At the Zoo

 

“C’mon, Sarah, let’s go.”

“Be right there. Just reading one more post.”

“Argh. Fine. But at least try to make it quick.”

“No problem. Two minutes.”

“Pfft. Right. I’ll give you five and you still won’t be done.”

“I will. Promise.”

“Not likely. Hey, let’s make this interesting. Care to wager a bet?”

“Sure. You can even time me on your stupid ‘smart’ phone app thing.”

“Already started.”

“Almost done.”

“Tick. Tock. Will you look at the clock. Tsk. Four minutes and she’s still on the laptop.”

“Uh…”

“Oh no. Five minutes! Ha! I win.”

“Uh… So did I.”

 

Dialogue-only, 99-word flash. That’s what that is up there. Also, it’s a post about my recent win at the Carrot Ranch Rodeo.

The challenge, as you can guess, was to write a 99-word flash with only dialogue. Yikes. And, for added torture fun, the judge, Geoff Le Pard, gave us a picture prompt: 🐢

I somehow managed to pull off a win (actually, two wins since the judging was blind and they had no idea who wrote which story). Yeah, I know. It’s kind of shocking. Also, kind of cool.

The 2nd place flash is slightly darker (and a bit sad) as I’m wont to write. 1st place is slightly humorous (and a bit fun) as I’m less wont to write. 🙂 Here they are for your dining pleasure:

AT THE ZOO

 

“Mr. Le Pard?”

“He’s not here.”

“Isn’t that him?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Okay. Well I need to deliver—”

“He’s not here at the moment.”

“But he’s right there. You just said.”

“He’s probably at the park…maybe the zoo.”

“Excuse me?”

“You must be new.”

“Well, yes. Today’s my first day. I’m Susan. I told him that earlier but he called me Shelley.”

“Ah, the zoo it is then. He’s off visiting his friend, Shelley, the tortoise. No telling when he’ll be back. Just leave the lunch tray, Susan. One of the nurses can bring his meds back later.”

 

LET ME SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU

 

“Mommy, that man’s kissing the tortoise.”

“He’s not kiss…oh, dear God. Zookeeper!”

“What seems to be the problem, Ma’am?”

“The turtle—”

“Ah, yes. Sad state of affairs, that is. And it’s a tortoise.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Not much I can do, you understand.”

“I do NOT understand.”

“Can’t just magically change the situation, now can I?”

“You must do something. The turtle—”

“Tortoise.”

“Whatever! Stop giggling, Jenny.”

“Don’t worry, Ma’am. We’ve hired a witch to reverse the spell. Should be here next week. He’ll have his wife back then. Enjoy your day.”