The 100 Word Stories Podcast

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

The next topic is PICK TWO The sparrow, Waveform, Limited edition, Ouroboros, Broken glass

RICHARD

— Narrow —
As things go, it was a pretty narrow requirement, some would say overly-restrictive and limiting.
I guess that was the point, really.
It’ll never work, I thought. It’s not sustainable, people aren’t going to like it, and it’s not something I could ever imagine having any real longevity.
I’d give it a few months, maybe a couple of years, at best.
Still, nothing wrong with giving it a shot – what was there to lose?
Anyway, I was wrong.
But, to keep a long story short, I’m sticking to the formula.
I’ll leave it right there, and keep it brief.

LISA

The Straight and Narrow
There was a pleasing symmetry to the fact that it was Michael’s first day at the job centre and Peter’s first day out of prison. They looked equally uncomfortable as they sat either side of the desk. Meanwhile gossip spread round the office quicker than blood on lino.
Michael was oblivious and asked “What experience do you have?” before checking his computer. “Well,” Michael didn’t flinch as he saw **MURDER CONVICTION 2001** capitalised in bold across his screen. “There’s an opening at the Abattoir?”
The office fell deadly quiet as Peter shot Michael a killer stare. “Excuse me. I’m VEGAN.”

LIZZIE

Tea, toast and UFOs. Why not? By then, UFOs were part of everyone’s lives. They had come from a planet with an unpronounceable name, waved a lot of hellos when they landed and everyone was totally smitten. How cute, how nice, how… someone ventured the word cuddly, although no one knew how that conclusion was reached and everyone preferred not to know. When the UFO exploded, everyone rushed to help. Oh… It was a different kind of UFO. Who are these now?! Well, they were certainly not cuddly. “How is your tea, and toast, sir?” The alien waved him away.

SERENDIPIDY

It’s just as well you lot aren’t narrow-minded.
After all, my stories aren’t exactly polite after-dinner conversation. They’re not particularly, fluffy, fun-filled or family-friendly.
Unless, of course, your family happens to be into murder, desecration, body fluids, cannibalism, rot and decay…
And, if that’s the case, perhaps you should invite me around for dinner sometime, and maybe we could some exchange ideas?
You could be featured in my next story!
Or, I could just report you to the cops!
Then again, there’s a good chance I might murder you gruesomely, before feasting on your warm flesh!

TOM

Not still waters

For many years we had a small home in British Columbia. It was on a rather small island wedged against a rather large island. To navigate between the two was a salt water channel named Seymour Narrows. Any one reviewing a Nautical Map would be greeted with a mass of jumbled tide lines. Dozens of reforming whirlpools. For centuries it was considered the most hazardous waters in North America. A graveyard of broke hulls. In the 1950s the largest mass of TNT in history blows a hole in Seymour Narrows. All the same pilots treat the passage with extreme care.

NORVAL JOE

Billbert went back to his room, got dressed, and pulled on his jacket. He pushed up on the wooden window frame, to slip out, but it stuck, leaving only a narrow opening. He squeezed through as quietly as possible and flew straight to the house with the van in the backyard.

The van was there with, ‘It’s a Dirty Job Septic Service’ painted on the side.

“This must be the place,” Billbert muttered and floated from window to window, looking for any sign of Sabrina.

Finally, through a basement window, he saw her, blindfolded, gagged, and chained to a chair.

PLANET Z

The font that I use the most is Arial Narrow. It’s compact, clean, and easy for me to read. In the past few years, My eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be. Other fonts like Times New Roman with its serifs look blurry at that size, even that impact font that gets used a lot with memes. For the longest time I was in denial, and I kept getting bigger monitors. Then I stopped using 4K mode so I wouldn’t embarrass myself with magnification and zoom mode. At least the text to speech button is easy to click.