Hyper-Short Stories

Response 61: Use the words "style" and "market"

2009-05-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

I like to go in style when I go to the market. I put on my blonde wig, red lipstick,

thigh highs, silk panties, blow in the wind skirt, white button down blouse

and high heels. Nobody recognizes me, I don't recognize myself...

-C.C. Long

Response 60: Use the words "style" and "market"

2009-05-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

Near the market off of Via del Mulini, the girl stood waiting as the venditore dug the scoop deep into the tray of gelato, twisting it high on the waffled cone and powdering the top with confectioners’ sugar, in the style her grandmother’s letters had described.

-Paul Massey

Response 59: Use the words "style" and "market"

2009-05-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

Her style was just as unsightly as her prompt. Her caterpillar eyebrow furrowed as she pointed at the clock. The rest poured intoxicating ink on their papers trying to answer the prompt in essay style quickly. I ignored the teachers stare as I answered the prompt in my own style.

-Ariel Culver

Response 58: Use the words "style" and "market"

2009-05-20T14:14:00.001-07:00

Sitting outside another South American market, I look down at my tattered wardrobe and wonder what had happened to my style. Had my trip had replaced my cool, hip clothes with life experience? All I wear are these worn threads and that’s all I need to smile.

-Paul Cox

Response 57: Use the words "style" and "market"

2009-05-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Discuss ‘style’ and ‘market’ in front of a client again and you’re sacked!” and with that the stilettos click-clacked off, carrying the bony monster away. Sheila couldn’t see her own red rimmed eyes, couldn’t afford more weight, and couldn’t swallow the shame. Got down before the porcelain shrine and prayed.

-Stacy Ann Goetting

Response 56: Use the words "style" and "market"

2009-05-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

She was dressed like Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Black dress, pearl necklace, and incredible style. The people in the market blinked when she smiled at them. I watched her as she walked around the aisles, discretely looking into people’s baskets and taking their items. They didn’t seem notice.

-Mary Desjean

Response 55: Use the words "style" and "market"

2009-05-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

Walking amidst the chattering mass of people in the market, I noticed the odd items for sale: skin, hair, teeth, and the scattered offerings of finger and toenails. I stared with satisfaction at my coconut-sized ball of earwax and looked around for the right buyer. I liked these peoples' style.

-Rexwell Havershatt Nomenclature

Prompt Six: Use the words style and market

2009-05-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

Prompt 6: Use the words style and market

Rules:

Must be no more than 50 words long.
No overly mature content.
Send submissions here.

Response 54: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

It was hot, and the slow turn of the fan blades was doing little to relieve the heat. She turned over on top of her sheets and found his face in the crack of the ceiling. Her breathing slowed down, and then the rain fell.

-Lindsay Hansen

Response 53: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

“Then what happened, Daddy?”

“I climbed into the hot air balloon.”

“…Then?”

“…And then the rain fell; all the animals drowned.”

“Where was Mama?”

“She was with me.”

“…Lisa-Marie woulda drowned then.”

“Who’s Lisa-Marie?”

“Mama’s new horse.”

“Where’d she get the money for that?”

“Dave.”

“…He’s got money, eh?”

“Yup”

-Matt Zdancewicz

Response 52: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-20T04:27:00.001-07:00

And then the rain fell.. His eyes flew open; lightening flashed;
thunder too close to count. His heart racing in rhythm to the storm.
She was dead; it went smoothly; always did. But the night terrors, why?
Heart slowing, rain slowing; tomorrow is a new
assignment. Eyes closing, rain stopping.

Cheri Miles

Response 51: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

Night came to Jaipur, and then the rain fell. It torrentially rained all night. We had caught up to this year's retreating monsoon. Due to the rain, Indian Airlines was unable to land in Udaipur the next day, so instead we left for Bombay.

-Connie Cookson

Response 50: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

“Your canine is desecrating my garden!”

My cantankerous neighbor clutched his chest as Sprinkles continued to poop on his beloved gardenias. I silently prayed for lightening to strike down to end my misery; and then the rain fell. God, unlike my neighbor, seems to have a good sense of humor.

- Jennifer Bachand

Response 49: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

What was wrong? I couldn’t tell. But there was something. I stepped out of my house. It was hot like a desert. Fifty years without precipitation will do that. At the end of the walkway, I paused and looked up. Storm clouds. I smiled, and then the rain fell.

-Rexwell Havershatt Nomenclature

Response 48: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

I craned my head up toward the sky to escape my foulness . . . and then the rain fell.

-Penelope Ingram

Response 47: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

You never call anymore. You hold such grudges, over things that are only made bearable in their abandonment. I gave you everything you asked for and even some things you didn’t. You only saved up your anger, it swelled like a thunderhead over the ocean, and then the rain fell.

-Danielle Pearl

Response 46: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

His eyes glistened, murderously black. Shoving me against the plain façade of the massage parlor, Bao turned and ran. Soon he was lost in the fields of brown faces. And then the rain fell. A tuk-tuk driver's horn blared down the street; a woman's muffled cry from within the parlor. But all I heard were the footsteps of the rain.

- Brian J. Waidelich

Response 45: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

The desire to create overtakes me so I put on my boots and head for a dense dark wooded spot of the world that Thoreau would envy. I search for Frost’s Fork or Whitman’s “Main Thing”. I lean against ancient tree in an Emersonisqe trance and then the rain fell.

-Scott Brewer

Response 44: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

The young man paced back and forth, hands grasping the sides of his head, a sorrowful moan rising inside him, vibrating in the air around him. At his feet, the torn pages of the letter were scattered in the dirt, the severing words severed, and then the rain fell.

- Paul Massey

Response 43: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

It was the first sunny day of spring, 74 degrees the sky translucent blue. We were in Central Park laying on a Batik sheet reading when I noticed that she was tearing up. What's up? I asked. It's over, she said, and then the rain fell...

-C.C. Long

Response 42: ...and then the rain fell

2009-05-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

As a boy he learned to earn. From namesakes learned dry interest in debt and demand. David demanded control of these conditions; found less control within him. Found loopholes and lab coats, skulls and bones. Corrupted earth’s seeds foreclosed her farms; only made back page "and then the rain fell".

-Stacy Ann Goetting

Response 41: When I was a man

2009-05-17T10:13:00.001-07:00

I have few recollections from when I was a man. Memories erratically resurface: flashes of violence and trauma; a sense of heightened anxiety and terror envelop me. That is part of my sentence, to relive the horrors of my sins through my victims’ eyes. My time in hell has begun.

-Jennifer Bachand

Response 40: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-15T12:49:00.001-07:00

My teary eyed gaze was fixed on the cloudless sky. Crops are wilting. Where is their nourishment? Don’t they nourish us? Where is the paint that makes our grass the perfect shade of green? Cleanse our souls! A tear fell as I screamed in frustration, and then the rain fell.

-Samira Elmarry

Response 39: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

We fled the lab as shots from the guards rang out behind us; our feet pounding the barren, cracked, desert floor. Just outside the fence, we rigged the package to the rocket hidden in the bushes. It flew into the dark, motionless clouds, exploded, and only then the rain fell.

-Paul Cox

Response 38: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-15T12:46:00.001-07:00

I picked the wrong house tonight. A cop, how did I have such luck? My heart pounded as I raced on. My boots caked with soot from the fire place would lead him straight to me. I never had a chance of escaping and then the rain fell.

-Ariel Culver

Prompt Five: ...and then the rain fell.

2009-05-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Prompt 5: ...and then the rain fell.*

Rules:

Must be no more than 50 words long.
No overly mature content.
Send submissions here.

*This prompt was supplied by Scott Brewer. I choice it because unlike the first four this prompt gives you an ending not a beginning. With that said, I understand how hard that is to achieve and understand if you want to use the prompt as a start of point instead.

Response 37: When I was a man

2009-05-15T11:33:00.001-07:00

When I was a man, I longed to drive my passions. Blind, my eyes saw the world. When I was a man, I longed to understand happiness. Today, compassion is mercy through Him. My love, loved by Him. Through grace, trust only Him. No longer man, a child of God.

-Joseph Minas

Response 36: When I was a man

2009-05-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

When I was a man you wouldn’t leave me alone! Poked with bony, accusatory fingers; indexed my failures, one by one, ringing guilt around my neck, and thumbing your nose at me! Middle finger well-oiled, pinky promises but I loved you still. Reincarnated call me Fiddo and love me more.

-Stacy Ann Goetting

Response 35: When I was a man

2009-05-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

When I was a man I loved her like no other. I promised to protect her and shelter her from storms. But the day came when I broke all of my promises to her. I broke my word. Now I am an empty shell of the man I once was.

-Mary Desjean

Check out other projects Marry is involved in:

Response 34: When I was a man

2009-05-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

When I was a man, I killed the sweet mother of my two children. Wouldn't you like to know why, how, and where I am now?

-Connie Cookson

Other material of Connie's has been published in Peace Corps publications.

Response 33: When I was a man

2009-05-14T18:55:00.001-07:00

Then she stood to leave and I felt a tightening in my chest, words caught in my throat—too unsure of themselves to leave my lips. As she turned toward the exit, our eyes met and I remembered our years together, when I was a man she loved.

-Paul Massey

Check out Paul with the links below

Response 32: When I was a man

2009-05-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

When I was a man the world was different. Everyone took the pill, that’s when it all changed. My new grown tail brushed debris off a piece of shattered mirror. My ears twitched as I stared at my new reflection. No longer a man but something new altogether.

-Ariel Culver

Response 31: When I was a man

2009-05-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

When I was a man, I was a chicken. Cowardly. When I was a mouse, I was a bear . Strong. Ironic. Are you a man or a mouse? (snicker) My identity crisis ends today. My courage and strength have multiplied exponentially since I returned to my rodent roots.

-Samira Elmarry

Response 30: When I was a man

2009-05-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

When I was a man I itched my beard as I rolled my responsibilities around in my mind. I spent my time lost in memories of my adolescence where my time was spent chasing girls and smoking cigarettes. Trapped in this bed I don’t feel like a man.

-Rosie Rose

Response 29: When I Was A Man

2009-05-14T05:54:00.001-07:00

When I was a man I worked thirteen hours a day for little pay. I sat at home and watched TV. I cared about baseball. Now I’m an alien. I walk on Mars, abduct cows and wash anal probe.

-M. Chase Whittemore

Response 28: When I Was A Man

2009-05-14T05:13:00.000-07:00

When I was a man, I wore dresses. Frilly ones, with white gloves, and shiny shoes. I sashayed down streets with the finesse only a man in a dress is allowed to have.

-Penelope Ingram

Penelope edits for "The Litter Box" an online literary magazine. Check them out.

Response 27: When I Was a Man

2009-05-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

It lasted about twenty minutes. My sargeant yelled, Be a man! So I became one, shot my AK40 and killed two men in Iraq. It was scary and sad. Even though they were the enemy I decided I didn't want to be a man anymore after that.

-C. C. Long

Response 26: When I Was A Man

2009-05-13T07:54:00.001-07:00

When I was a man I used bigger words, sang a bit louder, and played much longer. Now, I sit in this chair, smoke rings hovering above my head, a bottle of Jack spinning empty at my feet, and wonder where my youth went. How’d everything become so sour?

-Paul Cox
Check out Paul's Blog.

Response 25: My First Time At A Pub

2009-05-12T21:19:00.001-07:00

A tiny pub over the bridge on a sidestreet in Pittsburgh. Walked through the dim door with some friends from the coffee shop where I worked. I had my first pint in that tavern... seems that suddenly I was one of the regulars, all before I turned nineteen.

-Andrew Clark

Prompt Four: When I Was A Man

2009-05-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Prompt 4: "When I was a man..."*

Rules:

Must be no more than 50 words long.
No overly mature content.
Send submissions here.

*This prompt is provided by Penelope Ingram

Response 24: My First Time at A Pub

2009-05-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Mom hands $1 for the juke box. Played my favourite song, and three more. First time, the bikers in the truck stop bar laughed the second and third time was silence. We left. Mom, “Dogs Barking Jingle Bells all four times?" I replied, "We didn't get to hear Surfin Safari."

-Zac Clark

Response 23: My First Time at A Pub

2009-05-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

I walked in with my ID already out. I was kind of like a neon sign on a residential street.
My hands were sweating more than the glass, but I felt a little at home in a place far away.

-Lindsay Hansen

Response 22: My First Time at A Pub

2009-05-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

In Cornwall, England. I traveled from America to visit a friend, having earned the money myself. The pub was called Mermaid's Dream. I was 15 years old. I was
told to drink Lemon Shandies and eat handfuls of tic-tacs. After three pints I puked for hours.

-C.C. Long

Response 21: My First Time at A Pub

2009-05-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

The school exam is canceled because of the snow. We trudge through the blizzard bitterly cold. Piling into the converted church; a better, more obvious place of worship emerges. Soon, warm Scottish ales trickle down the throat as four young pairs of hands pray suspicious teachers will stay away.

-Chris Hammond

Response 20: My First Time at a Pub

2009-05-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

The focus of the room is that there is no focus. Everyone has a pint glass, everyone is drinking beer, some are talking, some are silent, but the overall theme is to just relax and let yourself be carried away in the moment. This is the after-after-party.

-G.G.

Prompt Three: My First Time At A Pub

2009-05-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

Prompt 3: "My First Time At A Pub"

Rules:

Must be no more than 50 words long.
No overly mature content.
Send submissions here.

Response 20: At a Wedding

2009-05-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

She heard the music begin. It sounded as if it was coming from a distant universe. Someone said first dance. She saw him looking at her. She could only imagine what he was thinking. They both got up and headed to the dance floor. He held her arm. Just as he pulled her close, she slithered out of his grasp and passed out as she sank to the floor...inebriated again.

-Chris George

Response 19: At a Wedding

2009-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

“She spent so much on that dress,” I said, watching garnet trails snake down the bride’s dress. Whitewashed wooden chairs hastily strewn in sand smeared red, red like the fleeing footprints, red like the wrinkled mass the groom noshed while I cocked my shotgun and pointed it at his head.

-M. Elizabeth Williams
Check out Elizabeth's website

Response 18: At a Wedding

2009-05-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

After the wedding, after last call, an old crush and I are alone in the hotel bar. We get into the elevator. He hits 48. The door opens to my 44. He raises his eyebrows. “Night,” I turn from him, praying he’s watching my heels disappear from the closing door.

- Jessica Machado

Response 17: At a Wedding

2009-05-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining and the breeze off the ocean is light and warm. We can’t really hear the couple saying their vows, but we can see the light in their eyes; not from the sun, but from their love. CRACK…a man at parasail practice has just hit the beach.

-G.G.

Response 16: At a Wedding

2009-05-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

Me: brother of the groom. Married but solo for the weekend. She: sister of the bride. Husband and children in tow. Introductions. See her beauty. Feel the heat. Be good. Stay away. Drink heavily. Morning. Say goodbye. Hear her stammer. She feels it too. Go home thinking of her. Smitten.

-Carl Gonzales

Response 15: At a Wedding

2009-05-06T08:29:00.001-07:00

At a wedding, I ate cake with my fingers, hit on the groom, and danced the chicken dance like my life depended on it.

-Penelope Ingram

Response 14: At a Wedding

2009-05-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

I was thinking how cool the agnostic person is. A tincture of humility to assert that you don't know the ultimate in truth. But open for this truth to exist...even if unknowable. Knowing that some things are true that can't be proven true (Godel). Then open to a deeper humility.

-Mark Graham

Response 13: At a Wedding

2009-05-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

My body was amped, pulse racing. The electrons zipped and zapped along the lines of the circuit board, connectivity was key. Down the aisle, meeting in the center--Kapow! Concurrent with the energies of the machine, we absorb into each other and are drained, leeched out of our physical selves.

-Anon

Response 12: At a Wedding

2009-05-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

They introduced me to an older girl on the dance floor at my cousin’s wedding. Social ineptitude kept us just two-stepping there at a respectable distance, not talking. This was one year ago. Her dress was white with little strawberries, but I couldn’t tell you how her eyes were.

-Zach Weintraub

Response 11: At a Wedding

2009-05-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

At a wedding I wasn't invited to. She was my first love. I was engaged to her once. Two zanax and booze the cure. She walked down the aisle. Then! Right in front of me she tripped and looked up at me. All my questions were answered.

-Charles Long

Prompt Two: At a Wedding

2009-05-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Prompt 2: "At a wedding..."

Rules:

Must be no more than 50 words long.
No overly mature content.
Send submissions here.

Response 10: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-05T09:27:00.001-07:00

Eyes flick open. stale beer on the tongue. Face stuck to the wooden floorboards, coat and shoes still on. The rain lashes against the kitchen window and the oak outside sways in the gale. Nature wouldn’t feel so active had it spent its last dollar on an absinthe shot.

-Chris Hammond

Response 9: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-04T08:44:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, while coming down a somewhat darkened stairwell at work, I was distracted by a joint sitting atop an emergency lighting housing. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a meaningless receipt and my last dollar. On tip-toe, I reached up, confiscated the temptation, wrapped it in the receipt, and left my last dollar in its place. I smiled.

-Dennis L.

Response 8: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-04T01:16:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I spent my last dollar. I bought an anchor. Tonight I borrowed a boat. Still cold now from the sea I know that when I get back to the beach, sneak into the hotel and change into fresh clothes that I'll truly enjoy myself as you.

-Paul J. Gitschner

Response 7: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

I was missing you, so yesterday I spent my last dollar on this postcard, stamp and this pen. I wanted to reveal my heart and love to you with clarity and passion but I didn’t account for how little space there was on the back of a postcard.

-Scott Brewer

Response 6: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I spent my last dollar on bubblegum. I made bubblegum balloons the size of my head and watched the world through a rose colored membrane.

-Penelope Ingram

Response 5: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-03T16:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I spent my last dollar. I ate my last meal, took my last stroll down Canal Street, and bid my last farewell. Now, I write my last words.

-Boris Jacobson

Response 4: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent my last dollar. It’s not too bad, I leave for London in fifteen hours, and when I’m home I’ll have money again. But, sitting in NYC with no cash is a drag. A bottle of water and a paper, something to do, would be nice.

-Anon

Response 3: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

A piece of cardboard beside a man, reads: “My money went to a slot machine that gave me nothing in return. Now I’m sitting out here, in the rain, hoping some passing soul will take pity on me and give me loose change. With it, I’ll try the slots again.”

-Anon

Response 2: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-02T09:58:00.001-07:00

I bought a pack of gum and a Post. I walked to Central Park chewed my gum and read the hog wash. When I was through reading I gave the paper to a guy sitting on another bench. I walked out of the park happy as can be.

-C.C. Long

Response 1: Yesterday I spent my last dollar

2009-05-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent my last dollar on something I needed. It wasn’t very large or small, it’s exactly what I needed. With times as hard as they are, bills continuing to come, and jobs going away everyday, I needed an escape. I spent my last dollar on a good movie!!!

-Taunda Denee

Prompt One: Yesterday I Spent My Last Dollar

2009-05-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

Prompt 1: "Yesterday I Spent My Last Dollar"

Rules:

Must be no more than 50 words long.
No overly mature content.
Send submissions here.