Tag Archives: 100 words

In the Future, Bulls Have Goofy Colored Horns

classroom

PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast

“We can only stay a few minutes. Give me your impressions about this room,” said Professor Clark.

Twelve-year-old Jimmy was disappointed. He thought going fifty-four years into the future would be about flying cars and Moon bases.

“Well, Sir, I guess this is some kind of school. The games and paints look familiar.”

He kept scanning the classroom. “I have no idea about WiFi or PW. The Labels poster is probably not talking about soup. What the heck is a Terf and why does the bull have goofy colored horns?”

“I forgot,” said Clark. “In 2020, everyone wears masks. Here.”

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The Return

dale red

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

It was too late, so Jeff pulled over and turned off the engine. The effect looked like giant spider legs describing impossible angles across a burning sky, but that wasn’t it at all.

He tried to pray, but everything from guilt to blind fear kept his thoughts away from God. His wife and two children would face this all alone, not that he could have comforted them.

Even though everyone had heard, almost no one believed, so they would blame this on something like solar flares or climate change. The truth was more terrifying and awesome. He was coming back.

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Going Home To Mother

Crook tree moon

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

The full moon and late winter made her heart beat fast as she looked up from the pit. She had been with her husband for the long darkness and cold, and while she reigned with him as Queen, the honor always grew tiresome, even loathsome by now.

Soon she would see mother again and like the rest of the world bask in the warmth of each rising dawn when Spring brought new life to the wicked and wise alike.

She made the usual preparations and bade her husband farewell for another season and then two. Persephone began her ascent home.

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Seeing Better

rain

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

When Benedict looked outside that morning, he thought it had rained and drops had speckled the window. But then he turned away and saw everything else looked that way. He checked, but he hadn’t put on his glasses yet. When he did, it didn’t help.

He was about to ask his wife what she thought it was, and then sadly remembered she had passed away two years ago last Tuesday.

He thought to call his doctor, but the effect was getting worse. Then he realized he wasn’t going blind, but only seeing the other side better. “I’m coming home, Marge.”

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You Are What You Eat

fast food

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Harold sat in the driver’s seat and slammed the door. The doctor’s visit was more than disappointing. Doc called the pharmacy so that numerous prescriptions would be filled and waiting when he got there.

He looked down at the pile of trash on the car’s floorboards and then his expansive gut.

“You are what you eat,” he muttered. “Bloody blood sugar.”

He wanted to cry but instead he put the key in the ignition and started his car.

“This won’t beat me. I won’t die a fat slob choking down a bunch of pills. I must join a gym immediately.”

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Frick, Frack, and the “DOGE-Y” Scorched Earth Policy

jen window

PHOTO PROMPT © Jen Pendergast

I stood outside their High Tower watching our new leaders Frick and Frack gazing out the window at their vast domain, the one that used to belong to We the People.

“Hey, you,” I yelled. My voice quavered and I knew they could dispose of me like yesterday’s trash.

“Yeah, what is it?” sneered Frick.

“You just nuked Denver. Why?”

“They were wasting federal funds on public transportation,” said Frack.

“But the whole city’s gone, all the people dead.”

“We got rid of the waste, right?”

And everything else, too.”

Frick flipped me off. “Are you some gay socialist radical?”

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“I Told You Not To Summon Demons”

kent

PHOTO PROMPT © Kent Bonham

“They were using my books to play D&D again,” groused Mervin. He examined the tome on the big rock in his backyard. The persistent stains were centuries old, but it was due to rain soon. Kenny shouldn’t have left it out.

“Sorry, Grandpa. I was just coming for it.” The twelve-year-old had crept up behind him, a credit to his heritage.

“I told you not to play with my books.”

“They’re so cool, only…”

“Only what?”

“I was reciting the markings like you taught me and…”

“Did any of your friends get eaten? I told you not to summon demons.”

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My New Stories in “Drabbles: First Contact” (2025)

promo

Promotional image for my stories in the anthology “Drabbles: First Contact.”

My first publications for 2025 are now available in the Starry Eyed Press anthology Drabbles: First Contact (Amazon US). Click the following for the global link.

For those of you who don’t know, a “drabble” is a complete story that is exactly 100 words long, no more, no less.

“First Contact” is a reference to humanity’s first encounter with an extraterrestrial species. These contacts can be friendly or terrifying or a lot of other things.

Twenty-six authors contributed a total of over thirty drabbles to this anthology. It is currently available for Kindle but will also be coming out soon in paperback.

Four of my stories made the cut:

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The Cure for Cancer

view from train

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

I’m dying.

I’ve been riding this train to visit my children, well now, my grandchildren, for over thirty years. My dear wife Jeannie passed away six years ago, bless her. I’m the only one left of my generation and the docs say the cancer is spreading.

It’s spreading across our land as well. That old shantytown used to be a neighborhood sheltering good working men, families, children playing ball in the street.

The world’s falling apart and it doesn’t matter which party promises to bring prosperity. We are no longer represented. I pray I die before the bloodshed of revolution.

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Iconic

icon grill

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Time traveling tourist Glinn Tanning staggered into the restaurant dressed in surplus fatigues and dragging a canvas rucksack in his right hand. It contained a couple of canisters of pepper spray and the makings of several Molotov cocktails.

“Where are the protesters?” he complained to the bored looking woman behind the counter.

“We’re closing soon,” she said. “Didn’t you see the sign?”

“Where is everyone? Isn’t this December 1st?”

“It’s the last day in January,” she said. “You’re late.”

He checked his wrist-mounted chromotron. “Damn. Eight years late. I knew I should have had this thing adjusted before I left.

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