Day: June 15, 2024

MLMM — Story Starter — Oops

Fandango6 Comments

Gary pushed “send” on the email and hoped for the best.

Satisfied, he put down his smartphone, went to the refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of Corona Light, and sat down on his sofa, feeling like he accomplished what he set out to do. After all, it was Saturday, and his response would be the first one his boss would get, giving him a leg up on his coworkers. He was confident that they would all wait until the end of the day on Monday to get their responses in, since that was the deadline their boss had set in his email.

Gary opened up his second bottle of beer when his phone rang. The name on the phone’s screen was that of David Winthrop, his coworker and friend. Gary accepted the call and said, “Hey Dave, how’s it hanging?”

“Things are good Gary, thanks for asking,” David said. “Hey buddy, I just wanted to thank you for giving us a sneak peak at your response to the boss’s request for efficiency ideas he asked us to come up with. You had a few really good ones in there and I hope you don’t mind my borrowing some of them.”

“Wait,” Gary said, “What are you talking about? How did you get that document, Dave? I sent it to our boss, not to you or anyone else.”

“Gary, Gary, Gary,” David said. “Sorry, old pal, but you tapped “Send All” instead of “Send,” so the whole distribution list got your email with your attached document. Be more careful next time, buddy.”

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Story Starter Saturday Mix. Photo credit: getfxhere.com

Weekend Writing Prompt — A Quaint Cottage

Fandango10 Comments

“I want a quaint cottage in a quaint seaside village,” Margaret told the real estate agent, who was vigorously jotting down notes.

“Quaint it is,” said the agent. “Now what do you need in the way of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size, and other amenities.”

“Five bedrooms, four bedrooms, around 3,500 square feet on an acre lot, a swimming pool, and a three-car garage.”

“Margaret,” the agent said, “what you’ve described is anything but quaint.”

“Is what I described not charming?” Margaret asked. “And my budget is a quaint five million.”

Smiling, the agent said, “I’ll find you quaint.”

(Exactly 100 words)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the challenge is “quaint” in exactly 100 words. AI image: ideogram.ai.

SoCS — A Zero-Sum Game

Fandango8 Comments

Linda’s challenge for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt is “sum.” Use the letters “sum” in a word in your post or use the word “sum.”

“I am so sick of the Republicans playing their zero-sum games,” Phil said.

“What do you mean by zero-sum games?” David asked.

“A zero-sum game is a situation in which one person or group can win something only by causing another person or group to lose it,” Phil said. “Let’s say we found a lottery ticket on the ground and we both wanted it. But I suggest we flip a coin for it, or maybe play rock, paper, scissors for it, that’s a zero-sum game.”

“But why do you call that a zero-sum game?” David asked.

“Because if I win the flip, I get the lottery ticket and you get nothing,” Phil explained. In other words, one person’s gain is exactly equal to another person’s loss, resulting in a net benefit of zero.”

“Why don’t we just cash in the lottery ticket and split the payout 50/50?” David asked. “Then, if the lottery ticket is a winner, we both benefit.”

“Exactly, David,” Phil said. “If we work together, we can both benefit. But the Republicans don’t get that. For them, they’re not interested in compromise or negotiations. It’s their way or the highway and that’s why nothing gets done in Congress anymore. The Republicans are obstructionists who say no to anything the Democrats want to accomplish because they are playing a zero-sum game against the Democrats.”

“But if the Republicans are blocking all of these legislative matters because they want the Democrats to lose,” David said, “they’re not just hurting Democrats, they may be hurting some of their own constituents as well.”

“Bingo!” Phil shouted.

FOWC with Fandango — Cope

Fandango18 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “cope.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, ÿplease manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.