Two hundred words

All my stories here will be a maximum of two hundred words to see how much wallop I can pack in a short tale.

Smugliness

Janey didn’t take **** from anyone, but, as she always asserted, she didn’t like being an ******* either. It was a beautiful spring day at the end of May as she rounded the corner

3818

3818 was sinister. People who walked past it averted their eyes from it as if they were in a nightmare; wanting desperately to know what horrors lay in wait inside...

A Visit to the Coroner's

“I’m very sorry for your loss, Mr. Getz. Do you feel ready to identify the body? “Yes. As much as…well, you know.” “Yes, sir. I can’t imagine how this must be for you.”

The Tornado

The pioneer town trembled as the tornado advanced, howling like a ravenous, demented jinni. Tearful parents hunkered down in dank cellars with speechless children and prayed fervently.

The Rapscallion

Jerry was a clever troublemaker. He had put firecrackers in his grandmother’s boudoir and had blamed his older brother, having planted more in his sibling’s room.

Omar's coffee

Omar sat quietly sipping his coffee in his usual haunt in downtown Damascus. He had listened to the intermittent gunshots ringing through the neighborhood the previous night.

The Siren's Swan Song

Helene exploded with bubbly laughter and fresh tears as she took the stage for the last time. For nigh on thirty years, she had been the pièce de résistance of the Cabaret Bellissima.

The Changing of the Sheets

Mark always looked forward to the changing of the sheets. Most of the time, Richard put out the expensive sheets that he dared not sully.

Sophia the Scamp

Having inflated the small blow-up bouncy house in the living room for four year old Sophia and five year old Marcus, the adults went out the sliding glass door...

The Solution to the Backache

She’d thrown her back out. Excruciated, she called both her doctor and her husband’s. Neither responded. She went home to rummage through her son’s room to find a joint to assuage her misery.

Gipson's Holy War

After Representative Gipson from Mississippi had declared a holy war on gay people by calling on Americans to kill them, George and Victor had decided it was time to leave.

Falling with George

My name is George. I have an observation for you. So you might be wondering why it’s so funny when people fall down. As long as it’s not you, it’s almost always funny when you see others

Palm Springs Eternal

Palm Springs is just like you would imagine Marilyn Monroe. It is no coincidence, then, that a giant forty-foot statue of the jinxed minx towers there in downtown.

Moving is Hell

Lynn hated moving. She hated the fake chumminess exuded by the soulless property owners. She hated the beating-the-crowd-to-the-first-showing anxiety.

The Queue Jumper

Kayla was gaping at the lifeguard. Sami saw her chance and cut ahead of the distracted tween in queue for the waterslide.

Morning nosh

Ira and his son Jacob sat down for a morning nosh. “Dad?” “Yes, Jacob?” “I just noticed how precise you are with putting schmear on your bagels.” “What do you mean?”

Enya Can Bring About World Peace?

I could listen to the eldritch voice of Enya all day: the Celtic harmonies of a harp, the soothing and caramel tones of the Irish siren, the elegiac strains of an electronic hurdy-gurdy.

The Money Shot

Blake had to have revenge on Krystle. In all his years in the porn industry, he had never been humiliated during a scene. She had been giving him a blowjob and right before the money shot...

The Great Divide

There are those who hang up t-shirts on hangars, hooks all facing right when you look at them, after they iron them (or pull them out of the dryer five minutes before

The Hellhound

Holden and Alicia were browsing the papers for a new apartment whilst enjoying their non-fat lattes. A thin man walked by with a dog and a puppy who lurched...

The Wild Child

Harriet sighed in exasperation and with fatigue that burned her eyes. She had carried Hogel for nine painful months while they traveled to Utah over mountains,...