Entries:
- Mark A. Morris
- Richard Gibney | @ragtaggiggagon
- Anita Sabat | @anitaexplorer
- Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
- Mileva Anastasiadou | @happymil_
- Kel J. Heinen | @Aightball
- Patty Knowles | @pattydump1
- Keturah Lamb | @KeturahAbigail
- Barbe Crabtree
- Cara Michaels | @caramichaels
- Mark Ethridge | @mysoulstears
- Mary Decker | @mishmhem
- Alyssa Odom
Winners Announcement:
Honorable Mentions
Richard Gibney | @ragtaggiggagon
Bill says: I am a sucker for political satire and especially when it has a somewhat somberly chiselled poetic beat that harkens to Martin Niemöller’s famous poem, First they Came for the Socialists. Nicely done.
Patty Knowles | @pattydump1
Bill says: Amateur home renovators might relate to this tale of debacle and destruction. Having been through a few less tragic home alterations myself, and more an innocent witness to the dust and debris than an actual participant, my heart goes out. What will Santa do?
Mark A. Morris
Bill says: I enjoyed this flash and its attempt to personalize the muse and get her to actually do the work of the artist. Clearly it shows that this muse was only slightly amused.
Cara Michaels | @caramichaels
Bill says: Have you ever found yourself laughing at something, yet you were not quite sure why? Well, this week’s winner had me yucking it up and it wasn’t even the reference to Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. I just found its generally awkward communication theme, if that’s what it was, supremely enjoyable. As for where the water went, I am at a loss. Perhaps California. They can always use it and there is likely a few aliens as well.
The train roaring through the tunnel devoured her words.
“Then?” Shit, that made no sense. Why did I say that? “Then, what?”
“No, it was up to—”
“Them?” I squeezed my eyes shut to better hear because, yes, of course it works that way. “Them, who?”
Yes, that was more logical. A shadowy them, behind some kind of equally shadowy conspiracy. In a subway tunnel. Only Hollywood was decades ahead of that idea. There wasn’t a monster, government, or underground society who hadn’t been the theoretical mastermind behind tunnel troubles.
“No, you jackass. There.” She stabbed her index finger against a demarcation in the concrete wall and made a show of enunciating.
“There. The water was up to there.”
“What water?”
She put her hands on her hips and squinted at me. To hear me better, no doubt.
“Am I Abbott here? Or Costello?”
I cross-referenced all known databases between one blink and the next, and came up with an oddball pair of men. A famous comedy duo, once upon a time. I held my hand to the top of her head.
“Um—whichever one is shorter, I think.”
That earned me a pointy knuckled fist in the stomach. I wouldn’t dare utter out loud that I deserved it.
“Stop being deliberately dense. Where did the water go?”
What could I say? Hm, how did the humans put it? Truth is stranger than fiction?
I held my hands out.
“Aliens,” I said.
Congratulations TWENTY-SIX TIME WINNER Cara, and Honorable Mentions Richard, Patty, and Mark! Don't forget to claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it!
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