Category: BOTS

Based on a true story, or real-world

A Wild Hare: Post-pandemica

On By Liz HIn BOTS, Fantasy, Flash (<101 words), Stories12 Comments

This week’s prompt from Carrot Ranch was to write a microfiction off the prompt “A rabbit on the roof.” Challenge accepted. Hope you all enjoy and empathize!

Wild Hare (Merrie Melodies. 07/27/1940)
Creds to Wild Hare (Merrie Melodies. 07/27/1940)

A Wild Hare: Post-pandemica

I looked in the mirror, unsure. Six months quarantine, but now it’s safe to go out. I stepped out back, hesitating to shake free the sheet full of recently cut hair. Could this be used?

Out front, the neighbors laughed and called to one another. I jogged around to join them.

They’d all done their own haircuts, looking like offspring of Seuss and Scissorhands: this one with curls cascading frontwards, buzz cut out back; that one tinted with precious bleach, a dandelion gone to seed; another with untamed lion’s mane.

And me, joyful, with a rabbit on my roof!

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2020)

Carrot Ranch Prompt (03/19/2020: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a rabbit on the roof. Or many rabbits. Why are they there? Explain the unexpected, go into any genre. Go where the prompt leads!

17:00

On By Liz HIn BOTS, Carrot Ranch, Flicker(>100 words)7 Comments

Picture of a park bench

(Click here to view : What the park bench sees everyday)

She supposed she really ought to be scattering bird seed, perhaps corn for the larger ones. So her grandson had often told her, in kind but stern words. “The mold on the bread could kill them!”

But her widow’s pension was meant for sustenance, not luxury, so she shared what she had. The birds didn’t seem to mind, judging by how they gathered about her feet on this park bench, every day at 5 pm. And they never left a crumb behind, so where was the harm? Continue reading “17:00” →

Attention/Protest

On By Liz HIn BOTS, Carrot Ranch, Flash (<101 words)6 Comments
Homeless person in a thing blanket, in a windy blizzard
Source: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Snowmageddon! Stay home if you don’t have to go out! Feels like double-digit negative temps! Treacherous conditions! Freezing drizzle! Mega-storm sweeping the continent, laying waste to everything in its path!

She switched off the tv, powered down her computer, snapped off background radio reports. She believed the footage: Continue reading “Attention/Protest” →

All Are Welcome Here

On By Liz HIn BOTS, Carrot Ranch, Flash (<101 words)11 Comments
Wife carrying Competition, jumping a hurdle
Image based on IBT(2014), with my apologies

A little flash fiction around a prompt of “Wife Carrying.” Because maybe that’s the true test of a strong partnership:

It’d never occurred to them that their participation might not be welcome. Celebrating the fortitude and stamina required to go the distance in marriage–what better way to do this than with a test of physical endurance?  Continue reading “All Are Welcome Here” →

Rodeo Event #1: Why I Had to Cancel Our Date

On By Liz HIn BOTS, Carrot Ranch, Flash (<101 words), Stories12 Comments
Red rotary phone, ringing hard
Image from Roberts Food Service UK

Countdown from the Carrot Ranch Contest: Modern Tall Tale in 99 words (for more detail, see the link below).

Yes, I’d promised to be there by 7:00, but my shower took longer than anticipated because the hot water heater was on the blink and I had to crawl underneath to light the pilot and then dropped the one match I’d brought and the explosion Continue reading “Rodeo Event #1: Why I Had to Cancel Our Date” →