Winners, Honorable Mentions and Other Worthy Examples from the 101-Word Short Story Contest.

It has been said that the pandemic caused many of us to reflect on the purpose of life. If that can’t be sewn up tightly through scientific methodology, scholars need only turn to entries into this year’s 101-Word Short Story Contest for proof.

Mostly gone are the puns, dad jokes, riddles and twists of 2019, 2018 and beyond, replaced by many soul searching sequences. The writing – often modest in the past – now would make Zadie Smith or Cormac McCarthy slink into a distant corner.

Of all that met the judging criteria the judges selected these from some 280 entries. Enjoy. – Dave Faries

Esteemed panel of judges: Agata Pope˛da, Alexis Estrada, Dave Faries, Erik Cushman, Karen Loutzenheiser, Keely Richter and Linda Maceira

FIRST PLACE

Got Mossed

We went to Moss Landing for lunch at a place with picnic style tables and attached benches. I wanted my husband to sit on the same side as me so we could both have an ocean view.

When both of us XL old timers plopped down on the plastic slabs of this contraption, we had a brief glimpse of the Pacific and then flipped, ass over teakettle, under the table in a matter of seconds.

Adding insult to injury, the good Samaritans who came to help commented on how windy the weather was.

We’ve since renamed the place Hard Landing.

Elaine Burrell

SECOND PLACE

Spare a Transfer?

Shelia sauntered down Alvarado Street with decaf latte, yoga pants, and a buzz of text messages in her hand. The homeless man on the street entered her periphery, a blur of nuisance, almost imperceptible.

“Spare a transfer?” he belted.

Thrown off by the odd wording, Shelia stopped.

“Spare a transfer?” he repeated, holding up a cup with a QR code on the side.

She scrunched her face.

“It’s for my Venmo,” he explained. “Nobody carries cash anymore.”

“That’s… true,” she stumbled. “Smart.”

She captured his code, and smiled.

As she walked away, he yelled, “I also take bitcoin!”

Benjamin Forest

THIRD PLACE

Organ Music

Standing up from the table Sarah sniffed and wiped away a tear. “Mrs. Deder, I can’t begin to even understand the depth of your loss, but on behalf of the foundation we want to offer you this check and our condolences.”

Mrs. Deder nodded and embraced Sarah. Sarah then looked Mrs. Deder in the eye and said, “You may have lost a son, but his organs saved four, I mean three other sons and daughters.”

Walking down the driveway she texted Slade, “Make sure the next one only gets it to the head. We lost one kidney after this last beating.”

Patrick Cream

HONORABLE MENTION

Party Time

It was late, and his words were slurred. “Come on down – it’s a great party!”

“No, David, I just left you at the other party. I’m asleep.”

“Come on, it’s amazing! It’s over the top.”

“NO. I’m really asleep.”

“Seriously, it’s where you need to be. I’ll cover your taxi and introduce you to the best people.”

“I am not going, and that’s final. Goodnight.”

“But they’re pouring Dom Pérignon!” That definitely got my attention.

“Okay, I’ll get dressed. Where are you?”

“Hold on, I’m outside, let me look. Okay, I’m at Walk and Don’t Walk.”

And then he hung up.

Toby Rowland-Jones

Mob Rules

It’s hard to be a henchman in this economy. All Jack could do was watch the cigarette bob with the rhythm of the moving lips when this dangerous man conversed. Up and down it went with every spouted syllable. The dancing smoke from the orange ember almost looked like music scales rising off sheet music. Jack was hearing color. When the instructions ended with “… by the well,” Jack snapped out his hypnotization. He did not dare question The Crooked One to repeat himself. Jack quickly picked up the shovel and hoped for his own sake that he was told to dig.

Shawn Boyle

The Figure

With a wicked grin on his face, the horrifying figure glided towards him. The figure was small, but somehow this made it even more creepy. Closer and closer it came.

“Help!!!” the man cried loudly, but no one was there to listen. Suddenly, the man disappeared into the mist, seeming to slowly fade away into nothingness. A large gust of wind came, banging on the house’s windows, becoming louder and louder, and a strong smell of burning flesh came through the thick stone walls of the mansion, becoming worse and worse until he woke up to his mother cooking pancakes.

Tommy O’Hara

I’ve lost, what’s next?

Her knitting needles sliced in and out of the yarn. Her glasses were slipping down her nose.

Her eyes were puffy, the rest of her body still except for small rotations of her wrist. Her back was straight, head bent. She seemed unalterable. I didn’t want to take her out of this state.

“Aren’t you tired?”

She looked up, black circles adorning her bloodshot eyes. She blinked. “I forgot,” she said hoarsely. “It’s easy to get lost doing this, I guess.”

I held out my hand. “Let’s go.”

“I can’t. I have to lose myself again.”

Pooja Baxi

No Context

The majority of stories submitted to the judging panel do not make it into print. However, most have something worth sharing – in this case, lines that jumped from the page. We let them land on their own, scattered throughout the following pages.

• It helps that California, a traditional rival of Texas, has supplied Arizona with modern weaponry.
• Elon Musk would rather live on Mars.
• He stares, his eyes the color of the sky when it’s happy.
• Once there were three bears who, instead of walking, did Pilates at home.
• The scalpel is always the first step.
• I didn’t buy the mixer, just quickly drove home, and cried quietly in the dark.
• The feeble sip tea, the vigorous gulp coffee.
• I am an older white man on a bicycle and people react to that.

A Man Named Jedi

Doug’s heart raced. An Obi-Wan Kenobi figure in its blister pack, but in the toy donation barrel at work. He stood frozen in a paralysis between Star Wars fanaticism and his conscience just as Christine walked in to see him see what he saw.

“Really?” She shook her head and pulled a “WWJD” bracelet from her purse. “I got this at church. Here, it’s yours.”

Doug snapped out of his toy-induced trance. “Thank you,” he said sheepishly.

As Christine left, Doug could not help but wonder: How cool is it that a church hands out “What Would Jedi Do” bracelets.

Clark Coleman

Bad Advice

“Wow,” I thought when he said I shouldn’t go to Japan. I wanted to focus on the most important work, both for the project and for career recognition on the new team. I felt that meeting the people who designed and wrote the software we were supposed to develop was something I should do. Yet I trusted him when he said it wasn’t important enough work at my level.

How threatened was he by the prospect of me, a mere woman, obtaining the deep expertise to lead that project?

I see now that the career it wasn’t good for was his.

Peggy Beard

A Little Respect, Please

The sun, moon and stars were debating who had the greatest influence on Earth.

“Clearly, it is I,” boasted the sun. “I am the source of all energy and light.”

“Indeed,” countered the moon. “But I inspire passion and romance – and love, you know, makes the world go ’round.”

“True,” said the brightest star. “But I represent the hopes and dreams of all humanity. When stars align, magic happens.”

As the debate raged, the skies suddenly began to darken. Rain fell, heavily. Wind howled. Everyone ran for cover.

From a distance, Mother Nature managed an amused smile.

“Amateurs,” Mother Nature muttered.

Roy Verley

Intruder

A stealthy step awakens me, the whisper of an alien shoe in my hallway. How? My windows are barred. My deadbolts were set. There was no shattering crash, no tinkle of broken glass. A board creaks beneath weight far greater than mine.

Robbery? Murder? I’ve lived a long life. Some wish me harm. A knife? A gun?

My heart clenches, misses a beat, then flutters like a panicked moth.

Light flares, shining up from beneath the intruder’s chin, illuminating gaunt features, turning them into gothic caricatures. He smiles. “I see that you are expecting me.”

The silence of my heart screams.

Robert Walton

Beach Buns

Beach parking had been his routine for the better part of three years. A quick walk, still get to work before 7am. Just a small jump over a wall.

The wall, three feet high, offered some privacy to the folks who didn’t want intervention in their already intervention-full lives. So, facing a naked butt, and watching as another naked butt scrambled for some clothes was not unexpected.

“Sorry.”

“Got cash?”

“Left in the car.” He shrugged.

End of the day, car still at the beach, untouched, a penis drawn in the back window dirt. SEE YA TOMORROW MORNING written below.

Damn.

Elise Billingsley

The housekeeper

Working as a housekeeper for a family in Stockholm, I enrolled in “Swedish for Immigrants” classes. I quickly learned to count, identify common nouns and expressions. I began reading signs, labels, and following simple directions. I could eavesdrop on buses and trains, and believed I might make friends.

Feeling confident, I walked into a small store bearing the number six. “Sex Store,” it said.

Implausibly, I believed it might be like a dollar store, everything costing sex kronor.

The proprietor, lizard-like in appearance and behavior, disabused me of this notion. I left, feeling less confident about finding bargains or a friend.

Bonnie Yoshinobu

Pearls

One of my mother’s most prized possessions was her single strand graduated pearl necklace. She loved it and wore it quite often until it vanished.

She looked everywhere for them. Years later, as mom and I lay opposite on single beds reminiscing about the house, as I was helping her move, I felt something smooth under the mattress. I reached in and pulled out the pearls.

“I remember now what happened that day,” she said. “I had my pearls in my hand when I heard the grandchildren climbing the stairs and quickly shoved the pearls under the mattress for safe keeping.”

Agnes C. Johnson

It’s a mystery

“Okay, Mr. Inglesby, where did you hide the body?” asked detective Pallen for the fourth time.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, sir,” replied Inglesby. He was sweating now.

“You were the last person seen with her and there was no one else that had access to her last night,” said Pallen.

“No one cared about her like I did, you know. I watched out for her for 12 years.”

“Yes, we know,” Pallen gently mentioned. “But when the department store sold the business, it specifically included all of the mannequins, and that includes Gladys, as you call her.”

Atlas Deering

Fresh Eyes to the Rescue

When war was finally declared, the combatants each hired ruthless divorce lawyers, and both sides agreed – it was gonna get ugly.

In court, Vince broke down when he testified about her cheating. He presented indisputable evidence that Cara had watched “their” Netflix show – including the finale – without him. To get even, Vince changed the password on her cooking channel account – right before the big bake-off.

He complained about missing the playoffs. She didn’t get to see Bridgerton.

“Enough!” the judge said. “Ever think of buying a second TV?”

The couple smiled. “You’re fired!” they said in unison to their lawyers.

Scotty Cornfield

Mistaken

He broke into her house and then broke her jaw and then broke her will and then did as he pleased and then left her as if she were a leftover and with something left over and which her church mates all then advised her would be a mistake not to treat as if it were a gift from God that should thus be brought to term and yet when he grew older he looked just like the rapist and so she then felt as if she were being raped again and so she lived unhappily ever after.

William Wall

WWW.

Willie Walton winked at Wanda Wilbur while walking to the waterfall. Willie always wobbled when he witnessed Wendy, who was wickedly well-built. Wendy went white and waved, thinking of Willie as winsome and whimsical. Willie’s wealth was well known with women, another worthwhile weapon in wooing. Wendy whirled and waltzed wantonly toward the waterfall, wishing to wangle with Willie’s weakness for womanliness. Would Wendy win? Were Willie’s wishes wholesome? Would he wish to wed? Wendy wondered. Wendy’s wry wriggle caught Willie’s watch. Wrapping Wendy’s waist with his wrist, Willie whispered, “Welcome wondrous woman.” Wendy wilted, writing “Wendy Walton” in the wind.

Debbie Harris

No Context

• The others gasped as Rose, the bartender, glanced my way.
• “Hey, I need to rinse this out! Can I use your shower?”
• Holy Hand Sanitizer, Batman!
• Who created the pandemic? I did.
• Having walked away from another firing squad, A.B. faced an uncertain future.
• The jagged coastline is stunning. Who cares?
• This is the Fish-Donkey, a godly beast.
• His hands were as sweaty as a professional clown that has been riding a unicycle for five hours while carrying six Aquaman action figures still brand new in its box.

The Long Game

Hadn’t seen his kids in two weeks. Didn’t feel like that long, but as his wife reminded him repeatedly: two weeks. Not that he’d been at the spa the whole time. Six cities. Four airports? Motels. Rental cars. Zero investors.

And now, Thanksgiving. Travel for many. But for him, rest. Daughter’s crayon turkey hand in his lap. Rocks glass sweating by his side. Sons outside, laughing. God his feet hurt.

Brother jokes, “By the time you find a buyer, we’ll all be in flying cars anyway.” What does he know? Innovation is slow. Then sudden.

Christmas on a credit card again.

T.B. Hall

How to Sharpen a Pencil

I have a favorite pencil. The end of my writing class came two weeks before Christmas. I decided to gift one of these special pencils to each of my fellow writers. I was grateful for their patience and kindness. I handed out the pencils and returned to my seat. The students stared at their gifts. “Oh,“ I said, “yes, you have to sharpen them.” A dusty electric pencil sharpener sat on the corner of the teacher’s desk. I took a hand-held sharpener from my backpack. The students examined the devices and suddenly the writing class became an archeology lab.

Nicki Ehrlich

Big Little Lies

Oh, what does he want now? I’m not a big cousin. We talked earlier today about that movie we both liked, but I’m still 9, I still sleep in the mirror room.

-Hey, hurry up, they all went to bed.

-Yeah, yeah I’ll go right up too.

-I’m not sending you to bed, silly, help me out, let’s put the presents under the tree.

-What do you mean?

-The presents, so they can find them tomorrow.

I can’t cry, it would be too embarrassing, he can’t know I still believe. So, I guess the rumors are true, Santa is not real.

Luz Angelina Rodríguez

They might be Giants

Jim sipped his coffee while listening to Pinay, the group’s newly arrived post grad, survey the situation. “I was told Dr. Fry was killed, so the armed guards are understandable. I heard there was a threat of insurgent activity, but I did not think an archeological site this far south would be a target.”

“It’s dangerous work son,” Jim said nonchalantly, “but its not the insurgents we are worried about.”

Grabbing a crowbar, he opened a recently crated 20-foot-long human femur. Dead eyed and speaking softly he continued, “an open mind is valued as much as a closed mouth.”

Patrick Cream

Pink Panther

“Bonjour Madame. I am Chief Inspectair Clouseau. Where ave you idden zee diamonds zat you stole from zee museum?”

The elegant American woman glared at the inspector with fire in her eyes. “You will never find them, inspector,” she sneered haughtily.

“Ah, Madame you ave idden zem in zee ice tray in your freezair.”

“Inspector!” she gasped. “How did you find them?”

“You are vairee clevair, Madame. Owevair, I too am a professional. I am a true expairt at solving lay creem and finding lay criminals. Alas, Madame, but I ave no words left to explain to you my investigative methodology.”

Claudia Jennings

What’s the Catch?

Stephanie was walking late Thursday on Larch Mountain when a limb caught her by surprise, pulling at her scarf. Annoyed, she released it. At twilight, her neighbor Jaime walked the same path, and the same thing happened – a branch snagging his sweater.

On Saturday, they walked together. Shortly after dusk, they both felt something pull at their clothing near the same spot. Freeing themselves, Jaime peered in, then quickly led them away.

“Did you see the two eggs in that nest? They looked like eyes!”

“What was it?” Stephanie asked.

A voice behind her replied, “They call me Mr. Willows.”

David Blackburn

One Last Question Before We Leave

Just before we moved to Carmel, I texted our gardener asking if I should leave my panties in the garden at our old house or if I could take them with me. And if I did take them, would they rather be outside or in a window inside.

I told him I’d taken good care of them so they’d lasted longer than usual.

Jim always responded quickly. He suggested I find out where people in Carmel customarily keep their panties and offered to contact the Zoning Commission for guidelines.

“Not panties, PANSIES!!!” I groaned.

Autocorrect is not my friend.

Suzanne Cushman

Calling Shotgun

I was 10 when my father took me deer hunting with his friends.

Someone spotted a doe.

“Do it,” Dad said and handed me his shotgun.

I steadied myself against a tree, lowered the barrel, and beheld the beautiful, graceful animal – transfixed, seemingly waiting for me to kill her.

“No,” welled up from deep within. “I won’t do it.”

“Goddammit,” Dad hissed and grabbed the gun.

She bolted.

Dad was furious, but not because we failed to make the kill. That’s when he gave up on trying to make a man of me in the only way he knew how.

Sue Books

Paper Chase

Camille’s new purse, what a bargain! Forty-percent off; then $10 Kohl’s cash and 30-percent off. No store bag needed, she just slung it over her right shoulder, opposite her old purse on the left – purse bookends. Going home to make the transfer from old to new.

The store door had just closed behind her when she saw a shadow of quick movement from the corner of her right eye. Before she knew it, the thief had jerked the purse off her right shoulder and ran, leaving her stunned. She swore; then said, “I hope he likes paper.”

Debbie Harris

No Context

• “It’s sophisticated software that allows any virtual-reality headset to transport the user back to the physical world in real time.”
• But Elijah was like a nonplayable character who loved trolling people.
• Tea lifts Shena into the afternoon.
• “We need your pheromones to reproduce. I’ll try not to slurp too much… ”
• Her hand ran a knife through her hair.
• Wave-pools are fun, unless you drown.
• “That’s a lot of tampons there, young lady,” hissed the drug store check-out clerk.
• Tia said divorce was on the table if Tio ever burned the turkey again.
• “Barking in the distance is such a cliché.”

It’s Personal

Tall, good-looking, athletic, brilliant drug/disease free, hedge fund manager seeks independent, financially secure, passionate, Madonna-like female. Must love adventure and be a compassionate change-agent. Ideally you love piña coladas and Caribbean beaches; walks at sunset and lazy days at the pool.

Must be a good dancer, excellent cook, happy to do laundry and housekeeping. No weirdos or crazies.

My Mom says I am only temporarily trapped in the body and life of a fast-food shift assistant manager.

R. Lee Eastwood

Elevator Pitch

Stepping inside the elevator, I barely noticed the millennial already standing there.

“Excuse me, you look JUST LIKE my Grandmother!”

Who was she talking to? With my hair freshly cut, cute jeans and black shirt, it certainly couldn’t be me.

“Really, you do!!!”

Reality bites. For weeks since my milestone birthday, I’ve been lamenting old age, only to be slapped in the face by this exclamation from a young stranger.

It made me think of my own grandmother, who would have reminded me that if you don’t have anything nice to say…

“Gee, thanks.” I smiled, as the elevator doors opened.

Elaine Burrell

Wastelandscape

Our caravan moves carefully down the Baja transpeninsular highway. Old Man Cactus stands in solitude. Whitened bones scattered in the low brush. Fattened vultures circling. The highway beyond El Rosario is without curbs, without shoulders, drivers grip the wheel and focus. The Boojum poses the question. We move inland and upward along the Sierra. Well-kept crosses dot the highway’s edge, the place of death of fellow travelers. Automobile relics remain, relieved of duty. Beyond Cataviña, on the high plateau, clouds appear. We pass through an arrangement of gigantic boulders suggesting the human hand or the supernatural. It begins to rain.

Gary Karnes

Young Writers Block

Note: Several stories were submitted by grade school and middle school students at the behest of parents or as class projects. Don’t pity these, for many are very good. Here are our selections.

The Figure

See “The Figure” by Tommy O’Hara under Honorable Mention, p. 23.

Sadness

Sadness is my life, just like everyone else’s is when you live on Earth. Since 1.5 of the population is on planet Mars, the other 1.5 of the population is on the planet Moon. Now we are all alone.

“Sunny, over here,” my younger sister said.

We will be banished here for, this shouldn’t be a surprise, 1 million years, just us kids. Sadness is my life, as we weep, as universe hears us and wraps us in a tight, but unfelt clasp of sorrow, as we cling to Earth like a big old stuffy that we never knew.

Claire Traback

Missing E

It had been three weeks. Three weeks since I had last seen Everly, three weeks since I had last smiled. Three weeks, gosh, it seemed like forever, yet it still felt like a small detail in the grand scheme of things. The grand scheme, I thought. I had constantly been letting my mind wander to those three words. We were living in a place of lies, where secrets would take years to uncover, where murders would never be solved. Murders, I hadn’t thought that word since the day Everly went missing. Perhaps her absence would be the key to the door.

Collette Duarte

A Strange Thing

I sat inside as rain poured down from the clouds above.

I like the rain, but I was hoping to go for a walk today.

“I have to go rake up those leaves,” I mumbled

When there’s a pause in the rain, I should do that…I thought to myself. Even though it’s going to keep raining, and the leaves are going to just get all over the garden again…I like raking.

I was going out to start raking when I uncovered something.

Something so interesting, something so fine and fragile, you wouldn’t believe me.

And that enchanting thing was…

Elena DeCarlo

The Staircase

There once was a girl who lived in an old apartment with a very old staircase. The owner of this apartment was named Jane. Every night since she moved in, she would hear noise coming from under the house.

One day when Jane was home from college, she noticed the staircase was not where it was before. She called one of her friends who had visited before and told them what happened. Jane’s jaw dropped when her friend asked, “What staircase?”

Her neighbors went to check on her and only found her phone, still on the call.

The End.

Ella da Graca