Way Too Sour

 Photo by Food Photographer David Fedulov on Unsplash

Prompts = Conscript, Sour, Paralyze

‘I’m Julie and this is Cooking With Julie. Call me with your cooking quandaries. Hello, who’s on the line?’

‘Hi Julie. This is an ethical question.’

‘Well I do declare you have me worried, caller.’

‘Last week, my specialty sour apple turnovers turned out too sour. One bite and my poor husband was paralyzed trying to catch his breath. Now no one will try my sour cherry pie. Who should I conscript to take the first taste?’

‘You could give it a taste yourself.’

‘Oh my, goodness no. I couldn’t. But who should?’

‘I’m sure I don’t know. Next caller!’

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

Tinfoil Hat Conversations - Atlantis

 Photo by Mikhail Preobrazhenskiy on Unsplash

Prompts = Inaccessible, Recover, Audible

Today on Tinfoil Hat Conversations we present two sides of the Atlantis debate.

Audrey Longstocking believes it’s inaccessibly buried by the Antarctic ice sheet.

‘Climate change will soon melt the ice and reveal it to the world. Right before it’s flooded with ice-cold sea water and lost again.’

Thanks, Audrey. Miguel Hertzog says humpback whales know where Atlantis rests.

‘Doris is a white whale who appears in my dreams and translates all their audibles and dances, has located the original Atlantis deli and is now looking for lost hummus recipes.'

Wonderful.

‘I love chickpeas.’

Good to know. Now Audrey…

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

Spare A Plant When Finding Nirvana + Video Game Casino Memories (Throwback Thursday)

Prompts = Flower, Nirvana, Dug

Story New = Spare A Plant When Finding Nirvana

Photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash

When I think about spiritual ceremonies, there’s people (obviously) in light, cotton clothing holding cut flowers.

What do the flowers think about that? Maybe they wonder why there’s a need to carry decapitated plants when, with a bit of effort, the entire thing could’ve been dug up and then replanted after the brouhaha was over.

Nirvana is a spiritual state of freedom from attachment and suffering. And while cut flowers are free (from their roots), that’s not what was originally meant.

If you wish to advance along a spiritual path, don’t do it at the expense of an innocent plant.

Story Old = Video Game Casino Memories

 Photo by Louie Castro-Garcia on Unsplash

I remember the video game casinos of my youth. Flashy, noisy Nirvana, which was also a quarter-sucking machine.

I remember Dig Dug, Mario with his various power ups (including the Flaming Flower), PacMan, and more. Kids would flock there trying to beat their high scores, let alone the game’s high score.

Not that I was ever good at those games! Ugh no. Pinball was my game, if only because I had a fighting chance to have the game last for a decent amount of time.

I avoid those parlours now. Too loud, too noisy, and too many kids!

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

A Nest Under The Bed

 Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash

Prompts = Cryptic, Social, Barrier

G’day.

If today’s topic were a Jeopardy category, it’d be “Things Kept In A Shoebox Under The Floorboards Under Your Bed Covered With Innocuous Bric-A-Brac” and every answer in that category would be “none of your business”.

The keeping of items in this way is not some sort of “creepily cryptic social barrier” to relationship building, no matter what any potential romantic partner might say.

I want you, my audience, to know that those tiny, precious, yellow rubber bands are safe in their nest and treated in the kindest possible way.

This is Household Item Wrangler, signing off.

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

Is It... Poker? + To Sketch The Sunrise

Prompts = Sketch, Smile, Flush

Story 1 — Is It… Poker?

Photo by Marin Tulard on Unsplash

‘Let me sketch it out for you: I had Card Sharp on my right and Devilish Smile on my left. I’m sitting on a pair of ladies and…’

‘Queens? You had queens?’

‘No — I had sevens. Yes I had queens: hearts and diamonds. Which makes sense because I love diamonds. Anyway, the ten and four of hearts and the king of clubs flop. I play it coy, looking at a flush draw. I get the king of hearts on the turn and the ace on the river and I go all in and…’

‘Sorry — what game are you talking about?’

*****

Story 2 — To Sketch The Sunrise

 Photo by Ryan Braxton on Unsplash

To sketch the sunrise, the day’s first flush, deep purples and reds quickly turning to oranges and yellows. Working quickly is a must to capture an instant of the glorious dawn before the happy looking upside down smile of the Sun, its arc peeking over the horizon like a curious child, slowly padding forth but with growing confidence as it begins the long climb up the invisible ladder towards the zenith. But it’s when solar slumber turns to wakefulness that draws my sketchbook, coloured pencils, and I; as most people groggily reach for caffeine, I’m drawn to an old friend.

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

A Facility For Peculiar Cases

 Photo by Brydon McCluskey on Unsplash

Prompts = Facility, Peculiar, Itemize

The Winnipeg Psychiatric Hospital is a specialized facility for housing peculiar cases.

Here’s Mr. Stevens. His room is filled with accounting supplies. ‘I can’t believe this itemized list of expenses doesn’t tie to line 32 on Schedule 3. Please notify the client we’ll need to amend 2016.’

Perched on the ground is Mrs. Hotchkins. She’s nesting. We think she’s an owl.

Over there is Mrs. Mundy. Despite standing in the middle of a level lawn, she’s waiting for the right tidal swell to perform a swan dive.

They don’t house people who think they’re Napoleon here — that’s not peculiar enough.

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

Snoopy

 Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Prompts = Snoopy, Ring, Available

Are lockdowns preventing you from getting the lowdown? Has social distancing kept you from knowing what the neighbours are up to?

Never fear — Snoopy is here!

Listen in while friends dish juicy gossip: “Chloe wasn’t wearing her wedding ring this morning! I wonder why?”

Watch webcams as people enter and leave houses at odd hours! Wonder aloud with others if they’re drug dens!

As an added bonus, monitor feeds from surveillance cameras all over the world! You too can watch alleys in Ankara for hooligans and mischief makers!

Snoopy — we’re in the business of putting you into other people’s business.

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

Explosive Healing

Hello darlings, Psychic Goddess Cassidy here.

When the Tower card strikes and brings unexpected devastating change, catharsis is part of the recovery process.

At Cassidy’s Centre for Crisis Catharsis (also known as C4) we have a wide selection of programs, therapists, and prerecorded sounds to load the charge on your natural healing abilities and blast through any blocks standing in your way. They’re dynamite.

And of course, in this litigious environment, I have to finish with a lengthy disclaimer: any and all mishaps from using any product or service from C4 are part of your karma, so deal with it.

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

I'm A Rockette

 

Photo by Lo Sarno on Unsplash

Prompts = Teeny, Speckled, Rockette

Barbara’s sister called just after four o’clock; could she take her nieces trick-or-treating at five? By the way, it’d be great if she could go in costume; the kids would be thrilled.

Barbara agreed and began thinking about costumes. So… go as what? As she raced around the house to find anything that could work, she spotted a teeny top hat. With a bunch of sequins pinned in, it could look speckled in sparkles. In low light. And that would give the look of a Radio City Rockette.

A jaunty hat angle and occasional kick helped sell it.

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

Can A Guy Be Sassy? + Princess Bliss (Throwback Thursday)

Prompts = Miss, Sassy, Pants

Story New = Can A Guy Be Sassy?

Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash

‘Dan? Can a guy be “sassy”?’

‘Why’re you asking, Steve?’

‘It’s Molly. She said I’m “sassy”.

‘Your eight-year-old daughter, Little Miss Spitfire, calls you “sassy” and it bothers you enough to ask me about it?’

‘Well… when you put it like that, I guess I…’

‘My wife insists she wears the pants in the family, my two boys are trying too hard to fill my shoes, my coworkers are all stuffed shirts, and you’re bothered by “sassy”?’

‘Wow — an entire outfit in one comment. But with no underwear reference, it’s going commando.’

‘Hey — hold off on the sass.’

Story Old = Princess Bliss

 Photo by Mark Landman on Unsplash

Princess Bliss was the only child of the King and Queen of Quagmire, a kingdom that was in desperate need of land suitable for farming. Really, if you wanted to kill an invading army with hoards of mosquitoes and other biting insects, Quagmire was your kind of place. Otherwise, not so much.

The King and Queen poured all of their meagre resources into developing Bliss into exceptional marriage material. The problem was that she was sassy. And insisted on wearing pants. And wanted nothing to do with princes. In fact, she wanted to be a mister and not a miss.

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Curing Baldness

 Photo by Kevin Jackson on Unsplash

Prompts = Consideration, Moustache, Calorie

Why do men develop bald spots?

Who cares? What I want to know about is cures: soaps and shampoos and and wigs and hair plugs.

And skin grafts.

I’m going to have grafts from my legs, which are hairy, onto my head, which isn’t so much. But what hair I have on top doesn’t match that which is on my legs. Why are they different? Maybe they eat different calories or absorb UV rays or something. I don’t know.

Anyway, in consideration of the differences, I’m going to have my entire head done in hairy leg skin. It’ll be great!

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Queen + She Said What? (2 Fer Tuesday)

Prompts = Jersey, Queen, Merchant

Story 1 — Queen

Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash

Some youth sports programs are run like well-oiled machines with plenty of funding and organization behind them.

Jamie’s hockey league didn’t fall into that level of sponsorship.

To be fair, Jamie and his teammates were lucky to have a relatively wealthy patron behind them, being the biggest merchant in the area. She paid for quality equipment, extra pucks and sticks, even oversized tote bags for each player. She called herself Queen of Poughkeepsie.

It was just that everything, from their jerseys to the banners hung at games, even the oversized totes, were lavender with “Queen” emblazoned in neon pink.

*****

Story 2 — She Said What?

 Photo by Hassan Pasha on Unsplash

There was a recent experiment at Princeton University studying chess players and their pieces. The results were, according to classical physicists, remarkable.

Subtle vibrations emanated from the pieces. Using advanced analytics, it turned out that these were, in fact, a form of communication. Using even deeper analysis, it was revealed what they were saying.

They were trash talking.

The white queen’s rhetoric was by far the most aggressive, with examples such as ‘I am come as a merchant of death!’.

The New Jersey Society of Quantum Physicists issued a statement saying, in part, ‘We suspected this all along. It’s quantum.’

Links to other sites where I publish:

Read them on Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Or Read them on Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

Listen to them on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

Write your own on Discord = https://discord.com/invite/qW2jgWwc7Q

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess