Welcome back to the home of #ThursThreads for Week 713. Year Lucky 13! The last year of the cycle, the Moon Year. To those who keep coming back, I’m delighted to see you again!
Today is Thursday and that means it’s time to start flashing on #ThursThreads, the challenge that ties tales together. Want to keep up each week? Check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Discord and the group on Facebook.
Need the rules? Read on.
Here’s how it works:
- The prompt is a line from the previous week’s winning tale.
- The prompt can appear ANYWHERE in your story and is included in your word count.
- The prompt must be used as is. It can be split, but no intervening words can be inserted or tenses changed.
Rules to the Game:
- This is a Flash Fiction challenge, which means your story must be a minimum of 100 words, maximum of 250.
- The story must be new writing, not a snippet from something published elsewhere with the prompt added.
- Incorporate the prompt anywhere into your story (included in your word count).
- Post your story in the comments section of this post
- Include your word count in the post (or be excluded from judging)
- Include your social media handle or email in the post (so we easily notify you)
- The challenge is open 7 AM to 8 PM Mountain Time US.
- The winner will be announced on Friday, depending on how early the judge gets up.
How it benefits you:
- You get a nifty cool badge to display on your blog or site (because we’re all about promotion – you know you are!)
- You get instant recognition of your writing prowess on this blog!
- Your writing colleagues shall announce and proclaim your greatness on Bluesky, MeWe, Discord, and Mastodon, etc.
Our Judge for Week 713:
Cat afficionado, Editor, and Mid Week Flash host, Miranda Kate.
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And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“It’s been a while.”
All stories written herein are the property (both intellectual and physical) of the authors. Comments do not represent the views of the host and the host reserves the right to remove any content. Now, away with you, Flash Fiction Fanatics, and show us your #ThursThreads in the Moon Year. Good luck!
A Courtly Demise
It’s been a while since I’ve taken a sports case. Jocks are depressing people. They spend every waking hour worshipping their bodies. However, business was slow and Missy Berk, the trim, middle-aged maven with ruby lips and a Garbo sound was offering hefty coin to have a look at her issue. I was in a generous mood, I admit, and slightly smitten.
Missy laid out the issue. Three weeks earlier, Mac Henshap, President of the Hazelnut Tennis Club, had suddenly keeled over at Match Point 40/love. A heart attack, it was supposed.
Missy thought otherwise. “Our club has doubled its membership in the past year, with…infiltrators.”
“Infiltrators?”
“Pickleball ruffians. A tiresome breed of wannabees. I’m afraid it’s a hostile takeover. Mac, dear Mac, stood in their way. In fact, he’d called a special meeting of the membership to tighten up our by-laws.”
“And the heart attack? Did the police get involved?”
She looked a tad downcast, said, “Mac wasn’t a spring chicken. Eighty -six. Feisty old rooster though. But no…”
I didn’t know anything about tennis other than that some players, men and women, grunt quite a lot. Pickleball was even further outside my experience. “So, this Pickleball subterfuge…you think its an organized effort to take over your club?”
She nodded.
I could feel my bank account being infiltrated by a giant money tree.
“Could take a while,” I said. “Cost quite a bit.”
“Pickleball ‘s a disease,” Missy said.
“Consider me a disease vaccine,” I smiled.
250 Words
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