And then… I hear the honk of the horn, the screeching of tires, and the sickening thud.
They brought O’Hara into the clinic at dawn.
They never found his shot.
To Finnegan! Cheers!

The Robot Flock

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The parish priest was tired of giving sermons every week, so he built a robot to deliver his sermons.
The worshipers were tired of listening to the priest’s sermons, so they built robots to listen to the sermons.
Robots delivering sermons to robots, week in and week out.
After the nuclear war, all the humans were dead.
But the robots kept going to the services, and the priest robot kept delivering them.
Nobody knows what the robots do the rest of the time.
Because all the humans died.
Maybe they write silly stories, and you listener robots listen to them?

Weekly Challenge #178 – Talk Like A Pirate Day!

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Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number One Hundred And Seventy-Eight, 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… was…. um…
It’s TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!
The excellent theme music is by…. The Hit Crew – Pirate Party Music (Guy David did the rest)
VOTING

Which were the stories you liked best?
Guy David from http://nightguy.guydavid.com
Lewis from http://dedricmauriac.wordpress.com/
Lynda from http://sisterpepperspray.blogspot.com/
Steven from http://ideatrash.net
Jeffrey from http://GreatHites.blogspot.com
Anima from http://zabbadabba.com
Steve
Mike
Norval Joe from http://norvalsoutlook.blogspot.com
Justin from http://www.thespaceturtle.com
Terry Tee from http://www.terrytee.com/
TJ from http://tjaman.libsyn.com
Danny from http://dannymachal.com
Planet Z
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):


Guy David

Henrietta was celebrating her 92nd birthday when the storm troopers broke
in. “You are under arrest for downloading 1024 songs from Pirate Bay” said
the lead trooper. “But I don’t have a computer” said Henrietta. “Tell it to
the court” said the trooper. “Will you be OK?” asked a concerned guest. “I
will survive, probably” sighed Henrietta, then the storm trooper took her
harmonica, exclaiming “you are not going to get a chance to play your
pirated music.” “Not the harmonica, please, it’s a gift from my dear friend
Philip” begged Henrietta, but they took her away without another word.

Lewis

A ship over the helm bin spyed flying the queens flag.
The cap’n bin orderin I an’ me harties to board the ship.
I bin plunderin the seven seas all me life.
Never did I see a dog be small fer the number o sharp-tongued wenches aboard.
A boxom wench twice shivered me timbers before days end.
Harr, the treasures bin good to me and me mates.
Me harties bin looting the cargo of sugar and spices.
Jim Lad pried one open.
Arrr.
A large chest with no booty.
Tis no one wanted fer tem selves but the capn’s squire.

Lynda

It be a hard life for Capn’ Swallow since the international shanty composers began demandin’ royalties. He near lost his ship after we were caught playin’ Barnacles, Me Hearties without askin’. Askin’ Two-Legged Davy if ye can sing his songs t’ain’t a wise move if ye hope to live another day.
I understand why the captain had to run me through five times afore setting me out to sea. There be sharks circling me leaky dingy lookin’ friendlier than the last face I saw. No matter, I got me parrot, a bottle o’grog, and me harmonica. I’ll survive. Probably.

Steven

Smoke billowed from the ship’s wreckage. Captain Saunders and his
crew baked on the sun blasted island beach. In the near distance, the
pirate ship sailed back out to sea.
“This is a right mess, Cap’n,” his first mate said. He stroked the
grey stubble of his beard. “Those pirates marooned us here, wrecked
our ship, and stole all our cargo!” He stomped his boot in the sand.
“And them pirates was just women!”
Captain Saunders sighed. “They stole more than our cargo, Smitty.”
He touched the ragged hole in his chest and smiled.
“She stole far more than that.”

Jeffrey

“Pirates! Get your pirates here! Hello sir in the market for a
pirate today?”
“Yes, what have you got?”
“Well as the sign says we gots pirates of every kind, We have the
mean kind.”
“Aye!”
“The more gentle kind.”
“Aye.”
“The kind who you don’t want to meet in a back alley.”
“Aye.”
“The Kind who don’t say aye”
“Eye, spell e y e cause that’s…”
“Oh Shut up, and then we have your kind that questions your every
move.”
“Aye?”
“Dumb ones”
“Aye.”
“And our special model today, the ones that can bake.”
“Pie”
“MMM blueberry my favorite.”

Anima

“As you are aware, the last twelve months have been hard on pirating.
On a positive note, jolly good work on trimming back the deadwood from your
departments, although I think Pegleg Willie took fright for a turn there.
However, pillaging must increase by fifteen percent or there will be NO
cruise of the Azores. And wenching will cease until further notice: please
substitute frolicking with trollops, on a limited basis. The goat will still
be available for those who are so inclined.
Lastly: The scurvy dog who fed me parrot laxatives had best not let me learn
his name!”

Steve Y.

The unlicensed sea captain stormed about his similarly unlicensed ship, quite vexed at the latest haul. Not only had the merchant vessel they raided turned out to be a
disguse for larcenous sorts such as themselves, but the cargo they absconded itself
was ersatz. Whole crates of illegally made duplicates of bobbleheads featuring
players of Pittsburgh’s baseball team that were of such poor craftsmanship that
fencing them was an unlikely prospect. Truly, not In all of his years of looting
and pillaging across the seas had he ever expected a day when pirates would pirate
pirated Pirates from other pirates.

Mike P.

Napster. Limewire. Gnutella. BitTorrent. WinMX. The Pirate Bay.
Isohunt. Mininova.
Ninjas still use traditional swords. I suppose there’s something to
be said for that. After all, there’s a foundry in Japan that has been
making swords for centuries, and now they’re the only place in the
world that can make the core of a nuclear reactor in one solid piece.
Pirates used to use swords, too. Then they switched to guns – ‘cause
hey, why not threaten someone more than five feet away? And now…
One of you guys is gonna go extinct. It might be the one who isn’t adapting.

Norval Joe

Red Beard held his cutlass, its razor sharp tip at the hollow of the stranger’s throat. “Ye say ye be a pirate? Where’s your parrot?”
“A pirate don’t need a parrot,” he replied.
Black Beard jabbed his saber into the man’s back. “”Ye say ye be a pirate. Where’s your peg leg?”
“A pirate don’t need a peg leg,” he said.
“Yer eye patch?” Yellow Beard asked.
“Got good eye sight, I do.” He nodded.
“So where’s your booty, scurvy dog?” No Beard asked.
He held up a small black box. “Here it be. 500 gigabytes of music from Napster.

Justin

“What a beautiful sight, to see the exploding starship of Captain Barnabas Clay. Many of Fenton Fleet fell before his blaster pistol and photon missiles. I tried to kick Barnabas off like the flea dog he was. Little by little I stole his fortune, I stole his pride, then I killed his family, yet he persisted. I rigged his ship with explosives and now he will die alone, for everyone knows a captain goes down with his ship.”
“One move and your dead, Fenton. You failed to realize that in space, there is no down where my ship could go.”

Terry Tee

We be sailing two days out of Jamaica
on smooth, wave less seas.
It was a month since our last prize,
the crew was eager for treasure.
We be changing watch, when the lookout
in the crow’s nest spied sails on the port side.
The crew cleared for action happily as we
targeted a plump little ship riding low in the water.
We quickly overhauled the “Santa Pauline”,
had her along side, boarded and over powering
the crew fast.
Crowding the crew on the poop deck,
we ripped the hatches from the hold,
eager to claim our prize and treasure.

TJ

A friend links me to this huge Slovenian choir. Perpetuum Jazzile. They can make it sound like it’s raining. They also make a sound like they’re Toto, singing “Africa” – one of my favorite songs growing up.Wow, that takes me back. I reach to download. But I remember Laurence saying that stealing music is WRONG! So I dutifully head to iTunes to see if I can buy it. I cannot. About a zillion people sing “Africa” who aren’t Toto, however. So I compromise. I buy Toto’s copy, but I load Perpetuum Jazzile’s cover onto my Shuffle, and promote them here. Arrrrr.

Danny

“Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” Salty Steve cried in pain holding his eye during his shift on the night watch.
A bung had popped out of a barrel and shattered on impact. He looked on in panic as grog spilled out onto the deck and did the only thing he could. That night, the air dropped below freezing temperatures.
Morning.
A knock on Captain’s door.
“Captain! Steve stuck it in the grog sir!”
The wooden door creaks open.
“I reckon any time is right for grog. Steve’s put a cock-valve in it then?” the Captain asked.
“Nay sir, no valve.”

Planet Z

So, you think toiletpapering my trees and egging my car for homecoming is funny?
You earned that F last year, Jimmy. And you’ll get another if you keep this shit up.
But enough about you. Let’s talk about me. And my favorite hobby.
In my spare time, I made ships in bottles.
This one’s a pirate ship. Isn’t it beautiful?
Here’s a Q-tip. Swab the poopdeck.
Do a good job of it, and not one cannon out of place.
No, if you screw up, I won’t make you walk the plank. I’ll just beat you with the tire iron again.

The Bounce House

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We rented one of those moonwalk inflatable bounce castle things for Tim’s seventh birthday.
Sally’s busy with the cake. I have to check on something at work.
Looking over my laptop, I saw the kids dragging the castle in between the house and the pool.
Then from above, Tim shouts KOWABUNGA!
He jumps from the roof, lands in the castle, and then sails in an arc into the pool.
Huge splash. Laughter.
By the time I get outside, three more kids have jumped from the roof.
I yell at them. “I was supposed to go first!”
I climb the ladder.

Ghost Drinks

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The bar serves ghost drinks.
What’s a ghost drink?
Take an ordinary drink, like a Jack and Coke, and then bubble the spiritual essence of someone that’s recently died through it.
The fresher, the better. Has a tangy, sparkly feel. Like a battery.
If you sip it, the ghost’s ectoplasmic residue will be all that you taste. And that slime is disgusting.
You have to drink it. Quickly.
How the bar gets the ghosts, that’s another matter entirely.
I could tell you the secret, but I’d have to kill you.
Seriously. The last guy I told is in your glass.

Training

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Fur glides under his fingers. With every stroke of his hand, he feels the deep purring.
Muscles tense, skin twitches and ripples.
Over the years, the cat and the human teach each other what delights them.
A nip here, a warning there.
Bargaining.
In time, they have struck a balance, a routine.
But with enough variations to keep from becoming dull.
And then, tragedy. Loneliness.
One without the other. All that was between them is lost.
Cries of mourning, wandering from room to room.
A hand reaches down to stroke the fur.
Not the same.
But he can be trained.

The opposite of a muse

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What is the opposite of a muse?
What do you call someone who sucks all the inspiration and creativity out of your soul?
Or drains the soul right out of your body?
I need a word for what’s on my couch right now.
It’s been there for days, and I can’t rest. I can’t think. I can’t create.
I can’t write.
I keep trying, but the page is just as blank as when I pulled it out of my drawer.
I pour alphabet noodles across it. Scrabble tiles.
They slide off.
Without words, I have nothing to scream.
Only silence.

Too Many Cookies

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The only number of cookies I eat are too many cookies.
I get really sick from eating too many cookies.
I wish I could eat just the right number of cookies, but I don’t think that number exists.
I tried to keep track with graph paper and a clipboard, but it’s covered with cookie crumbs and pink pepto bismol stains.
Maybe there’s something on the label?
The package has a bunch of nutritional data with a suggested serving size: one cookie.
Ever have just one cookie? Only one cookie?
Hardly the right number of cookies. Hardly a number at all.

The Sins

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They killed their mother, said the man. My wife. My love.
You have seven to love where you once had one, said the priest. What will you name them?
As he watched the casket descend, he decided on the seven deadly sins.
Over the years, they grew to earn their names, and to detest their father.
In the end, it was Socordia, the lazy one, that killed him.
“If you’d only had given those rollerskates to me instead of her, I wouldn’t have left them lying around for you to trip over,” said Invidia.
Laughing, Ira burned the house down.

Weekly Challenge #177 – Peas in a pod

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Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number One Hundred And Seventy-Seven, 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… was…. um…
It’s Peas in a pod.
The excellent theme music is by Guy David
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
Guy David from http://nightguy.guydavid.com/
Lynda from http://sisterpepperspray.blogspot.com/
Anima from http://zabbaabba.com/
Lewis from http://dedricmauriac.wordpress.com
Danny from http://dannymachal.com/
JRadimus
Norval Joe from http://www.norvalsoutlook.blogspot.com/
TJ from http://tjaman.libsyn.com/
Justin from http://www.thespaceturtle.com/
Planet Z
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):


Guy David

I live in a pod. The smell of peas drives me crazy, but the rent is good. The landlord is reasonably flexible. The living space is a little dense, but I get alone. It’s amazing how spacious a place can seem if you organize the furniture just right. Still, one day I hope to buy my very own carrot. Sure, it’s long and a little thin, but I like the the space better and anyway, green is not really my color. Another reason: if I forget my keys – I can eat my way in. Try doing that with a pod.

Lynda

That airplane flying over reminds me of a nice man I met who was supposed to become the first man to fly to Mars. He had to turn back on account of broken facilities, and was called Pete “Pees In A Pod” Carter from then on.
Me an’ Jenny were like peas in a pod, ‘cept we weren’t green an’ we didn’t grow out of the ground. Well, Jenny’s in the ground now, but it wasn’t like you could serve us with shrimp. I like shrimp. Shrimp’s like peas ’cause you gotta pull the strings out before you eat ’em….

Anima

“We’re having peas – how do you like ‘em? In the pod or shelled?”
“I don’t like peas.”
“Why not – they’re good for you, and see how bright green! These are fresh, not canned. I bet you’ve only ever had canned.”
“NO! I don’t like Peas! Or Eggs or Teas, for that matter. They’re foul in the mouth!”
“Then what do you like?”
“I like vowels. Vowels, Eh- Eee! Aye! Oh! Eww!, and sometimes Why? These fill the soul with expression. Much better than peas. Peas just fill the mouth. You can have my share.”
“Fine, more for me (freakin’ voweletarian).”

Lewis

The professor guided his android daughter, Sally, into the cloning
machine. He closed the door and turned it on. The machine started
making loud noises until it came to a complete stop. Sally stepped out
of the machine. Than, Sally stepped out of it again. The two girls
were like peas in a pod. He couldn’t tell one from the other. The two
girls looked at each other, and then looked at the professor. The
giggled and then pushed him into the machine and ran it in reverse.
The professor came out, only half the man he used to be.

Danny

The Starship Peaseria sat in dead-space for forty hours under a constant barrage of high intensity laser bursts from the Admiral’s large freighter. Their engines burned up on the last light jump. Now all power was being directed to their shields while they plotted an escape.
The Admiral’s orders were to not destroy the Peaseria but they would not be taken, and time was precious. So he ordered the use of the microwave cannon to cook the crew inside and followed up with an accelerated particle ray to vaporize the ship.
Two crew members in an escape pod got out.

JRadimus

Penelope and her sisters were roused from their sleep by the golden-green light filtering through their pod wall.
“M-morr-ning,” she yawned. She got the usual grumbles and murmurs in reply. The others didn’t like mornings as much as Penelope.
As the familiar sounds of machinery starting up for the day reached them, they heard the giants moving through the rows of pod plants around them, and shadows crisscrossed their view.
Something wasn’t right, though; suddenly, she remembered: “It’s Harvest Day!” she screamed. A hand’s shadow slid over the pod, blocking the light, and their pod was torn from its stem.

Norval Joe

The starship was rocked repeatedly by wave after wave of EM pulse bombs from the alien armada.
The klaxon boomed the “whang, whang, whang” sound of abandon ship.
Emergency lights along the passage directed the personnel to the evacuation bay.
All six seats were filled and the small, round, self contained, escape vehicle burst from within the mother ship and began to warp to the closest hospitable planet.
Lieutenant Parker spoke into his transmitter, “for the record. ID check. Phillips?”
“Present, sir.”
“Peterson?”
“Here.”
“Pollard?”
“Here, sir.”
“Pratchett?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Peacock?”
“Yup.”
Parker said, “Escape Pod 3412 full and ejected.”

TJ

Keystrokes clicked, pop music played, and in the shade of a lakeside willow, the late afternoon sun dappled Kaylynn’s laptop monitor as she composed a Sweet 16 “thank you” e-mail to her Aunt Viv. She watched as Paul, a boy in her class, ran along the beach with his dog, and as couples lounged together on beach blankets. Alone. Just then a stray blue Frisbee floated into view, narrowly missing her. Douglas, another classmate, ran up to see if she was OK. She was, but was so distracted she hit “send,” without spellchecking, thanking her aunt for the new iPPod.

Justin

This haul of ore would bring me back into the black, if I could survive the trip back to the space station. I cursed as my radar lit with red. Alarms blared as incoming fire assaulted my ship. Bits of my hauler blew apart around me. Soon I found myself floating in my escape pod. I briefly had a moment wondering how up to date my clone was when a beam of light shot towards me. I expected to become a frozen corpse, but the sadistic pirate hadn’t aimed to kill me. Instead, his sharpshooting destroyed the pod’s toilet system.

Planet Z

The hawthorn has beautiful flowers in the spring and brown peapods in the fall.
They rattle when you shake them.
Year-round, large sharp curved spikes.
“Be careful,” says my mother.
Our first spring, I reach for a flower, and my hand it comes away bleeding, scratched by a thorn.
Our first summer, filling the bird feeder and then watching the squirrels empty it.
Our first fall, the dog eats some of the fallen pods. Vomits. A lot.
Our first winter, we mostly stayed inside. It was too damn cold.
A snowman, tied to the trunk, blindfolded.
Ready. Aim. Fire.