Week 631 of #ThursThreads was a success, and y’all never disappoint. Thank you to everyone who writes each week. You are why we’re still doing this, and why we’ve made it 12 YEARS!
If you’ve just found us, welcome to the crew! May you come back again and write more great flash. A thousand thanks to Nicola Cameron for judging this week. Follow Siobhan Muir on Bluesky or check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Facebook or the #ThursThreads Group on MeWe to keep up with news, etc.
Entries:
- Bill Engleson
- Andy Walker
- Siobhan Muir
- Miranda Gammella
- Silver James
- David A. Ludwig
- Wollfgang
- Mark A. Morris
Honorable Mentions
Miranda Gammella | Website
Nicola says: Tightly written, painted a clear picture of a possible homicide. But you got the prompt wrong—it was “So that was how he ended his life,” not “So that’s how he ended his life.” I don’t have a problem with splitting the prompt across two sentences but you didn’t have to add the contraction, especially as it would have been stronger with “that was” spelled out.
Silver James | Website
Nicola says: Nicely done fantasy meet cute, but I’m not sure who’s who in the beginning. It isn’t until paragraph 6 that I realized the questioner and the stranger are two different people. Also, “the man had to good graces…” should be “the man had the good graces…”
winner announcement
Week 631 Winner
Nicola says: Witty, entertaining, and reminiscent of Roy Blount Jr. and Garrison Keillor’s political satire. The run-on sentence in paragraph four could be tweaked a bit as it’s a little too long.
The Whimperville Gazette Report of the Passing of Wickersham Bottoms
Sylvester Langthorpe, Editor/Publisher
So, that was how he ended his life. Not with a bang, thank goodness, but with a political gesture.
Yours truly, representing both the Gazette and the town of Whimperville, journeyed three weeks ago to attend Wick Bottom’s final Open Stage presentation at Leek Lindstrom’s Ballyhoo Barn Emporium. There in the midst of Ukrainian folk tunes, amateur political impressions, accordion solos, and everyone’s favorite child magician, Margie the Magnificent, Wick Bottoms, our long-time local jokester and a Whimperville Gazette columnist for over fifty years starting in 1966 with his weekly opinion piece, Wicked Ways, Thoughts on the Times.
You youngsters out there in newspaperland may not remember that but Wick worked away with his thought pieces until 1975 when President Nixon packed it in and Wick’s writings, particularly his delightful earlier renderings of the Watergate fiasco, made him a household name across the land and eventually led that year to the birth of his nationally syndicated column, Bottom’s Up.
Wick’s guest appearance at the Open Stage was both fun, sad, and remarkably short. He stood there, wobbly from the years, voice crackling from time, and said the following: “Friends, neighbours, strangers, even, I’ll make it brief. I’ve had an amazing life. Unlike Jimmy Carter though, I will not get to cast a vote this year. I’ll be departing tomorrow. However, know well who I would vote for. She will be a great one. And good night.”
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Congratulations THIRTY-THREE TIME WINNER Bill, and Honorable Mentions Miranda and Silver! Don’t forget to claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it!
Pass on the great news on Facebook, MeWe, Bluesky, Mastodon, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the original tales HERE. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! 🙂
