Week 597 of #ThursThreads was kinda quiet in the wake of Valentine’s Day, but those who wrote didn’t disappoint. Well done and thank you to everyone who writes each week. It can be challenging to find the time on a random Thursday to write, but I’m so grateful you come to my blog and share your words. A thousand thanks to Bill Engleson for judging this week. Check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Facebook or the #ThursThreads Group on MeWe to keep up with news, etc.
Entries:
- Silver James
- Siobhan Muir
- David A. Ludwig
- Sheilagh Lee
- M.T. Decker
Bill says: A day after Valentines Day, a very small coterie of writers met in the comfortable quarters of ThursThreads to stitch together a flash fiction quilt.
It was a fascinating day to be judging. Witness courtroom shenanigans in Atlanta and New York. Atlanta in particular as the courtroom there has been front and centre all day, televised in all its weaving complexity. I was mesmerized most of the time but managed to write my own 250-word contribution early in though I resisted adding it to the fray. Otherwise, we would have had a half dozen submissions albeit two would have been out of the running.
By contrast to the television courtroom experience, eclipsing even as I have posted elsewhere, the Clarence Thomas hearings from 1991, my modest judicial role proved to be, while challenging, more of a breeze.
As there were only five entries and one was Siobhan’s who has traditionally claimed a conflict of interest (my term and I assume it is something along those lines but these days the world is not always crystal clear) it was determined that I would only select a winner.
I enjoyed the tales offered. They each utilized the prompt as they ventured off in a variety of directions.
I’ve summarized my snap impressions and hopefully haven’t skimped on the messaging.
Honorable Impressions
Silver James | Website
Bill says: Silver presented in a complex world view way I am not fully familiar with, a state of transformation from man to wolf. These sorts of tales always leave me sheepish.
Siobhan Muir
Bill says: Siobhan submitted a somewhat spooky plumbing, specifically faucet supply, scenario.
David A. Ludwig | Website
Bill says: David, also operating in a universe of his own fantabulous creation, tendered a premonition, as it were, of elves taking over the world. I wish them luck.
Sheilagh Lee | Website
Bill says: Sheilagh offered a good old fashioned getting-rid-of-a-body dilemma enhanced by a co-conspirator marriage and what I took to be an allusion to the late, very likely departed Jimmy Hoffa.
winner announcement
Week 597 Winner
M.T. Decker
Bill says: I tend to appreciate noir, dark thrillers, often with detectives, usually private ones. And I confess, a personal preference for titles.
M.T. set the stage with First Impressions, rain falling, possibly night, it felt like night though it’s unclear, and she used the prompt well, describing one death scene a tad over halfway in and then moving into what becomes a second murder: her investigating officer.
Partner killing partner. Very cool. Very nasty. Very noirish.
First Impressions
The first thing that struck Detective Samantha Collings was the desolation of the scene. Murder, while not unheard of in San Souixie, was still something of a novelty. She’d expected a circus but found the quiet rain to be her only companion.
Her partner hadn’t arrived yet, so she could walk the scene and take it all in before he came and derailed her thoughts with his measurements and unending stream of consciousness.
She could close her eyes and feel the breeze against her skin. It gave her time to organize her thoughts and feel the emotions that echoed through the park.
Looking at the body without touching it, she knew what had happened.
‘Here,’ she thought as she studied the prone form. ‘This is where she fell.’
She sighed as she heard her partner’s radio blaring as he pulled into the parking lot above the pathway. He was listening to yet another neo-punk band, and to her relief the radio died as he shut his car off. She wanted to think while she still could.
She’d have to wait for the coroner’s report to be sure, but from what she’d seen, the victim had been pushed. She stepped aside, letting Jonesie record his first impressions. She usually ignored his personal recordings and waited until they were back at the station before they compared notes, but something in his words sent a chill up her spine.
‘The last thing to strike Detective Collings was a 4×6…”
~~~~~~~
Congratulations THIRTY-ONE TIME WINNER M.T., and all the folks who wrote; Silver, David, and Sheilagh!
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! 🙂
