Well, summer has definitely arrived with a hot flush! We’ve been sweltering here in the UK. I hope you’re staying cool wherever you are. Here is this week’s story challenge:
Can you tell a story in 30 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- NOTE
- DODO
- SKI
- LAMPSHADE
Last week’s challenge was to write a story in 55 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- WHEEL
- CRUEL
- SOAK
- LABYRINTH
- YELLOW
- CRAB
Here are your very brilliant stories:
There’s a little yellow crab,
just to the south of Khatmandu…
it seeks to soak its tootsies in the sea;
but whilst heading for the beach,
it grasped well beyond its reach
and into a mighty labyrinth it fell,
and as the cruel wheel of fortune turns,
met the Minotaur,
and Medusa there, as well.
The yellow crab walked, sideways, around the labyrinth in what seemed like circles. His shell began to soak with sweat. He looked down at the black shredded rubber and wondered if it was some cruel joke. He needed the wheel to get out, but he hadn’t known about the tyre and he only had claws.
Nicola Daly:
The crab grabbed the steering wheel from the screaming cabbie.
‘You yellow livered idiot,’ he yelled. ‘What kind of cruel joke is this telling me to get out? I don’t want to get lost in this labyrinth of London streets. It’s raining and I don’t want my costume to get soaked. ‘
‘It’s a c-c-costume?’
The winner takes it all or …
All sounds were drowned out by the thicket of the labyrinth. Soon he was soaked in sweat. Such a cruel heat underneath the scorching yellow sun. There were some signposts, but they were pinned to wheels. The first one to reach them, would just give it a spin. Then came the crabs: huge, hungry, combative.
–
A land that I heard of …
The little yellow crab called it “the wheel” when she danced around erratically as if trapped in an invisible labyrinth. Her mates giggled watching this strange performance on the seabed. “It is what humans do to move quickly!” the little crab said precociously. “Are they also soaked in mud?” cruelly grinning a teenage crab scoffed.
Although it seemed cruel, my duty was to wheel the underwater craft through the submerged labyrinth and soak the yellow crab with green dye. It seems someone ordered blue crab for lunch.
Kate in Cornwall:
I was stumbling around like an old soak on a bender and blamed the ride on the Big Wheel.
Someone suggested we share a Yellow Crab.
“Between seven? We’ll need fries with that!” I cried.
“Yellow CAB! Are you deaf?”
How cruel.
Turns out I had an infected membranous labyrinth. Vertigo and deafness. So there.
Ignoring the minotaur myths I entered the wheel of the cruel labyrinth.
Why? I guess I had to prove I was an idiot.
I thought it was rain. Then I realized it was yellow minotaur slime that soaked me. It looked like a crab. A big, ugly crab.
Gotcha! I prepared the feast.
Deep inside the Labyrinth my yellow twine ran out. Damn.
Just then I found a giant crying over his torn, soaked bull outfit. How cruel the world was to him! Right.
We made a deal. Giving my spare crab cakes to the big guy, we wheeled out the costume, pretending it was dead bull-man.
Win-win.
I took a yellow cab home, and we drove through a labyrinth of neighborhoods. Suddenly, the wheel fell off the car!
I walked home, another cruel joke. I was sore, and I was crabby, so I had a bubble bath to soak away my woes.
“Mommy feel better?” my two year old asked.
“Yes!”
Pete:
The priesthood of the red robed Lobster cult in charge of the Inquisition said, “It wasn’t cruel to break someone on the wheel.” With a labyrinth of pious accusations and rationalizations they would soak the ground with the blood of the yellow robed Crab cult. This ushered in the rocking age of Blue Oyster cult.
The yellow wheel spun wildly before snapping off of Eddie’s little red wagon, sending it crashing into the labyrinth of tidepools. Saltwater began to soak his jeans as an indifferent crab skittered by. As the tide rapidly came in and submerged his wagon, adding insult to injury, he muttered, “That’s just cruel,” dragging himself upright.
Beneath the yellow sky, a cruel labyrinth spun like a wheel of fate. She walked alone, sand soaking her boots, the hourglass ahead pulsing with time’s breath. A crab scuttled by, indifferent. Each turn twisted deeper. She wasn’t lost—just forgotten. And in that golden light, even memory began to bleed out. Tick. Soak. Vanish.
She crashed his yellow bike dodging a crab—love hurts, literally. A cruel twist of the wheel sent them tumbling into a fountain, clothes soaked, dignity gone. He laughed. She scowled. Fate spun its labyrinth. Coffee dates followed. Kisses bloomed. One year later, she whispered, “Marry me?”
He grinned, “Only if you drive.”
When in a strange city you should be very wary of the characters you meet. For example, there may be a cruel looking driver at the wheel, that will take you into a labyrinth of shady streets, and will soak you for all your money. Think twice before calling on the Yellow Crab Taxi services.
Prisoners now, within a subterranean nightmare. Shuffling, stumbling, circling the cave through this cruel wheel of darkness. The abyss below echoing cold fear. Backs to the wall. Crabbing their way deeper into the labyrinth, everywhere the dank odour of moisture seeping through fissures in the rock and forming slippery yellow rivulets beneath bare blistered feet.
–
Ocean. Labyrinth of blue
Sun? Kinda yellow
Love …. deep, love … true
Also kinda mellow
Me? A fool
You, so cruel
Hearts churning, can you feel?
Feeling blame. Soaking shame
Love turning like a wheel
On the slab, like a crab
Crawling back to you
Feel regret? Don’t forget
Crabs have claws (just two)
Following a cruel yellow crab through the wheel styled labyrinth I came upon a creepy ladder in the middle of a wheat field. Climbing to the top and looking, I discovered a swimming hole in the distance. I was unlucky enough being too far away to enjoy any natation but could soak up some sun.
By a cruel twist of fate, the crab turned yellow and became of scientific interest.
The days when he could soak in the cool waters and bask in the sun were gone.
Instead he found himself in a cold impersonal labyrinth with a rotary wheel as they studied him like some kind of lab rat!
Morning on the reef. A yellow crab skittered through the labyrinth of coral. It was headed to its feeding ground on the other side of the bay. But the cruel sea washed over and soaked everything in a deluge. Waves like great wheels curved up and back. In a moment the crab was washed away.
Murray Clarke:
In a cruel twist of fate, the Minotaur (half bull, half human) was shackled to a wheel and confined in a dingy labyrinth – with no means of escape. His diet, three times a day, consisted of human flesh smothered in lashings of tomato ketchup. Later in life, he developed an inexplicable penchant for yellow crabs.
Sanny M:
It was a cruel joke putting a crab in the bath. He’d planned for a relaxing soak.
He grabbed the yellow towel and headed down the labyrinth of corridors.
“I suppose you think that’s funny?” he asked. She didn’t reply, the sun reflecting on the frame of her wheelchair. Was that a wry smile on her face?
How cruel that the labyrinth at the fair wasn’t wide enough to accommodate the Crab family. They only planned their vacation for a year. Oh, what the shell, there was still a bright, yellow Ferris Wheel, the lets-get-drenched Super Soak flume and so many side show attractions. Plenty of other ways to stretch their legs.
Squirreljan:
I wheel my chair around the labyrinth path of yellow daffodils and soak up the atmosphere. My crab-like limbs creak as I rise to lean against my old friend, Mr Oak. I embrace the scents, sounds, and warmth of the April day. The world feels less cruel when nature permeates my body, mind, and soul.
Tony:
In a yellow maze,
a lame crab is looking for fortune.
The wheel of the spell creaks,
cruel merry-go-round without a way out.
He wants to soak his claws
in the ink of an ancient dream.
But the sand laughs,
the wind extinguishes it.
The world is a trap
which is written without a witness.
En Français cette fois :
Dans un labyrinthe jaune,
un crab boiteux cherche fortune.
La roue du sort grince,
cruel manège sans issue.
Il veut faire tremper ses griffes
dans l’encre d’un rêve ancien.
Mais le sable rit,
le vent l’éteint.
Le monde est un piège
qui s’écrit sans témoin.
We decided to enter a competition race to drive to the seaside. The labyrinth on the map was highlighted in yellow. When we arrived I turned the wheel slowly to park the car, accidentally squashing a crab.
‘You are so cruel,’ my friend yelled.
‘You deserve a soak,’ and promptly pushed me into the water.
Fighting Crabs
“Take the wheel!” barked Dad.
I let the trust soak in; first time steering the boat. Youngest of 4.
“Don’t be cruel! Throw the crabs overboard.” Dad eyed the yellow bucket’s rocky labyrinth. “Let animals be,” he scolded.
My brothers dumped each crab gently into the sea.
That’s when I knew: Marine biology was calling.
A crab shaped labyrinth transformed into an ambiguous wagon wheel configuration. Paths without direction sent explorers in a cruel search for yellow treasure. The gift shop’s maze map rendered useless. Ending the day with a soak in a creek that meandered through golden grain waiving in the breeze, they now understood what was the treasure.
The bright yellow taxi lost its wheel sending us walking on the road, into a dark, cruel path—a labyrinth. It was unending, even dripping wet! My sweater started to soak through. When I looked down I saw a crab happily walking to a light. It turned out the crab led us to the opening.
“Beware the Yellow Crab in the labyrinth!”
He entered. The maze twisted and turned into dead ends, forcing him to backtrack. A rumbling noise, like a wheel bumping over cobblestones, lured him deeper. He turned a final corner.
“Surprise!” The crab heaved a bucket of water at him. He was soaked!
“That’s a cruel joke!”
What a cruel twist of fate!
The ship’s wheel on the old Yellow Crab was stuck; the captain, unable to steer, was heading straight for the Devil’s Labyrinth. In a last ditch effort, he convinced the ship’s chaplain to soak the wheel ropes with holy water.
Saints alive! It worked!
***
Esther Chilton 
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