23 Stories, 50 Words or Less Dribbles

In the world of flash fiction, I understand stories of 50 words or less are called dribbles and stories of 100 words or less are called drabbles. (One day I’m going to research where these names came from.)

I’m a huge fan of flash fiction in all its forms, both as a writer and reader. Writing flash is an excellent exercise in creative brevity.

So here, let me share 23 of my 50-words-or-less stories with you.

1.

How did it start? They both were married. He was nine years older than she, and the only thing they had in common was a burning sexual desire for each other. Then one day, her husband came calling unannounced and turned their romance into a crime scene with no witnesses.

2.

The day after Morgan’s house caught fire and burned to the ground, it rained buckets. Life’s not always fair, Morgan said, while rummaging through the charred ruins looking for his umbrella.

3.

“My lovely Bella, of all the women in the world, you’re the one I want to spend my life with.” He popped a bottle of champagne. “To us,” he toasted. Then opened the box, laid her on the bed, and began pumping her up.

4.

After 18 months in a coma, Jackson woke up, blinked his eyes, and asked the doctor for a cigarette. The doctor pointed to the No Smoking sign over the door. Jackson groaned and went back to his comatose sleep, sending the respirator into overdrive.

5.

After a night of heavy drinking, I wake up naked in a strange room, hands and feet tied to the bedposts, with a strange woman gleaming over me, telling me I’m about to become an urban legend.

6.

This is an imaginary story that takes place in an imaginary location at an imaginary time. Forty-eight imaginary people do eighty-four imaginary things and it all started once upon a time with an imaginary prince and imaginary princess in an imaginary mind.

7.

Last night, the Devil came knocking. I invited him in for a cup of coffee. He said he was looking for a soul to make his quota. I looked at him, he looked at me. I said take my wife. She’s all I got but she’s yours. He left happy.

8.

What she did was wrong, a mistake she regretted, and she admitted it. She apologized a hundred times, but he still could not let go of the hurt. He knew that her mistake would haunt him for as long as he loved her. And that would be a long time.

9.

I shared a dance with a librarian last night, and she taught me to do the Book-a-Bookoo. “Didn’t know librarians could be so wild, did you?” she said. Nope, I didn’t, and we Book-a-Bookoo all night long.

10.

It’s Saturday night and I’m home alone. It’s late and none of my friends are on Facebook. I’m having no luck with the dating sites. So I google myself and spend some time with an old friend.

11.

She couldn’t understand that I loved her more than I had ever loved anything. She laughed at me and said I was crazy. Maybe so. Maybe that’s why I cried after pulling the trigger.

12.

Lying in a warm bed, roof over my head, watching the beautiful woman beside me sleep, I realize how lucky I am to hold this moment forever. Then I remember, I have to get up. It’s our anniversary and I told my wife I would be home early tonight.

13.

Since I didn’t have much left after the divorce, I had to go cheap on furniture. Scouring the local recycling center for anything usable, I found a discarded wedding album atop a trash pile. Looking through the pages, I admired how lovely she was.

Yes, I did love her then.

14.

You come home late and slip into bed. I pretend to sleep, so not to confront you. I prefer not to know who you have been with when I put my arms around you and go to sleep, hoping when I awake, you will still be beside me.

15.

We spent the night drinking wine, bathing in holy water, and smoking weed from the sacred garden. That was the hot, lusty August night — in 1973 — I spoke in tongues, lost my mind, and went home with a stripper who danced me the seven veils under the moon light.

16.

At the corner of Liberty and Hope, I ran into a homeless man resting on the sidewalk. I gave him a signed copy of my book and a couple of bucks for a cup of coffee and sandwich, then we shared some stories.

17.

She went to Woodstock for a music festival and never came back. Her friends say she got lost in a song that nobody could remember.

18.

A Mormon family cut short its mission to convert gypsies in Romania after the family’s six children went missing.

19.

On a bridge in Rome, a gang of tiny urchins appeared from nowhere, chattering, asking for money. Small and ragged, they grabbed at my pockets as I pushed and kicked them away one at a time. I didn’t bother to watch where they landed, but hoped they could swim.

20.

A man walked into a bakery wearing nothing but a baseball cap and ordered a loaf of bread. He paid with a five dollar bill and left in a red car, said the bakery worker. He was cordial and had a friendly smile. That was about all she could remember.

21.

By accident, through a process of genetic manipulation, a poor unknown leprechaun from Limerick was able to develop a seed that produces four-leaf clovers. The leprechaun sold his patent to the Irish Board of Luck and Good Fortunate for six pots of gold.

22.

I got an email from a buddy back home. He said my hometown has named a dead-end street after me. And get this: At the end of the street, they established a municipal trash dump. I guess Mayor Hopeck is still holding a grudge. His wife was a lovely lady.

23.

In a desperate fit of confusion, a frustrated sports writer writes:

PGA favorite Muhammad Ali, going for his first win at Wimbledon, hits a crucial three-pointer while sliding into second base with third down and five yards to go.

The aforementioned sports writer has been reassigned to the obituary page.

If you’ve read to the end, I would like to know if you would like these and would be interested in reading more like them. Thanks.