Summary
Joe pulled the dirty spark plug from the Chevy Impala and blew into the coil. "I quit beer drinkin'. Found God," he said dropping a cigarette into a cup of cold coffee on the engine block. A flock of geese headed south overhead. Beyond the scattered truck-bones in the yard, a dog howled. Fred leaned in and protested, "What did'ya do a thing like that for?" Joe pulled off his cap and scratched his thinning hair, "God's been talking to me. Telling me things." Leaning closer Fred asked, "What's he been sayin'?" Joe looked to the winter sky and remarked, "Well, I don't know. I can't remember."
"Mom, can I tell you a joke?" "Sure, honey." "Why did the barbeque cross the road?" "I don't know, why?" "To get to the CHICKEN!" I laughed again, thinking it was just as funny this time. My sweet 4 year old crawled up on my lap. "Mom, when is dad getting here?" It was Wednesday night, 30 minutes past the scheduled pick up time. "I don't know, babe." I did know. It was why I'd left. He called at 7:30, after bedtime. I'm sure he would explain. "Hello." I could smell the brandy before the first word was said.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Short of It
This year's 101 word short story contest winners do more with less in weird and wonderful ways.
They emerge from the cracks of Castroville, the pelican pouches of Pacific Grove and the side streets of Seaside once a year. They spoil accounts of cats and love, death and disaster (see sidebar, p. 18) for a chance to win chilled cash and dynamite dinners. They use words like "frack," and "foolproof," and never exceed 101 words, having gracefully adopted abbreviated sequences of tale-telling long before John Mayer knew what Tweeting might be. They are peculiar beasts. They live among us. Thev are us. These are their stories.winners1. Big GamerUPS delivered Brady's immortality pill, so he dropped it in a soda per instructions and glanced at the TV while he waited for the pill to dissolve. "We are facing an unparalleled crisis," some president dude was saying. "But if all of us work together we can find a solution. We have the resources. We have the know...See the full content of this document
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