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The 100 Word Stories Podcast
The 100 Word Stories Podcast episodes
- Pandemic classes
When the pandemic hit and schools were closed, the classes got on Zoom or specialized distance learning apps.
Teachers who were tired of teaching the same stuff to multiple classes a day began to pre-record their lessons and play them back for the classes.They used the extra time to focus on helping the students with questions or problems with the material.Students were doing better, and parents figured out which were the good teachers and which were the bad ones, demanding that they be fired.The unions caught wind of the whole thing, and shut the whole system down.2 min - Weekly Challenge #1032 – Fancy
- Lewie
- Lisa
- Lizzie
- Richard
- Tom
- Serendipidy
- Norval Joe
- Planet Z
The next topic is Vanishing point
LEWIE
I saw an advertisement. It was a feast fit for a ruler of house cats. There was meat, treats, and fancy cat nip.
What’s fancy about it you ask?
Well, there’s a normal, plain cat nip that loses its scent the moment it hits the floor. The dried out flakes have no smell at all.
But the “fancy” catnip? Oh boy, I’ll tell you. The POWER… It’s out of this world! If you haven’t experienced it before, I don’t know how to express what it is. It’s definitely the cat’s meow.
You’ll be seeing time shake hands with colorful sounds.
LISA
Knick Knacks aren’t Chocolate Bars
The sign above the door read, in twisting ornate script, ‘Purveyor of Fancy Goods’. Geoffrey’s shop did alright, its coastal location guaranteed swift summer trade and Christmas saw them through the winter months. Nothing was priced which made a few people uncomfortable. It was so he could lower prices for those he thought couldn’t afford things. If a child was looking for a gift for a parent, he usually just gave it to them – a matter that was, strangely, never abused. Geoffrey ran gnarly fingers through his silver hair and whispered to the empty shop ‘I must find an heir’.LIZZIE
A ship docked at the cruise terminal. The luxury included a VIP meal, a VIP ball, and a scare. The previous events had been so much fun, they heard. The meal was scrumptious and the ball was a lot of fun until the hall was invaded by armed men in balaclavas. Everyone laughed. It was the scare! So much fun! And then, the black tie event became a whole lot more expensive. When they were finally freed, millions had been transferred away, and the armed men were long gone. “Well, we sure got a lot more than we bargained for.”
RICHARD
Ink
“So what do you fancy then?”I looked up from the catalogue, “I’m still not quite sure. I’m torn between the snarling tiger and the skull with the serpent in the eye socket… Although, I quite like the big eagle.”I could tell the tattooist was losing patience, can’t say I blamed them: I’d been trying to choose a design for hours.I came to a decision.“The snarling tiger. Right across my back.”“You do realise how painful that will be, right?”“How painful?”“Extremely.”I changed my mind.“In that case, just a small anchor on my shoulder!”TOM
Case of the Eye of Horus.
The years is 1897. Fancy Watercress is stand in the bow of Nile Queen making its way to Luxor. Small eddies of water roll by. In her had is the Egyptian papyrus she stole from the museum. “Daddy will compensate them for their loss,” Fancy mused while loading her revolver. Seem the one of the crew is not dressed as the rest of the crew. She flips open the cosmetic compact. She sights sends sailor over the rail into the Nile. The captain eyes Fancy with new held respect and guns the engine. The sun set in the desert sands.
SERENDIPIDY
I handed over a copy of the menu.
“Please do let me know if you have any allergies, and anything on there with the green symbol is a vegetarian option.”“Let me run through today’s specials. There’s pulling out your fingernails with pliers, double thumbscrews with the knuckle cracker side, or I’d recommend the red hot poker up the rectum.”At this point, they began to struggle, but the chair held them tightly.“Let me know when you’re ready to order, and I should tell you, we take payment in advance, it avoids complications later.”“And please do tip generously!”NORVAL JOE
Linoliamanda went back to the guest room and opened the dresser drawer. The streetlight outside the window illuminated the fancy gilt edges of the magnifying glass.
She wasn’t an awful person like Sabrina, yet here she remained with the other girl trapped inside of a magic glass. And for what, so she could have Billbert all to herself? He wore a ring that bound him to the little witch.
Maybe the ring could be removed now.
Mandi snuck back into Billbert’s room, crept to his bedside and found his hand.
She pulled on the ring.
Billbert sat up. “Now what?”
PLANET Z
Sitting there, on my porch, was an angel.
There are three kinds of angel here: Messengers, Mission, and Judgment.The angel sat there silently. I waited for a while. Still nothing.So, not a messenger.I looked around. It didn’t seem like it had stopped something horrible happening to me, so it probably wasn’t on a mission.Not on a mission. So…It stood up and drew its sword.And the look it gave me.That’s not a good look.So, its a judge.So, I ran.I know, you can’t outrun fate… or an angel.But I ran anyway.12 min - Wanting kids
My mother has a younger sister.
And she’s a thieving, conniving bitch.Robbed my grandmother blind and sent her broke ass to drain my parents dry.But I’ve always known she was garbage.You see, when I was little, her husband repeatedly tried to molest me.Nobody believed me, and I was punished for lying about it.Ah, memories.A year or two later, she divorced the creep and found a new guy.It turned out that she wanted kids, but her first husband didn’t.I beg to differ… the guy wanted kids, just not in the way she wanted.2 min - Chemical memory
If you keep a device constantly charging, or top it off every night, the battery has a chemical memory to it and will hold less of a charge.
So it’s important to regularly deplete the battery, and then charge it up.Thankfully, batteries don’t remember when you swear at them when you need a device the most.If your phone has a healthy battery, the people who find your body at the bottom of the canyon can charge up to call your next of kin.Who can sell your phone for more recycling value, knowing that the battery is healthy.2 min - For the glory
Once upon a time, our people built great space ships.
The space ships, they flew so fast. Faster that light.And we flew between the stars.So many worlds out there.But never any civilizations like ours.Just plants. And some animals.Nothing intelligent, though.Just us, in all the universe.We’re the first. We grew up before anyone else.So, we spread out to every star.And we watch and wait.When a species evolves and grows, it develops tools, language, and…That’s when we destroy it.Because existence belongs to us and us alone.As God made us.2 min - Ten bucks
My friend just got a 10 dollar an hour raise as a contractor.
I remember when I was making less than 10 dollars an hour working in a fast food chicken shack.Heck, I was making eight bucks an hour doing tech support for a cheap webhosting company.It started as a dialup internet company, and the dialup people treated us like trash.Until webhosting took off and dialup went away.These days, anything beyond my basic expenses goes into the 401k, and anything above that goes into investments.And, no, I don’t eat fast food chicken. Or use dialup.2 min - Every chick
Every chick I ever fucked became a lesbian.
My first girlfriend, my second girlfriend.The chick I cheated on her with (the second girlfriend).All of them became lesbians.I keep a notebook with all of this.And every one of them… lesbians.And, no, they weren’t lesbians before I fucked them.They were all straight.But after me, not another guy.Lesbian all the way.No, I don’t know why.My doctor says I’m crazy.So, I fucked her.And she became a lesbian.Her husband wasn’t happy.About me fucking her.And turning her into a lesbian, too.2 min - Fury
They say that hell half no fury like a woman scorned but now that I’m in hell, I beg to differ. I did a lot lot of scorning, believe you and me. I’ve spent lots of nights sleeping in my car or on the sofa, but they weren’t on fire or covered with sharp spikes. Very sharp spikes. Then there’s all the whipping. And not the good kind that comes from a lady in leather and stilettos. And it really, really smells bad. Did I mention the fire? Everything is on fire. I think even the fire is on fire.
2 min - Weekly Challenge #1031 PICK TWO Hush Beauty Chisel One-eyed owl Interceptor
- Lewie
- Lisa
- Lizzie
- Richard
- Tom
- Serendipidy
- Norval Joe
- Planet Z
The next topic is Fancy
LEWIE
The one-eyed owl had a chiseled jaw line. His hushed beak made him the perfect interceptor. Glaring silently at any who dared approach, he rarely spoke.
The moon’s beauty in the night would have its light reflected from all who approached, timid and uncertain. He would ask the question of, not who, but whom?
It was rumored that only the lollipop guild was able to pass, once they answered a question central to the forest’s concerns. Not of smoking forest fires, hooting over campgrounds, crying over garbage, or plows destroying the lands of mice.
Just a centralized accounting of consumption.
RICHARD
Just Joking
It was only a joke, but she wasn’t at all impressed.She said she was off to the beauty salon for a makeover.I laughed; told her she’d be better off going to the local building site rather than the salon, “Make -up isn’t going to fix that” I laughed, “hammer and chisel is what you need!”She was not amused.Knocked me out with a frying pan, and when I came to, I found myself with my feet in a bucket, full of set concrete.“Hammer and chisel is what you need!” She laughed, and left me to it.SERENDIPIDY
The professor peered at the markings on the wall, muttering to himself, “Scarab beetle… dog… obelisk… one-eyed owl… What on earth could it all mean?”
He beckoned me over, “You’re the expert, can you make sense of any of it?”A subdued hush descended upon the tomb as I examined the hieroglyphs.“It’s a curse” I concluded. “You will not leave this place alive.”He laughed and told me he had no time for curses, that it was all nonsense.I reached for the knife I’d concealed in my jacket.“Nonsense?” I murmured, “Well, we’ll soon see about that!”LISA
Poker Face
The room was hard to read. The one eyed owl particularly seemed to be bluffing but the magpie kept putting more money on the table. I thought I had a good hand, but folded early.I left the table to get another drink, possibly not the done thing, but I didn’t exactly know the rules in this town. When I returned the air felt different. The mood lighter. The hush of earlier was gone.The owl stared at me – seemed he’d just been winking earlier. I knew then it was time to stop and try to find my way home.LIZZIE
“Hush,” he said.
“They are coming.” The fear was palpable in her voice.They could hear her, the interceptors. They could hear her breathe. They could hear her heartbeat. The vibrations of their humming resonated on the walls.He covered her with his body. He used to be like them, intercepting to drown the resistance.But she’d changed everything. Her eyes. Her smile, despite everything. And in a heartbeat, he wanted to protect her, to keep her alive.The humming became distant.“We’re safe for now”.And she smiled that smile that almost made him believe he had a heartbeat.TOM
My last duchess
Maximilien Franklin entered the room through a door that had not been opened in 60 years. The light from his candles caught the spectral array of swirling dust set in motion by the passage of his even strides. On the far wall was a draped painting Max had heard about from his material grandmother. He removed the covering and the hush that hoovered in the room joined a frozen heartbeat. He thought he was ready for work of the Italian master, but the beauty captured in her sad smile brought Max to tears. His hand trembled as to touch her check.
NORVAL JOE
In the hush of midnight, Mandi’s own footfalls sounded as loud as a hammer on a chisel. She hurried across the passage to Billbert’s room.
He sat up groggily as she stopped at his bed. “What’s going on?”
“Do you know of any ghosts that live in your house?” Mandi whispered. “I heard one walk into my room.”
Billbert mumbled, “I didn’t think ghosts lived anywhere. Did Sabrina hear it, too?”
“I don’t know,” she tried to evade. “She’s not in her bed.”
Billbert lay back down and closed his eyes. “Then it was probably just Sabrina leaving the room.”
PLANET Z
Jack used to complain that portions in this country were way out of control. On the one hand, fast food hamburgers are now the size of mini sliders and king sized candy bars should be labeled court jester size. Pathetic. But at sit down restaurants, sometimes it takes two waitresses with platters to bring out your dinner plate. And your drink needs a lifeguard and Floaties. Maybe even a diving board. They charge you extra to share a plate, so you’re paying them for someone not to order. I can’t tell if this is my straw or a pool noodle.
11 min - Giraffe delivery
I used to think that the test for being rich would be to be able to go to a website and with only a few clicks have a real live giraffe delivered to your house the next day. A real Live giraffe. But the truth is, giraffes need a safe place to wander around, food, veterinary care. You know, the same as any animal you adopt. Besides, going to a website and clicking things just to get a giraffe delivered. The next day seems rather silly, if you’re rich, that’s the kind of thing you delegate to your butler. Right?
2 min
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