Stephen L. Thompson's Blog, page 56
April 27, 2012
30 Stories in 30 Days #27 – “How Did They Get Our Number?”
How Did They Get Our Number?
“There he is.”
Mario waved to his three friends sitting at an outside table of the Brew Haus. “Hey guys. Sorry I’m late, I had a hell of a time finding a parking spot.”
Jason replied, “Sure, sure. We were talking about the big tackle last night. What did you think?”
“Oh, it was a thing of beauty.”
Greg shook his head. “You’re just happy that it wasn’t-”
A piercing tone filled the air, causing everyone to clap their hands over their ears, although that didn’t help.
After...
April 26, 2012
30 Stories in 30 Days #26 – “Idiot 2.0”
Idiot 2.0
Swiveling around in his chair, Mike announced, “I need an idiot.”
His fiancée Sue lowered the book she was reading and replied, “You’ll want to choose your next words very carefully.”
Laughing, Mike stood and walked to the couch. He sat down next to her and explained, “I’m working on my, as yet, untitled story, and one of the characters is a bit of an idiot. But I’m having a hell of a time trying to write his dialogue. I either make him sound completely brain dead, or there’s a subtle...
April 25, 2012
30 Stories in 30 Days #25 – “Connecting with the People”
Connecting with the People
When the commercial break began, Carol left the living room and went into the bathroom. She took the towels out of the dryer and carried them back into the living room. As she began folding them, she half watched the commercials waiting for her show to return.
After the hyped up ad for kids’ cereal, there was a slick commercial for the latest smart phone followed by a cheesy one for a local car dealer. But the next commercial began with a man sitting in a chair before...
30 Stories in 30 Days #24 – “Rambling with Purpose”
Rambling with Purpose
Out of desperation – after staring at his computer for an hour – Malcolm picked up his dictionary and opened it at random. With his eyes closed he pointed at a word. He opened his eyes to see he had picked “merciful.”
“All right,” he said. Turning back to his computer he wrote “Merciful” on the top of the page and began writing whatever came to mind without bothering to correct any mistakes:
mercy Ming the Merciless some alien overlord someone asking for mercy from some ale...
April 23, 2012
30 Stories in 30 Days #23 – “An Improvement”
An Improvement
Sliding the door to the balcony closed, Eric let out a sigh. He loved Ron and Thomas dearly, but get them a few drinks in an election year and the never-ending political argument would flare up yet again.
He turned around and found he was not alone on the balcony. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize anyone else was out here.”
The woman smiled and replied, “It’s okay. I’m not surprised I’m the only one needing to escape.”
Eric chuckled. “You’re April’s coworker, right?”
“Yes. Cindy.”...
April 22, 2012
30 Stories in 30 Days #22 – “W. A.”
W. A.
“Hi, my name is Joe.”
“Hi Joe.”
“I’m a … I’m a writer with too many ideas.”
“That’s why we’re all here Joe. Why don’t you tell us about your problem.”
“Okay. Um, I started writing stories in high school, usually just silly things concerning my friends. Once, I wrote a … And Then There Were None sort of story involving the teachers. Of course, this was back in the day when kids could do that sort of thing without being arrested and charged with a hate crime or whatever. I’d have an idea and I...
April 21, 2012
30 Stories in 30 Days #21 – “The Sophias”
The Sophias
Tom kissed his wife Barbara and watched her get on the escalator to the bookstore’s second floor. He turned to the right and walked into the café area. Several of the tables held students highlighting textbooks or typing furiously at their laptops, and a few more had silent couples drinking coffee and looking through magazines. There was also a bigger table that could easily hold six people, but for now only held two women and a man quietly talking. A simple paper sign on the table...
April 20, 2012
20 Stories in 20 Days!
Twenty days into my 30 Stories in 30 Days Challenge and I’ve written twenty stories! Although it was pretty close with that last one. Not only am I still on track to succeed with my challenge, it also means I’ve beaten what I wrote during last year’s Challenge. As I’ve explained, I was in the process of moving then, so you have to cut me some slack with that. I admit, for this past week or so I’ve been stressed and tired and wanting to quit, but I think now that I’m charging towards the end,...
30 Stories in 30 Days #20 – “Backup”
Backup
“I don’t understand why you fight me on this.”
Jacob shrugged. “I just don’t like it.”
His mother shook her head. “It’s a simple procedure you do everyday like brushing your teeth and taking a shower.” After a pause, she asked, “You do brush your teeth everyday, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, come on then. If you didn’t fight me this would take less time than brushing your teeth.”
Unable to argue with her, Jacob followed his mother to the family’s backup unit with his head hanging low. He sat in...
30 Stories in 30 Days #19 – “Faulty Programming, II”
Faulty Programming, II
Deflating his air sacs, Veop made himself as small as possible before entering the Commander’s chamber. He found the chamber dim with the Commander relaxing in his pool of klexan juice. Veop slowly walked up to the edge of the pool with his datacube and waited for the Commander to notice him. Veop waited so long he began to wonder if the Commander had fallen asleep.
Suddenly, the Commander stood up in the pool on his back legs. Facing Veop he demanded, “What problem have...
