It’s nearly the end of the week. How’s yours been so far? Good, I hope. Here’s a new story challenge.
Can you tell a story in 28 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- BEDRAGGLED
- MASK
- VODKA
Last week’s challenge was to write a story in 41 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- MIRAGE
- DUNK
- QUIBBLE
- VAULT
- WORM
Here are your super stories:
In my mirage, I am in a vault, quibbling with a worm over how to get out. The worm continues to slither around the active neurons of my altered mind, dunking into my thought process and re-arranging the reasoning of peaceful insanity.
– “The Vault of the Pharaohs is near that oasis.”
– “Are you heat-addled? That’s a mirage!”
– “Don’t quibble, the tomb is near.”
– A roar announced the approaching sand worm.
“How idiotic!”
“Ha! This story is a slam dunk!”
Brian was a worm.
“Why quibble with reality?” he would say.
“Why dunk yourself in a mirage when you can eat under a vault of garbage?”
One day while philosophizing he found himself on the sharp end of a hook.
No one cared.
The worm and caterpillar continued to quibble. They both blamed the heat; all the worm saw was a mirage. He turned and with a vault landed in the water and drank, except the water was beer. It was a drunk dunk.
Tony:
En Anglais,
Under the infinite vault,
he saw a mirage dancing.
Dip his lips in oblivion,
Or quibble again?
A creeping worm drew shadows,
while the desert wind,
erased the last vestiges of the past.
–
En Français maintenant,
Sous la voûte infinie,
il voyait un mirage danser.
Tremper ses lèvres dans l’oubli,
ou ergoter encore ?
Un ver rampant dessinait des ombres,
tandis que le vent du désert,
effaçait les derniers vestiges du passé.
He was running after a cab when he ran into a woman dunking her donut. She vaulted over a nearby table, he was down and crawling like a worm. They began to quibble, but the cab had disappeared like a mirage.
The worm turned. It had dunked a chocolate biscuit into its coffee, as it sat in the dark vault. A mirage had suddenly appeared. It saw its mother! Don’t quibble she said quietly, your fate is to be pecked to death!
“Captain. The worm-hole is a mirage.”
“It can’t be!” shouted the Captain.
“It will be like pole-vaulting over a cliff.”
“It won’t!” quibbled the captain.
“A Vulcan wrong?” said Spick.
“Just slam-dunk the U.S.S. Enterprise in, and let’s see.”
Murray Clarke:
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and Willy the worm decided to go for a dunk in the swimming pool. He began to quibble over the entry price, decided it was a mirage after all, and hid himself in a vault.
Andy spotted a shimmering mirage, a vault of hope, in the desert’s vastness. Ignoring his quibbling friends, he ran toward the illusory oasis and dunked his head, only to get a mouthful of sand. A worm wriggled nearby, mocking his folly.
Myra dunked her stale donut in lukewarm coffee. Studying in the mirage in her backyard she quibbled with her mind’s vault as to whether it existed. Surely a worm can’t grow that darn big, she hoped, as it crept toward her.
A mirage it was not! There was fresh water to drink and take a dunk in to wash away the grit. Unfortunately, no food was found in the underground vault. Only a worm to quibble over. This was definitely eating light.
Trying to worm my way into the bank vault with a ten horse drill, I mistook a mosquito dunk for a whole wheat donut. As the dunk induced mirage of the open door appeared, so did police Officer Quibble with his shiny bracelets.
I don’t mean to quibble, but must you dunk that doughnut in your tea?
My new pills are giving me the worst mirage ever: a worm is wriggling out of the centre and doing a pole vault to escape the heat!
The worm left the warm dirt vault that was his home, and peeked out. He never quibbled about spring because he loved to dunk in new soil added to his lair, but was suddenly grabbed for bait from the dreamed mirage.
“Don’t quibble with me,” I told my friend. I put the worm on the hook, vaulted the line toward the lake where it dunked and bobbed. Or so I thought.
My friend laughed saying, “Told you so, that’s just a mirage.”
I shut the vault to my heart because your love was a mirage.
No need to quibble, I accept that you are a worm.
Not worth a dunk in my love.
Locking the vault brings solace, strength, and none of you.
Nicola Daly:
‘Water!’ Gasped the worm, wriggling towards the oasis. ‘I’m all shrivelled like a prune… must… dunk… my head in it.’
‘I’m not usually one to quibble,’ hissed the Sphinx. ‘But escaping the vault was a mistake. That oasis is a mirage…’
Miranda stared at the mirage through her sweaty, dirt streaked eyes and her worm brain started to turn.
”Yancy!”
Yancy drug himself closer.
“ I ain’t gonna quibble with ya, but I’m headed over there to dunk my head.”
The vault could wait.
We quibble and dunk on each other like fools.
As long as we win, we scoff at the rules
True understanding is but a mirage
Locked in a vault wisdom but a facade
Like worms eating dirt, we are merely tools.
Squirreljan:
After escaping the vault, I stumbled across the desert towards a lake. I was starving and thirsty, so I dunked a stray worm into the water. Dry! I couldn’t quibble. The water and worm had been a mirage. So, what now?
“Look, I know what I saw; it wasn’t a mirage! I’m not going to quibble about it with you. The worm dribbled the ball, did a high vault in midair for an impressive dunk and won the game. Nothing but net!”
***
Esther Chilton 
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