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The 100 Word Stories Podcast
The 100 Word Stories Podcast episodes
- Violin
I used to play the violin. But I didn’t play it well.
“Maybe I need a better violin?”So, I’d buy violin after violin, until I had a Stradivarius.It didn’t have a name, though. It was a badly-damaged body that was refurbished.Still, it sounded great.But I didn’t play it well.I paid for lessons, practiced a lot, until I finally got good with it.Then, I broke my elbow and lost a lot of range of motion.The surgeries and rehab were expensive and I had to sell the Stradivarius.Now, I play “Violin” playlists on Spotify.2 min - Mickey
Mickey Mantle jumped the line, got a new liver, but it didn’t do him much good.
He got sicker and sicker, and former teammates came to Dallas to wish him goodbye.The orderlies moved his body to a gurney and rolled it into an elevator,Down in the basement, they moved his body to a cabinet in the morgue.It took a day for his final exam.They carved him up, pulled out his organs to examine and weigh them, including the liver he’d received, and sewed them all back into him.And off to the funeral home he went.2 min - Weekly Challenge #1029 – Broken light bulb
- Lewie
- Lizzie
- Richard
- Lisa
- Tom
- Serendipidy
- Norval Joe
- Planet Z
The next topic is Paranoid
LEWIE
George had an idea.
It wasn’t a bright idea.
It wasn’t even a good idea.
In fact, it wasn’t even a bad idea.
Suffice to say, if you could see the physical manifestation of it, you would only find a broken light bulb above George’s head.
The idea wasn’t original.
It was common.
Or… at least, it used to be.
George’s idea was no longer with the times.
People moved on.
They found better lighting.
They upgraded.
George was in a closet, alone in the dark.
He was trying to find a light switch when most people talked to Alexa.
LIZZZIE
At the thrift shop, he spotted an artist’s mannequin with a lightbulb for a head, leaning against a tarnished mirror. It’s broken, they said. But he bought it anyway, and placed it on the mantelpiece. There was just something about that small fragile wooden figure. The next day, the mannequin was gone. Who took the mannequin, he shouted. Not me, everyone replied. He searched the whole house, and found the mannequin leaning against the full-body mirror in the bedroom. He could’ve sworn that there was a faint glimmer in that lightbulb. Perhaps the mannequin wasn’t that broken after all.
RICHARD
Light bulb moment
They say Christmas is for kids but I’ve never agreed, although these days it’s really not like it used to be.Forget the old clichés about commercialisation or the true meaning of Christmas; it’s technology that’s ruined it for me.Specifically, LED fairy lights.Back in the day, it was almost a yearly rite of passage to dig out the fairly lights and spend hours of frustration hunting for the one broken light bulb in the tangled mass, before the satisfaction of seeing them burst brightly into life upon finally finding the culprit.And now, it’s just not the same.SERENDIPIDY
The glass from the broken light bulb crunches underfoot, a disquieting sound in the darkness.
The light from the officers’ torches bounces haphazardly off the damp walls, casting eerie, confused shadows on the scene, colours muted and unnatural.It’s hard to make anything out. You act on instinct, reliant on your senses and an indefinable gut feeling for anything that might be out of place and unnatural.Something feels, very unnatural. Very out of place. Very wrong indeed.A sudden gasp at your side, and the sweeping torches pause, all focussed on a single spot.Then you see the blood.TOM
It was a dark and stormy night
Sheets a rain broke against the roof. You could hardly make out the edges of homes down the street. Then the light show commenced in earnest, ragged forks of lightening coming from the east. The thunder was freaking the cat out. She bolted into the lamp, sent it hard to the floor. Broken light bulb shards everywhere. I lit a candle and grabbed a broom to sweep. The glass tinkle like tiny bells. This was that last sound I remember hearing before the wind removed the roof. The last thing I saw was glass shards dancing toward the funnel cloud.
LISA
Tuesday
I spent the night in darkness with the cold clasping my hand. I’d pulled my jumper up over my nose, partly for warmth; mostly for its comforting smell.A small window illuminated my new world. When the sun rose I was grateful for the dark night and was glad I’d not explored – broken glass glittered on the floor from a broken light bulb waiting for my bare feet to find it.Grim and dirty. Bin bags spilling random belongings piled high.It was a room with a story no one wanted to hear.There was nothing to do but wait.NORVAL JOE
Mandi tiptoed up the stairs to the guest room and flipped on the light switch. With a pop, the light went out. She could ask Billbert’s mother to get a new bulb, but that would draw attention to the fact that Sabrina was not in the room, too.
A streetlight outside the window illuminated the room enough for her to see her way around, and she crossed to a dresser and slipped the magnifying glass into the upper drawer.
She lay down on the bed and tried to figure out how she would explain Sabrina’s sudden absence in the morning.
PLANET Z
Only about 300 feet of water separates Little York Island from the mainland. People like things kept simple. The island is only ten minutes walk around. Everybody bikes or walks the paths. We built a footbridge a while back. Frank Henderson wants to widen it, we voted him down. if you got something big, the main post ferries it over and there’s a grocery at the other end of the bridge. There’s a doctor and dentist and a small general store. At night everyone turns out their lights and we watch the stars and sacrifice goats to the Chaos Gods.
15 min - Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis once said that every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on.
In spite of his Socialist tendencies, Sinclair Lewis liked to put on stilts and act like a complete tyrant.“I AM KING!” Sinclair would shout. “BOW DOWN BEFORE YOUR KING!”It made sense when he’d put on an Uncle Sam suit and march in the Fourth of July Parade, but he wore them year-round.This made it awfully awkward for him to sneak into meatpacking plants as part of his investigation for The Jungle, let alone go to the bathroom.2 min - Traitor Cat
When my sister in law comes to visit, I set up a bed in the spare room.
And the cats check it out.At bedtime, Tinny the cat becomes a snuggle cat.And she sleeps on the bed during the day, too.Usually, Tinny is my sofa companion while I work.She can be a pest and gets in the way, but when she’s being a traitor, I miss her.So when it’s time for my sister in law to go home, I put away the bed.Instead of snuggling with me, Tinny goes into the other room and screams.2 min - Trejo
Some kids want to be policemen, others want to be astronauts.
Joey wanted to be boxing champion of the local prison.He trained and built up his body and police record.Winning fight after fight, and losing case after case.He climbed the ranks outside the walls and inside.Until his manager told him to lose.He refused, and killed him.Life in prison for murder.Joey walked through the gate, smiling wide.“I’m going to own this place,” he said.“Guess again,” said a voice in his ear, and he was stabbed a dozen times. “We own this place.”2 min - Crazy Pills Cashback
The Apple card is three percent at Apple, Exxon, and Walgreens.
I don’t need a new iPhone, I’m not going to use it on an insecure gas pump.But Walgreens? Sure.I have a lot of prescriptions. All my crazy pills.When I read my last statement, I only got one percent last time.I yelled at Support, and they said I need to use Apple Pay, not the physical card.The co-pay on all my pills is a dollar.Which means instead of three cents cashback for each, I was getting one cent.I guess the pills aren’t working.2 min - Sysco
The sysco truck has the motto follow me to your next grade meal on its back. I’ve got time to kill. So I did, thinking that it was gonna stop at one of the restaurants in this small town. But to my great surprise, it’s next stop was at the local prison. I don’t know whether it’s telling me that I’m going to jail or that they’re picking up prisoners to chop up and put in the beef soup, that hardly call that or ringing endorsement. Maybe I’ll just stick to the local Whataburger or DoorDash a bunch of salads.
2 min - Lines and seats
Teddy had a good gig, standing in line for other people.
The more important the thing people were waiting for in line, the more he’d make.He also got a side hustle filling seats for celebrities or dignitaries leaving a televised performance.That way there were no empty seats.He started his own company of line-standers and seat-sitters.But his workers complained of working conditions.“We won’t stand for this!”“We won’t take this sitting down!”They formed a union, and went on strike.The line-standers formed a picket line.The seat-sitters organized a sit-in.Teddy, exhausted, folded the company.2 min - Weekly Challenge #1028 – Sharp Scissors
- Lewie
- Lizzie
- Richard
- Tom
- Lizzie
- Serendipidy
- Norval Joe
- Planet Z
The next topic is Broken light bulb
LEWIE
The hobo clown, Doc, swiped the oversized, sharp scissors from a white-faced clown, Tippy.
Doc then ran in circles and stepped backwards.
Tippy fell over, landing on his big red nose.
Children laughed at the spectacle.
An auguste clown, Mollywolly, shouted “STOP!” The clowns froze in mid-step.
“No running with scissors!”
The clowns ran in slow motion.
This time, Doc fell down.
He sat up and cried.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Mollywolly asked?
Doc shook his head violently, yes.
“I warned you! You can’t run in slow motion either.”
Clown paramedics came, shrugged, and carried him away in a cot.
LIZZIE
She decorated the scissors with a tussle. Sharp but innocent-looking. Don’t forget the… and she looked out the window. The sun was so beautiful. The birds were chirping. Are you listening? She wasn’t. Don’t forget the pack of sticky note pads of all possible sizes. One hundred of them. And don’t forget to bring them in different… Colors, yes. Annoying… They would have sticky notes all over the place with sticky messages packed with stupidity. The scissors came in handy when it was time to get rid of the sticky problem… It was messy, but it was worth it.
LISA
Interview with Dr Andrea Brookes
I ask about the famous cutting skills that her fellow surgeons once envied. She dismisses praise and mutters about practice, not just in the hospital. We share some memories. There’s a lot of talk of scissors.She mentions a dressmaking grandma and her pinking shears: zigzag cut so the fabric didn’t need a seam. She tells me how she likes really sharp little scissors and that flesh doesn’t fray.Andrea stays in her cell for the interview. She doesn’t share it. I was hoping for more answers but visiting time is over before I find out where the bodies are.SERENDIPIDY
Sharp mind.
Sharp wits.Sharp tongue.Sharp words.The perfect recipe for cutting remarks.There’s nothing quite like destroying your victims mentally before you commence the real work of finishing them off, and the best method I find is a verbal character assassination.I like to keep the tools of my trade nice and sharp too: Knives, saw blades, axes, all sorts of bladed articles.I really shouldn’t have to explain the reason for that -it’s pretty obvious.Not my scissors though.I don’t possess any sharp scissors at all, just very blunt ones.They hurt a whole lot more!TOM
Tools of the Trade
If you have lived in Chicago the likelihood one of your earliest memories will be about a basement. Mine is my Grandfather Marquette’s, for he had a fully operational barbershop. Chair, mirrors front and back. Leather strap. An assortment of electric clippers from different decades. But the shiny-est object on a glass shelf was a set of German scissors. He kept these razor-sharp scissors in a black velvet case. I once made the mistake of handling the one. To is day there is thin white line which runs across the middle of palm. The sharper the lesson the greater the wisdom.
NORVAL JOE
Mrs. Weinerheimer could have been a pair of sharp scissors when she said, “Enough chitchat. Get up to bed.”
She led the way out of the kitchen. Billbert followed, with Sabrina right behind.
Mandi said, “Sabrina. Wait. Can I talk to you for a second?”
“What do you want, Lindi Mindi?” Sabrina said with her typical snark, turning to face her.
Mandi raised the magnifying glass and looked at Sabrina through it.
Sabrina appeared in the glass, frozen with a condescending sneer on her face.
Mandi quickly shoved the magnifying glass under her shirt to avoid accidentally setting Sabrina free.
PLANET Z
Arthur owns the sharpest scissors in existence.
They can cut through the fabric of spacetime.Gravitational waves, fluctuating with every snip.The universe bends and twists, light flickers all around.Arthur ties off the loose ends, dusts off his hands, and puts the scissors away.Usually, the universe seals itself up and heals over.But this time, Arthur’s nicked some dark matter.A singularity leans out, and devours Arthur’s sewing room, house, and neighborhood.Over the next few hours, the Earth collapses into a miniscule dot.The scissors have a warranty for this, but nobody’s left to collect on it.14 min
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