hundred word stories

...are tough. 100 is a big number when you're dealing with Big Macs or cockroaches, but not when you're dealing with words. To write a complete story in exactly 100 words - no more, and no less - takes some finesse and finagling.

Of course, those of you who are acquainted with one of my favorite "short stories" will argue that 100 words is plenty compared to Ernest Hemingway's story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." That's it; that's the whole story. But in six words, Hemingway tells a full story - not only that, but he tells one that actually makes the reader feel something.

But I'm no Hemingway.

Anyway, a friend of mine is doing a final project this week for one of her classes: she's trying to collect 101 100-word stories. You can go HERE to get in on the action and submit your own 100-word stories - she needs to collect 101 of them by Tuesday, after all. Just remember, no more and no less than 100 words.

Here are my two attempts so far. As I said, I'm no Hemingway, but at least I amused myself for a while with these stories.

The Nightmare Vanquisher

At 4:13 a.m., Henry sat up in bed. There was a sour taste on the back of his tongue and a ringing in his ears: a Nightmare was close. Probably trying to devour the sugar-sweet dreams of little Emily Bishop across the street again, he guessed. Henry climbed out of bed and fished around in the dark for his shoes. His wife – accustomed to this behavior after fourteen years of marriage – mumbled, “Lock the door behind you.” She was asleep again before her husband had found his left shoe; she dreamt of daisies while he kept the Nightmares at bay.

Polychrome, Inc.

Benjamin Bumperee worked at the Polychrome, Inc. color factory, manufacturing Blue615. It wasn’t a stimulating job: Blue614 came down the conveyer belt and he used an eyedropper to add one drop of Blue to each sample. It wasn’t an important job: no one liked Blue615 much. So finally, Benjamin quit. He tossed his company-issued eyedropper into the trash and walked out. But without Blue615, Blue616 couldn’t be manufactured; nor Blue617, or anything down the whole Blue conveyer belt. And as Benjamin Bumperee strolled away from the color factory, feeling proud of his brilliant career move, the sky (Blue873) turned gray.