Back in October, author Eric Douglas sent me a challenge to
write some “flash fiction” that he hosts on his web page. He does this every
October for Halloween, and naturally I was all for it. You can find this year’s
collection from his page here.
This was fun, although definitely a challenge to write a story in exactly 100 words. I found it much harder
than I originally thought.
Just the other day, Eric sent me
a link on my Facebook page to another author’s blog that has a similar
challenge for Christmas. I managed to write one story for Halloween, so why not
try another for Christmas? I went to Loren Eaton's blog site and read the
requirements for submission. 100 word limit? Again? Cue Homer Simpson’s “D'oh!”
photo from Google image search
Seriously, though, I really don’t
mind the 100 word limit. That’s why it’s a “challenge,” right? I noticed that
on both Eric’s and Loren’s challenge pages that some authors submitted more
than one story. Cool! I’m going to write two for this challenge, then. Below
are my two flash fiction stories for this year. Yes, they are exactly 100 words
long each, excluding the title.
This old house
Hortence
loved everything about Christmas, especially all of the decorations. This
Christmas was no different. She busied herself lighting candles and hanging the
myriad of wreaths she had acquired over the years in every window. Her house
was old, true, but she loved sprucing it up for the holidays.
On
Christmas Eve, as on all Christmas Eves of the past, she would stand in her
window and wave to passersby, spreading cheer. She wished her family would
visit.
“Oh,
daddy, look at the nice lady waving to us.”
Tom
glanced at the derelict house, then at his daughter. “What lady?”
Merry Christmas, my love
“Merry
Christmas, my love.”
“Thank
you, but what am I doing here?”
“Don’t
be silly, you live here.”
“I used to live here.”
“Open
your gift. I think it’s perfect for you.”
“I
will. Just give me a minute to figure this out.”
“Figure
what out my love? It’s your Christmas
present. Open it, Ian!”
Ian
glanced at the beautifully wrapped box. As usual, Janelle had done a stellar
job with the wrapping.
“How
did I get here? This is really strange.”
Janelle
laughed her cute little laugh that Ian always loved. “Resurrection for Dummies,
silly! It was so easy!”
I hope y'all enjoyed my two (very) short stories. Please check out the other submissions on Loren's page at the link above. I will be posting my own blog about Christmas and what it means to me in the next couple of days.
Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year to all!
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