Tag Archives: Trifextra

My Brother On The Mound

Posted on by February 25, 2020

“Hot pretzel and a package of candy,” says the woman in pink. She has a glazed look, like she’s been standing in line for a thousand years.

“Six fifty.”

She gives me a credit card, and I go for the pretzel. We’re shorthanded, so I’m my own runner.

“Get me one,” Brady calls from his register.

“The syrup’s out in the diet cola,” Kelly shouts.

Their voices blend together with the clanging, whirring, and popping that is a ballpark concession stand. The PTA gets funds, Minor League baseball gets good neighbor points, and I get a headache. I can’t hear the score over the cacophony.… Read the rest

A moment’s rest

Posted on by February 25, 2020

 

“No time,” Charlie gasps. “I’m sorry.” and then the clawed arms shatter the window and plunge through his abdomen. Gore spraying from his wounds, he squeals, “Run baby!” and throws me his keys.

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Trifextra this week chose a challenge posed by community member MOV from Word Cut. She asks us to: “Write a horror story in 33 words, without the words blood, scream, died, death, knife, gun, or kill. Good luck.”

… Read the rest

Trifecta

Posted on by March 27, 2012

Twice a week these days, I go through Kübler-Ross’s five stages, and it’s all because of Trifecta. I sit beside the computer like a junkie waiting for the new prompt on Monday and Friday, and denial hits as soon as I read it. I can’t write that. What do they even want?

Anger quickly follows. What the hell do they want? How am I supposed to finish this? There isn’t enough time. Why do I have so few words? Why this three obsession?

Then I start bargaining. OK, if I push all my other stuff back a day or two, that will clear Monday and Tuesday for drafts.… Read the rest

Wizard’s dilemma

Posted on by February 25, 2020

 

Over at this week’s Trifextra writing challenge, we are to complete in our own 33 words (the second part of the story below for me) the story the editors have begun with their 33 words (the first part of the story below for me)

 

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“There’s nothing cute about it,” he said. The register of his voice indicated decision more so than discussion.

She disagreed heartily and privately, staring past his head and out the window behind him.

She exclaimed,  “They’re tiny! The child wouldn’t come without her familiar; the cat wouldn’t leave its kits; and I had only the demon box to hold them.”… Read the rest

Lost

Posted on by November 17, 2019

You already akimbo, legs apart and arms askew, and I naked before the sun’s wide open eye. How hungry seems the sky, and empty, inviting me to embrace the deep earth with you .

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After a day of spiders Thursday, including a quarter sized one in the house, prevented me from finishing my weekly Trifecta entry for the first time since I started participating in the challenge, I was really bummed. So. I’m making sure to get this Trifextra entry done in spite of the moaning over homework from a school absence (kid, you miss three days, you got work to catch up) going on in the kitchen and the clinging preschooler who wants for playing with in the office.  … Read the rest

Nestlings

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Susannah’s fingers sought purchase in the cliff face.

Chris asked, “Are the eggs safe?”

Trying not to disturb the silence, she nodded. Then, squinting into the grotto, Susannah gasped. “Oh look! They’re hatching!”

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This is my submission for this weekend’s Trifextra prompt, which asks us to submit a 33 word story with a justifiable exclamation point.

… Read the rest

Hair of the dog

Posted on by February 25, 2020

The phone rang at 4AM. “Jesus, Richard!” groaned Patricia, “How many have you had?” Richard’s silence suggested quite a lot.

“Please,” he said.

Grinding her teeth, she growled, “This time only and then no more. This time only.”

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This weekend, Trifextra is asking us to finish the story launched by the words “The phone rang at 4am”. Not counting those four, we have 33 words to tell the whole tale.

… Read the rest

The Story of The Three Little Pigs

Posted on by February 25, 2020

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Those crafty Trifecta editors are at it again, asking us for a retold story in 33 words. Here’s mine. NB: “w/” is one word unconnected with “expertise”. There’s a space.

… Read the rest

Street Scene

Posted on by February 25, 2020

“Well, that’s a first.” Caren added the last of the bound carpet strips to the furniture piled at the curb.

Todd grunted an answer, but she couldn’t hear him, because he was hunkered behind the sofa, while she stood in front of the recliners. They still needed to flip those up onto the couch in order to fit the whole mountain on the narrow grass stripe between sidewalk and street. These tenants left so much that hauling it and the carpet out took them well into the night.

“We ought to get a management company,” Caren went on. “My back isn’t up for this kind of lifting.”… Read the rest

So dry

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Salty waves beneath. Parched sky above. My love, I will die on this ocean.

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This weekend, those crazy crazy editors at Trifecta want us to write a story in three sentences. Those are mine. Up there.

… Read the rest