The 100 Word Stories Podcast

• Richard
• Lizzie
• Serendipidy
• Norval Joe
• JRadimus
• Tom
• Planet Z

LIZZIE

The priest stared at a silent room packed with anxious people. Suddenly, a truck arrived. Three men, heavily armed, entered the room. Halfway through the aisle, one of them raised his gun and fired a totally unnecessary warning shot. The crowd remained in silence. “Everybody out.” They stood up and walked quietly. “Where are you taking them?” asked the priest. “None of your business.” When the crowd got to the truck, the three men had disappeared. The priest drove the vehicle down a ravine a few miles away. They had bought some time to run and now they had guns.

RICHARD

Pick One

Why is it that bomb makers can’t seem to resist using colour coded wiring in their devices?

Is there some sort of anarchists’ bomb manual that gives step by step instructions in making your own explosives; or do they do it simply because it’s easier to identify which wires to disconnect if they accidentally activate the timer?

Perhaps they’re just being cute… Deliberately not using red for live, and yellow for control, simply to wind up those faced with the almost impossible decision, ‘which wire to cut?’

If it was up to me, I’d just use the same colour throughout!

SERENDIPIDY

With a sputter, the vehicle died, coasting to a gentle stop. The headlamps dimmed and flickered, before fading completely.

A desolate road; a lonely forest; a broken down car and four teenagers rapidly succumbing to abject fear.

And, in the darkness: Shuffling footsteps, steadily coming closer.

My footsteps.

My hunched silhouette.

A disturbing figure, in the middle of nowhere, trudging along the road at midnight, holding a full can of fuel.

In different circumstances, in daylight, I might be a welcome sight – a guardian angel. A saviour.

But tonight, in this place, in the darkness…

What do you think?

JRADIMUS

•Summer, 1944, Rural France
Sgt. Wilford Green’s squad was encamped on a farm for the night, taking advantage of the relative security and comfort to rest from their patrols for German soldiers scattered by the Allies’ D-Day invasion.
As his men slept, Sgt. Green stood watch from the hay loft of the barn. While scanning the dark French countryside, he felt a voice shout in a whisper above him ‘Get down!’ He immediately obeyed, ducking to the floor. The next instant, a rocket flew through the window he had been watching from, his life spared. So much for a quiet night.•

NORVAL JOE

Billbert and Linoliumanda bobbed and shifted in a way they assumed was similar to what was considered dancing. As the song ended the DJ said, “Don’t go anywhere. Here’s a slow song for you cute couples.”

Before he could move Linoliumanda had Billbert in a bear hug. Resigned to enjoy himself, he put his hands on her back and swayed in rhythm to the music.

Halfway through the song, someone shut off the power. Standing in the darkness with his arms around Linoliumanda, Billbert wondered if he could keep dancing, even though the music stopped when the lights went down.

TOM

Darkness Darkness Be My Pillow

In the darkness I followed the color coded floor. Red as good as blue. A memory of things past, deeply stored flashes from childhood, set in stone by the horror of that moment, cold and hard. So here I was again letting my feet led and my brain accept that choice. In the end the end is just being left with a single choice, neither bad nor good, just what it is. Still in the black I wonder are my last steps pressing against blue or are they coursing over red. When the white return I see it was actually neither.

PLANET Z

Franklin worked in Municipal Services as a street-cleaner.
Until the robots came, that is.
Drones took over garbage collection, pothole repairs, and road cleaning.
Service Union Nine called for protests, and Franklin went out, attacking robots with baseball bats.
Sweeper Unit 482-Blue had a scratched proximity sensor, and instead of detecting Franklin’s son Ray and stopping, it ran the boy over.
The city showed Franklin the tape from the onboard security camera, seeing his own face repeatedly slamming a robot with a bat.
Digitally faked, but still enough to get him to settle out of court for much, much less.

• Richard
• Lizzie
• Serendipidy
• Norval Joe
• Tura
• Tom
• Planet Z

LIZZIE

The business was blooming. They sold all sorts of plants to all sorts of people, even to a very important film and TV production company. Every time they crossed paths, they’d nod civilly. But she knew. She knew very well what he was up to. When she found him among the lines of lavender pots, looking rather blue, she smiled and left him there. The lavender would take care of that one problem she wouldn’t mention. And he would never steal from her again. She vaguely recalled him saying he was allergic to… mushrooms. Was it mushrooms? She nodded… civilly.

RICHARD

Equal Footing

Business partners – that’s how I view our relationship although, truth be told, it’s a fairly unequal partnership.

We work on the basis of supply and demand: I make the demands, and she supplies whatever I ask for in a timely and efficient manner.

In return, she gets reasonable pay, board and lodgings, and the occasional perk. Personally, I think she does very well out of the arrangement.

Some would argue we should do things on a more equal footing, after all they say, marriage is all about give and take.

Well, she gives, and I take.

Husband, and partner.

TOM

Over the years I have spent a considerable about of time in the woods with different flavors of pagans. In a fair number of these it is bad form to mix your pantheons, but it does occur from time to time. In most the attending deities are invoked as Lord and Lady this or that. Often the celebrants have chosen the magical name of Lady Moonbeam Willow River Raven. Even circles that adhere to conscience removal of colonialistic terms get tripped. I once pointed out Queen of the Witch seem to undercut that democratic PC-ness. They told me to shut the fuck up.

Partners in Crime is such a telling turn of a phrase. For me it’s my friend Jim. Over the last 40 years we have successful executed a number of financial endeavors. Sadly none has been actual criminal in nature. I can think of no one I would rather rob the Bank of England with. Or do a Thomas Crown Affair with. Come to think of it a road trip to Las Vegas might be pretty sweet. A thousand networks for the taking. All those years hacking UNIX servers would do the trick. And Paraguay is lovely this time of year

TURA

Partner
———
None fare well in the Queue who queue alone. One must have a partner, to hold one’s place if one steps out for a moment, and you will do the same for them, allies in the Great Wait. And when you grow old and infirm in the Queue, to support each other, and if it comes to it, drop out of the Queue a while for their sake, supporting them even if you must lose a hundred places, or a thousand.

For greater love hath no man than this, that he lose his place in the Queue for a friend.

SERENDIPIDY

I don’t like the word ‘victims’: It seems such a negative expression, one that negates the contribution of one party to the action and makes it somewhat meaningless.

It’s too passive, too one sided, and it doesn’t accurately describe the complex relationship between killer and casualty.

You see, those I despatch play an important role in the game: There can be no pursuit without the pursued, no control without resistance, no power without fear to feed it.

Those unfortunates who fall foul of my wickedness are never mere victims, they play their part as much as I.

Partners, in crime.

NORVAL JOE

As Linoliumanda’s song came to an end she pirouetted off the dance floor, oblivious of all the eyes staring at her.

A teacher walked into the middle of the room and said, “You have until the next song starts to ask someone to dance and then we will begin to assign dance partners.”

Billbert saw Marrissa and headed toward her with a smile but she walked right past him and put her arm around a boy he’d never seen before.

Suddenly, Linoliumanda was taking his hand and pulling him onto the dance floor. “Come on, Billbert. We can be partners.”

PLANET Z

All of the partners in the law firm swore an oath of loyalty to the firm.
Young and strong and smart, they all wore identical rings with the seal of the firm.
Only 100 of the rings were ever made.
And only when a partner died would they pass the ring on to a new partner.
Every year, the juniors came into the meeting hall, challenging the partners to duels.
Usually, the partners won, but when a partner fell, their ring went to the junior.
They’d pull it off of their dead, cold finger and put it on their own.