Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number One Hundred And Seventy-One, 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 Unprepared.
The excellent theme music is by Guy David
VOTING
Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):
Elizabeth
“What do you mean you don’t have a fire extinguisher?” I asked Gary in a low, growl of a voice.
“Um, I, uh.”, he replied. Then he just looked around nervously. The fire leapt even farther away from the candle in the sink and started quickly eating the walls around us.
“And you can’t just psychically put out the fire too?”
“Not really.”
“Fine!” I muttered, thinking of how much the dorm would charge us for this. “But if we get out of here, I’m showing you my magical powers.” And then I showed him my claws.
Lewis
As the night turned into morning, a man was still working tirelessly
completing his latest project. A crowd of spectators had gathered
talking amongst themselves questioning what it was that the man was
doing.
“Eureka! I have finally finished.”
His tools fell to the ground, and the man started to walk away. Some
reporters quickly went after him to ask about his feat. Some of the
onlookers started to walk up to a large contraption of wires, pipes,
screws, and duct tape.
The reporters were unprepared for the man’s response.
“It is a machine to program the time on VCR’s.”
TJ
Her mother’s lemon pepper chicken and rice always received rave reviews and Sally was determined to impress her husband’s supervisor and his wife.
“This meal could make or break his promotion,” Sally fretted. “Now what’s the recipe?”
The secret was chicken stock simmered into the rice for an hour at three-hundred fifty degrees.
She’d already set the chicken breasts to marinate with peppercorns and lemon slices in the refrigerator.
She got the rest of her house ready, set the table, one last primp in the mirror … she froze, horrified.
The chicken was still in the refrigerator.
“Honey, I’m home!”
Guy David
I unbuttoned her shirt and kissed her neck slowly and softly, delighting in her sweet moans. She responded by nibbling softly at my ear. I took off my own shirt and rubbed my bare chest against her erect nipples. She reached out and unbuttoned my pants, sending her hand inside, grabbing my penis who reacted by stiffening and rising, meeting her hand half way. I shivered, waves of pleasure crawling up and down my spine, and grabbed her firm buttocks. She breathed harder as I started pulling her pants off. I was unprepared for the firm member I found there.
Anima
Unprepared? Me?
I am the epitome of preparedness. I have ready bags in the closet: red is for beach, blue for mountains and the duffel has arctic gear; my pantry is stocked with food for a year, and there is a sheet cake in the freezer in case company drops in. I’ve started my doctorate thesis, even though I have not been accepted to grad school yet. My car is current on all factory suggested maintenance, but I have a bicycle as backup. I even have a second bike as backup to my backup.
My pants? Of course I put…
Lynda
I came here totally unprepared. I had never been a human before. I had no idea what I was meant to do. Looking around me, I noticed I wasn’t alone. It didn’t make me feel any better.
Those around me taught me how to dress and how to think. I learned their language, ate their food and drank their drink. I felt safe.
Then one day the sun illuminated another path, and I wondered if I could be someone else in this lifetime.
I’m totally unprepared for what comes next. So is everyone else. I feel okay about it. Alive.
Norval Joe
I had a crappy week. It started on Saturday when Lawrence left my audio out of the podcast. But that’s ok. He said I didn’t have to pay the entry fee this week. This gives me enough money to take my wife to a movie tonight. Then Jeff left me out of the poll at Great Hites. I told Mick Bordet that I would write my 100 word story about two Scotsmen, imitatingIrishmen, telling limericks, but I was too unprepared to get that done. Well, I guess I better get into my story. No. Wait. Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.
Elly
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on with her soft skin, and golden curls. He often wondered how he ever got so lucky as to have such a beauty in his life. Her baby blue eyes twinkled as they followed him across the darkened room. He haste-fully continued searching through his pant pockets. No, not there either. He smiled sheepishly at her and continued his search, finally finding one in the dresser drawer. Slowly sliding her undergarments down, he braced himself by placing the clothes pin on his nose, only to have forgotten the wipes.
Justin
Apparently when you die, there is a waiting area.
“Oh no you didn’t!”
You wait there for judgment until after the apocalypse.
“I taught you so much better!”
I died in a car accident.
“I told you to drive carefully!”
I wasn’t prepared for the long wait.
“You weren’t much prepared for a whole lot of things apparently!”
So I’m waiting here for who knows how long, listening to my late mother constantly berate me.
“Don’t talk that way to me boy! You’ve shamed our family. I can’t believe you died in a dirty pair of underpants! Lord have mercy!”
Jeffrey
I was prepared for the werewolf. I mean it was not like he was stealthy or anything. I had heard him howling every night for the last three weeks. So I went out and bought the silver bullets that I would need to stop him. What I was not prepared for was the toupee.
“You wear a toupee?” I asked as he bent down to pick it up.
“Well a wolf has to keep up appearances, and it was a mid life crisis thing you know.”
So now I prowl the streets and drink the blood of innocent bald men.
Planet X
Jimmy leafed through one set of photographs and compared them to another set for the hundredth time. Always with the same results, it had cost him his job, but was unmistakable proof of his quest of the last two years. He had thought at first that Lois was playing a joke when she told him during the big celebration party after Lex’s ultimate defeat.
Jimmy had spent weeks on end gathering all photographs, newspaper articles, and interview recordings until he had undeniable proof. But, even with all this Jimmy still was unprepared to acknowledge that Clark Kent was indeed, Superman.
Danny
Charlitok stood in line with the other veteran soldiers.
The commander is awarding accommodations.
Charlitok is proudly advancing to join an elite group who dawn the freshly killed head of a mighty grizzly bear.
Charlitok digs his heals into the soft earth, holds his head high, and tenses his muscles in attention.
As his commander lowers the head of the bear he feels a massive weight of responsibility, to protect his brethren soldiers and the tribe.
“Good job Charlie, next scout rank is Webelos right?” his Mom said.
The applause and screams from the tribe echo in Charlitok’s ears.
Planet Z
Yes, the motto of the Boy Scouts is “Be Prepared.”
My motto is “Get In, Get Out, Get Receipts.”
Planning just bogs you down in hand-wringing and debate while carrying tools for every occasion just gets in the way.
No plan survives battle anyway, right? Why bother planning?
Instead, you need to be free to maneuver, quick to think, and scrounge what you need on the spot.
So when the lady came up to the window asking for three Big Macs and fries, I sprang into action.
“BRING ME A COW, A SACK OF POTATOES, AND A SLEDGEHAMMER!” I shouted.
Surprised that Z is tied for the lead with 8.
That one was a total punt.
-ls/cm