Welcome to the twenty-first #SatSunTails microfiction competition.
Be warned – the prompts aren’t easy, but that’s so you can write to the best of your ability.
If you haven’t had a go before at this writing challenge, then please don’t hesitate to try this weekend.
Rules!
- Post stories in the comments
- Stories must be 150 words (margin of 5 words either side) AND based on the picture and written prompts.
- If you title your entry this is not counted in your word count.
- Only one entry allowed (so make it count)
- End each entry with word count and name/twitter handle (if you forget these REPLY TO YOUR OWN COMMENT with them before judging closes)
- Monday 11am GMT is the expected closing time for entries BUT the competition will be open until I put a ‘competition closed’ comment so you may be able to slip something in (because I’m extra kind like that). Got that?
If you do not comply with these rules your story will be disqualified from judging. Good spelling and grammar will also help to make a better impression on judges – the odd typo, however, will be overlooked so please don’t worry about that.
For tips, read through the critiques from last week’s entries.
Winners!
There will be ONE OVERALL WINNER and THREE RUNNERS UP. After that there will be THREE CRITIQUES of three stories that didn’t make it.
It would also be nice to those participating if you could promote your fellow competitors and those who win.
Today’s Prompt!
The following may be used as a sentence in your story OR provide a basis for it:-
“interminable dispute”
And here is your picture prompt:
& good luck!
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We got to the airport late as usual.
"If we'd left when I said we should," my husband said in that voice we all use when we're pissed but don't want to make a scene.
Why do I bother? Vacations are more work than they're worth. Even little Samantha looked tense, clutching her bear with all her strength.
The last day in the Bahamas began same as the first; tension and bustle. Miles of sand, scrumptious food and free drinks hadn't yet broken our malaise. One last beach visit provided the sole opportunity for lasting memories.
Bill paced as Samantha and I frolicked in the water.
"We have to go."
I readied my underwater camera, savoring the moment as Samantha dipped into the sea and contested her will against one of its inhabitants. Resolute, she stared the blue fish down. That one interminable dispute made the trip worth it.
@Leo_Godin – 149 words
The Grand Treaty
Swimming towards the location that had been designated for the ceremony, Prince Octavio Charles Bluefish still felt surprised to have been chosen as an Envoy. His was, admittedly, a very minor royal house of the Piscene Empire.
In all honesty, Octavio was merely glad to be doing his part to end the interminable dispute between his people and the Landwalkers. Having never been privy to negotiations on such a grand scale, he found the wording of the documents to be exceptionally confusing and vague. His father’s advisers had explained it could summarized, quite nicely, as “You don’t eat us and we won’t eat you.” That seemed a thoroughly reasonable and pragmatic policy to the young prince.
At length, he spotted the Landwalker representative and, doing his best to appear regal and proper, he swam closer for the crucial “Kiss and make up” ritual that would be repeated by a host of Envoys throughout the Empire.
155 Words @klingorengi
Tension had crawled up the back of her neck, and through her skull, and now sat firmly behind her eyes. The stabbing pain jack-hammering away in her brain. This interminable dispute over artistic interpretation had gone on long enough. She hadn't gone freelance to sit through these pointless meetings. She closed the laptop, packed away her gear, and walked away from the bickering crowd. She strode out into the cool air and heard a satisfying slam as the door shut behind her.
The final image she had shown them was perfect; innocence, joy and discovery, all in a single package. She was wasting her time. Well they could get someone else to do the water babies shoot. The tension began to ease with her decision. It was time she concentrated on her own water baby.
She headed straight the to travel agent to book a family holiday to the Great Barrier Reef.
151 words
@tollykit
Judy asked Melody if she would like to see the small fish. Melody folded her arms and pouted.
“I don’t wanna.” She shouted.
Melody was always shouting at her or telling her what to do. Judy was sure that if Melody could get out of her wheel chair, she would stamp her foot whilst protesting. She could be such a precocious child, who didn’t want to do anything she suggested.
Judy tried again. She asked Melody if she would like to swim with the fish.
“Oh okay. You have to come with me though.” the nine year old insisted.
Judy helped Melody into the pool. Melody immediately swam off. After a while she noticed Melody was giggling happily, her personality had completely changed. When Melody dived under the water the fish swam towards her without fear. One even kissed her in greeting. Judy smiled, despite their indeterminable dispute, this was worth it.
152 words
@Aitch01
Fantastic!
Jim was the bravest most indefatigable child in the third grade. He rode his bicycle faster than any of the other kids, and without a helmet. Unless his mother was watching. When he got up to speed the wind dissolved the world around him, and he flew on his bike without peer.
If the sixth graders hogged the playground equipment, Jim put them in their place. Unless the recess teacher was watching. The brief sharp pain of the bigger kids’ fists and feet could not deter him—the thrill of victory when they got tired and left was too great.
So when Jim’s buddies dared him to hold his breath in the pool for two minutes he agreed with impish glee. This time no one was watching. Sometime in the first minute Jim found himself staring down a strangely colorful moony fish. A new adversary!
The courageous eight year old would win this interminable dispute.
155 words
@DavidALudwig
"You're a terrible mother!"
"You're a terrible father!"
"Letting her go underwater like that…she's too little. She won't know when to come up. "
"Your boundaries are too rigid. Let her live a little! Honestly, you're always like this; wrapping her up in cotton wool."
"Fishy…fishy fishy? Can I be like you? Can I live down here where it s cool and quiet and no one argues? Do you know any mermaids?"
"'Course! Come with me…."
And the little girl went deep, deep under the sea where the fish led her along beneath shining blue lights to a magical marine palace where she sat on a coral throne while the mermaids swam round her and brushed her hair and told her stories of shipwrecks and rescues. Then they crowned her queen and honoured her forever.
On the beach, the apparently interminable dispute was terminated. Her parents never dared argue again.
152 words
Charlotte Buchanan
@Charlottescribe
Competition closed