100 Words Archives - Tom Flanders Stuff

100 Words – Turnpike to Mist

I was born and raised in the last village on The Bedford Turnpike. Despite its fancy name it was a ragged dirt road that went nowhere. A couple miles past the village the road disappeared into the highland mist. Nobody ever came back from there.

My neighbor Cassandra took her name to heart and sat in her old wooden chair at the end of town telling people to turn back. Nobody ever listened to her. She knew they wouldn’t. Still, she had to fulfill her duty. The warnings absolved her. Their fate was their own, and whatever lived up there.

#100words #turnpike #mist

Tags: mist,turnpike | Comments (0) | Author: Tom | Published: May 30, 2020

100 Words – To The Landfill

The woman with the clipboard met me at the landfill gate. My little blue pickup truck was out of place among the giant garbage trucks. My load was just one tarnished old statute of a civil war era family embarrassment.

She tried to talk me out of dumping it, suggesting it should go to a museum. I told her the tale that I found on the family tree website. Most people are prepared to hear anything about the horrors of war, but not when it involves puppies. Hundreds of puppies.

I paid the dump fee and she waved me in.

Tags: landfill,statue | Comments (0) | Author: Tom | Published: May 23, 2020

100 Words – White Angel

Standing in a cemetery, staring at the white angel headstone. The grave she watches over sitting at a jaunty angle, destroying the pattern of organized headstones. The base reads, “Lilith.” Nothing else. Just a beautiful white angel in a sea of gray.

Then I heard the voice, telling me to leave. To walk away slowly. Not to run. Running would mean death, putting me in my place under the ground. That’s what the voice said. It was neither man nor woman. It was inside and outside my head.

I did as I was told and walked slowly to my car.

#100words #whiteangel

Tags: 100 words,white angel | Comments (0) | Author: Tom | Published: May 16, 2020

100 Words – Walking Awake

Raul awoke mid stride. Instead of being asleep in the back seat of his car, he found himself walking down the sidewalk in a town he did not recognize. Walking, may not be the correct term. Staggering would be more correct. He walked without confidence. His body felt foreign.

A quick glance at his reflection in a shop window proved that he was still himself. He hadn’t forgotten how to walk, but it took all his concentration to do so. What did he drink last night? Two beers. Where was he? Was this a dream? Why was everyone speaking Polish?

#100words

Tags: awake,walking | Comments (0) | Author: Tom | Published: May 10, 2020

100 Words – Gator Baiting

The children stood in a half-circle at the edge of the pond, shouting. In the circle was a toad eating bugs and dodging an an old alligator. It would hop towards the gator then jump back, the gator slowly edging inland, waiting for his moment.

The children laughed every time the gator snapped at the toad. Then the toad landed right on the gator’s snout. The gator opened its mouth wide and the toad was flung into the water.

The children screamed and clapped. Then the gator grabbed Billy and dragged him into the water. The children stood in silence.

#100words

Tags: gator | Comments (0) | Author: Tom | Published: May 2, 2020

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