The 100 Word Stories Podcast

Welcome to the 100 Word Stories podcast at oneadayuntilthedayidie.com.

This is the Weekly Challenge, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.

We’ve got stories by:

• Charlie
• Richard
• Lizzie
• Tura
• Tom
• Serendipity
• Jeffrey
• Norval Joe
• Duane
• Planet Z

CHARLIE

Most of us enjoy surprise endings. The biggest majority of us like happy endings. Some ask for it all and want happy, surprise endings.

What is a happy, surprise ending? How about an example? I suppose it could be a problem that you think you cannot overcome. You do overcome and it’s a surprise.

As the year draws to an end, I would like it to end with acceptance, beauty, ideas, kindness, justice, love, music, solutions, dancing, equality, freedom, good, vision, unity, wisdom, peace, transformation, consciousness, acceptance, respect, non-violence, harmony, and a stock of natural peanut butter in the cupboard.

RICHARD

Spoilers

There are few things worse than having the ending of a movie or a good book ruined by someone, before you’ve seen or read it. It seems some people are oblivious to the notion that we don’t want to know; whilst others take a malicious pleasure in randomly dropping spoilers into a conversation.

For me, much of the enjoyment of a story is the anticipation of what the eventual ending might be.

And that’s why I spend my days in the library, meticulously tearing the final chapters out of books.

Because, without their endings, no-one can spoil the readers’ pleasure.

LIZZIE

Up the stairs into a new time. It’ll be difficult, it’ll be difficult, I mutter. I know it well. I have climbed many of those stairs, slowly and steadily. I may stumble often, I know I will, as I always do. Sometimes, it will be my fault. Other times, well… But I keep looking at each step and climbing those stairs. I never give up. It’s not in me to give up. I would’ve done it a long time ago, I suppose. But I didn’t. And now, I keep looking up and moving forward, from one ending to another beginning.

TURA

Endings
———
It has been told how the gods created Man, when they were yet young.

Man came and passed, and his existence was the briefest, tiniest spark of light amongst everything that the gods made, each more magnificent than what came before.

But at last, the gods themselves grew old.

“All that we can do, we have done,” one lamented.

“All that can be, has been,” said another.

And so they came to an end.

* * *

“Look, how pretty!” said the little girl. She pointed to the jewel that had grown overnight on the tree.

“Yes,” said her Father. “It is perfect.”

TOM

The End in Near

Samuel Russell excelled at up-endings stuff. These up-endings tended to drill down right into the center of the time/space vortex. After his seminal work on the grand unification solution, he withdrew from the world. Some said he took up surfing, other said he enter a Tibetan Monastery, still other said he opened a hot dog stand somewhere in Strasburg. Actually he set up a tiny lab in the basement at CERN. Created a God Cloud by up-ending a matrix of Higgs boson. When the tiny galaxy took shape in the utility sink Samuel Russell slowly backed out of the room.

SERENDIPITY

Endings come in many different ways.

Some are noisy, messy affairs, full of violence and pain; some go quietly, with barely a sign another life has passed.

Some are planned and premeditated; some, unforeseen accidents and twists of fate, then there are those who simply shuffle off their mortal coil – just the natural order of things.

But we can’t have that.

A proper ending should be full of drama. It should be compelling and disturbing, an event that grabs you by the throat and screams in your face!

And that’s where I come in…

The beginning… of your end!

JEFFREY

The End
by Jeffrey Fischer

I hate endings. They are mawkish and go on too long. There’s the feeling of having overstayed one’s welcome at a party, fixing a last drink while the hostess is rinsing out the dishes. “It’s been too long.” “Oh yes, we must do this again soon.”

So I’ve short-circuited the process. When a guest becomes tedious, I operate the trap door into the soundproof cellar. Yeah, I know that only moves the problem one floor, which is why my assistant is stringing you up by the neck. Don’t worry, the fall will surely snap your neck and kill you so we can move your body out the trade entrance. After all, we don’t want our guests hanging around too long, do we?

NORVAL JOE

I don’t like change. Once I’ve gotten used to something, I want it to stay that way.

Consequently, I hate endings.

The end of relationships, the end of the school year, the end of a calendar year, the end of youth. When a child grows up and moves away, when a favored pet dies, when a family member passes away, the final episode of Phineus and Ferb. Moving to a new house, selling an old car, even replacing worn out furniture.

So, I’m a hoarder. Stacking up books I won’t reread, and piling up unused toys, dysfunctional relationships, and memories.

DUANE

Endings

The suspects had been gathered in the study and I prepared to name the guilty party and make the big arrest. I presented the clues and in a dramatic conclusion said, “Therefore the only one of you with means, motive and opportunity was… the chauffeur!”

The butler jumped to his feet. “The chauffeur? Are you kidding me?”

“But I was certain it was the gardener,” shouted the maid.

The cook stepped forward and motioned for silence. “Okay, okay. Everybody just calm down. Who picked the chauffeur in the pool?”

The chauffeur looked around the room and slowly raised his hand.

PLANET Z

The Washington Brothers broke into retirement communities and yelled that they were the Ghosts of Kwanzaa Present
The Ghosts of Kwanzaa Future would kill anyone that called the cops.
They got jewelry and cash, but not as much as they wanted.
So, they cased a drugstore, thinking they could fence some expensive prescription pills.
The robbery didn’t end well. All three, dead from police gunfire.
Mama Washington screamed racism and tried to organize a Black Lives Matter rally.
But she got her heart pills from that drugstore, and a “prescription error” landed her in a grave next to her boys.

Welcome to the 100 Word Stories podcast at oneadayuntilthedayidie.com.

This is the Weekly Challenge, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.

We’ve got stories by:

• Charlie
• Richard
• Lizzie
• Tom
• Serendipity
• Jeffrey
• Norval Joe
• Duane
• Tura
• Planet Z

LIZZIE

I want to look at the gently rippling water and believe tomorrow will be a better day. I want to be quiet and strong. I want to close my eyes and have peace inside, instead of the constant turmoil I have now. I want to believe that all the “thens” and all the “nows” are just bits and pieces of a bigger picture, and that these pieces will eventually find their rightful places. I want to smile and reach out and take a deep breath to finally find myself. I want to be a lion in a pool of quietness.

CHARLIE

I would like a couple of things for Christmas this year, and Santa can skip the next two or three if he likes. First, I would like a Krell Brain Boost, then a full day with all my pets that have been beamed up. Rosie, Katie, Pearl, Kippy, Apple and Jinx. A full day with my IQ doubled, and the ability to romp, tickle and hug all my old pets.

After Christmas, I feel I would be more able to sense and understand the subtle behavioral clues and body language of my dogs and my fellow man.

#2

I would ask Santa to do this Christmas day. All the liars in government, local and national would suddenly be smitten with burning pants. Liar, liar, all their pants on fire. If they were with others, their pants would be set ablaze at a safe distance from any innocent bystanders.

Thousands of cell phones would be available to catch the shocked politicians and the images would find their way to the “Interwebs” before they were taken down.

I might go a step further and ask Mr. Santa to include lawyers, sociopaths and those that harm animals in this universal conflagration.

RICHARD

Dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas… How about a sports car, some hot girls and a gold credit card? I suggested.

I knew I stood no chance – my father was loaded, but way too tight with his riches. Everyone thinks that being the only child means you get spoiled rotten. I wish! In my case, it was quite the opposite – dad ruled with a rod of iron. Tough love, he called it.

Christmas, as expected was a big disappointment…

I mean, who in their right mind thinks gold, frankincense and bloody myrrh are acceptable gifts for their kid?

TOM

If only I believe as I had.

What I want for Christmas is something I cannot get. The problem lies in the scope. It’s not so much a thing as an outcome. And that outcome cannot be set in motion unless a serious huge number of people are inclined to act and at the same time a single man is inclined to act. You see I’m register Republican, just shy of 50 years. I have watch my party been hijacked at least five time. I have seen worst villains that Ebenezer Scrooge rise to power. So guess what I want for Christmas is my party back.

JEFFREY

Visiting Santa
by Jeffrey Fischer

The kids were lined up to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him their deepest wishes.

“I want a pony!”

“I want everybody in the world to be happy!”

“I want sinnle-payor health care.” (“Your mom told you to say that, didn’t she?” said Santa. “Get out of here.”)

Then it was Timmy’s turn. He thought for a while. “I want a launcher with a dozen rocket-propelled grenades, two AR-15s, and that bully Charlie Mason to get what he deserves.” Santa chuckled, then called the cops. Timmy is now relaxing in a psych ward, although, mysteriously, Charlie Mason fell down a set of concrete stairs and is spending the next six weeks with multiple casts.

SERENDIPITY

I’ll never forget that day: The excitement when I was led into his grotto and, there he was, just as I’d imagined him… Father Christmas himself!

He sat me on his knee, and said, “Well it looks like I have my special treat… Now, what would do YOU want for Christmas, little girl?”

I won’t tell you what he did next – I’ve never told anyone – But I’ve never enjoyed Christmas since.

But this year will be different.

You see, I’ve tracked him down, and I have a very personal gift, just for him.

And he won’t be emptying his sack, ever again.

—

NORVAL JOE

I would like to say I want something high minded and thoughtful for Christmas.
Something like world peace. Though, that would be too hard to do.
A bullet through Kim Jung Un’s head? No. That would be a little violent to honor the actual reason for Christmas.
A president who’s head isn’t stuck in his own prostate gland. That may come true if he doesn’t come up for air.
What would I want that is actually possible? How about a single night’s sleep where I’m not woken up every hour.
Yeah. That’s not going to happen.
How about world peace.

DUANE

What do you want for Christmas?

I sat on Santa’s lap and told him everything I wanted for Christmas. He nodded and said, “You’ve been a good boy this year.” “Best Christmas ever,” I shouted. Leaving the store I skipped and sang and ran right into another Santa. He was standing near a pot of money and ringing a bell. Then another Santa came by, on a fire engine, ho ho hoing and throwing candy. Two Santas were having drinks at the bar on the corner, and a Santa at the pet shop was taking pictures with dogs.

I was beginning to believe I’d been had.

PLANET Z

The local football team is playing on Christmas Day.
My wife will have to go to work s part of the news coverage.
I’ve got the day off, all to myself.
Maybe I’ll go see a movie.
And on the way home, pick up Chinese food or something.
There’s usually a place open.
Instead of calling ahead, I’ll bring a book along, and I’ll read while waiting.
When I was on my own for Thanksgiving, I went to the Irish pub and drank Guinness while waiting for takeaway pizzas.
I’m not sure which movie to see, though. Does it matter?