
I wrote this story for the 100 Word Challenge: Road at Thin Spiral Notebook.
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By Jim Anderson
I wrote this story for the 100 Word Challenge: Road at Thin Spiral Notebook.
By Jim Anderson
Parenthood hit Tony Lawson like a summer storm. Yes, very much like that. A sudden, unexpected stroke of fury, a violent collision of opposing fronts.
“Tony, you jerk, meet your son.”
The sky was cloudless above the executive lot, but the air crackled around the words.
Tony fumbled his iPhone, and it fell toward the brilliant concrete.
He caught it, held it against his heart.
There stood Sandra behind his silver S-Class, rolling a big navy-blue stroller forward a few inches and then pulling it back, coming closer each time to the rear-bumper of the coupe.
My baby! he thought.
I wrote this story for the 100 Word Challenge: “Parent” at Thin Spiral Notebook.
By Jim Anderson
“The thing is,” Papa said, “everybody gets that story wrong. They always think the baby died.”
“Well, sure,” I said. “What else?”
Papa shook his head. “The baby didn’t die. The mother doesn’t want the shoes.” He finished his gin martini and motioned to the barkeep for another.
The fan turned ponderously above our heads.
“But why?” I asked.
“The shoes are a gift from the mother-in-law. You see? There’s a conflict. The women don’t get along. The ad is a knife in the ribs.”
“That’s a lot of iceberg under the water.”
Papa grinned and raised his glass. “Salute!”
I wrote this story for the 100 Word Challenge: “Memoir” at Thin Spiral Notebook.
By Jim Anderson
The streets of Kal teamed with festival-goers. Nothing draws crowds like the prospect of burning a woman at the stake.
Even a good drawing-and-quartering runs a distant second.
“Her name is Future,” Proffer said as we made our way back to the inn.
I knew he was referring to the accused. The anguish in his voice surprised me. “You know her?”
Proffer nodded. “As do you. She’s the baker’s daughter, the girl you flirted with our first day here.”
“I do not ‘flirt’!”
“You do. And you marked her by it.”
“But –”
“It’s clear they know what you are.”
I wrote this fiction for the 100 Word Challenge “Future” at Thin Spiral Notebook.
Also see Part I of this story: If the gods be merciful.
By Jim Anderson
My father was a Flint guy, Great Depression edition — blue-collar even when he was in management, hands-on, patriotic, optimistic, and altogether typical of his generation. As a young man, he played baseball, drank beer, smoked whatever cigarettes he could afford, and helped save the world for democracy. [Read more…] about Remembering My Dad
By Jim Anderson
The good people of Kal were fixing to burn another witch. The event would close the Festival of the Tyrant’s Demise. “Third one this week,” Proffer said as we watched the wood-stack grow. “They must like the smell. The evil–”
“Judge not, lest you be judged,” I said hastily. And in a lower voice: “Be careful, my friend.”
Proffer narrowed his eyes, but spoke more softly. “You’re right, of course. I’m sorry.”
“We’ll move on before the lighting.”
He sighed, and glanced toward the great temple. “Do you think she has confessed?”
“If the gods be merciful,” I said.
I wrote this fiction for the 100 Word Challenge: “Tyrant” at Thin Spiral Notebook.
See Part II of this story: Her name is Future