Who Writes Short Shorts? I WRITE SHORT SHORTS

Write five stories, short enough to fit all of them one one page, double spaced, with titles.

Uncouth

The pavement was still warm, though the darkness was several hours old. He pressed his cheek against it, wondering if people were looking at him. He’d never been thrown out of a restaurant before. Slowly, he picked himself up, replaced his hat crookedly on his head, and weaved and stumbled his way into the city night.

Lumberjacks

“Help me,” he sobbed again, pushing his skinny ten year old body against the massive trunk. Within the branches, the whimpers became soft, weak, bidding farewell. I could only cry and stare at the fallen oak that had come so close to crushing me.

Therapy

He was staring into his tumbler, swirling the whiskey around in the bottom of his glass. He threw the rest down his throat and made a face. Still staring into the glass, he said a wet, slurred version of the only words he’d been able to say that evening.

“I can’t believe she did that to me.”

Fore!

I came upon an old man in the middle of a patch of trees. His entire back was hunched, his head curved down, squinting at the leaf-covered ground and leaning on a club. As I approached, I could see that the gawdy polka-dots on his periwinkle vest and matching hat were in fact golf balls. He was mumbling angrily to himself, “Cheater, I’ll prove it. That cheater. It’s here somewhere.”

This Morning

I stared at the thermometer outside my window, willing red line to rise even a little. It was frozen at 36, and I had to leave for class in forty minutes. I did not have a jacket.