A stained, felt cowboy hat shaded the face, sporting a week’s worth of whisker growth. Backing into the loading chute, his eyes darted back and forth between the side mirrors on the stock truck. He had been watching the place for weeks and the daily routine never changed. Picking up the halter from the seat beside him, he headed to the barn for the stallion. This wasn’t a normal repossession, but money was money.
“That’s my horse!” Screamed the woman running towards the truck.
Handing her the documents, he climbed into the cab. “Not my monkey, not my circus.”
“That’s my horse!” Screamed the woman running towards the truck.
Handing her the documents, he climbed into the cab. “Not my monkey, not my circus.”
Some 99 word stories come together in minutes, ending with +/- 105 words. There are even times when 99 is hit bang on, first time. Then there are times, like with this story, the idea is there and the words tumble across the journal pages, and keep on coming.
Yes, I would say that 95% of everything I write is done in longhand first.
What do I do about that? Not much, other than letting the thoughts run their course and then find the 99 words within that will fit my needs for the exercise.
The rest of the words, to coin a phrase from the famous Paul Harvey, is that I will keep them for possible use as something much larger – a short story, another 99 word challenge, the start of a chapter in a current WIP, and for maybe nothing at all.
The raw rough draft of this one ended as a 215-word story. But true to form, you only get 99 of them.
November 28, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story using the saying, “not my monkeys, not my circus”. What is the situation that would spawn that aphorism? Have fun with setting and characters! Go where the prompt leads!
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Ann Edall-Robson
Author, Photographer, Lover of Life “Capturing moments others may never get to experience.” |
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