Can You Tell A Story In…

I hope your week is going well. Almost at the weekend. Here is another story challenge for you:

Can you tell a story in 60 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • CULT
  • ORANGE
  • HOTEL
  • FRANTIC
  • CHICKEN
  • BINGO
  • EARS

Here is Last week’s challenge was to write a story in 30 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • NOTE
  • DODO
  • SKI
  • LAMPSHADE

Here are your amusing stories:

Christopher Farley:

The book was old, and inside was a note. The original Darwin Award winner. The last Dodo went for a ski in a lampshade. The rest, you know, is history.

Nicola Daly:

And take note, this season’s must-have accessory is the lampshade hat, modelled here by the delightful Dottie Dodo –
CRASH
– oh dear, I told her not to ski down the catwalk.’

Sarah W:

Tassels swinging, Derek the dodo sped past the safety note as so many of his brethren had before.

“Danger of death – lampshades do not provide adequate head protection when skiing”

Trent’s World:

It was a weekend of drunken brawls, broken lampshades and ignored notes from the owner.  Total damage was over $10,000. 

Last ski vacation I take with my old college roommates!

Murray Clarke:

Please note: The dodo, a flightless bird that inhabited Mauritius in the 17th century, was fond of skiing. To avoid the sun, it wore a floral lampshade on its head.

L wie:

“Feed the dodo!” The moment they found this note sticking to a ski in the attic of their late uncle’s house, they heard a scratching noise behind a big lampshade.

The Bag Lady:

As I said earlier, no ski accident would’ve occurred if the dodo in the lampshade wasn’t going down the slope backwards. Note in your report that I wasn’t at fault!

Dawgy Daddy Responds:

I love naps, the way they string Phantasmagoria together into reality. A note on the last one, a dodo was skiing wearing a lampshade, eating crumpets and playing the harp.

Therapy Bits:

She found a note beneath the lampshade: “Meet me where the dodo once danced.” Confused, she grabbed her skis. At the mountaintop, love returned in prehistoric surprise.

Kim Smyth:

The script note called for Shirley McLane to ski down the run wearing a lampshade. What a dodo she looked like! Well, maybe so, but it won a comedy award!

My Mind Mappings:

Fred’s note said to meet him in the hotel lobby. When I got there, that crazy dodo was prancing around with a lampshade on his head skis on his feet.

Sanny M:

Douglas Dodo hid in the second hand shop making use of a lampshade and old pair of skis. He hoped Darwin found his note or his days were numbered.

Teleportingweena:

Bright ideas don’t always come with a lampshade over the bulb. Note to self, don’t be a dodo and try to ski when there is no snow. Crash and burn!

Tony:

Under the lamp, the eye hollows out.
A note hanging, nailed with azure.
Skiing is rolling down the white oblivion.
And the dodo — silent oracle —
swallows the raw suns, laughing…

This little poem talks about the moment when one goes out the day before to enter into sleep, a symbolic and mystical nuance. The child poet goes from a real world, lit and noisy, to an inner world, mute, luminous. Sleep is a form of initiation or transfiguration. We are between the sacred, the dream and poetic delirium as Rimbaud likes to do.

Pete:

Ski Instructor: “You need to keep that Dodo wearing the lampshade at the bar and off of the slopes.”

Note to self: “No more ski trips with extinct flightless birds.”

John W. Howell:

After waking with a lampshade on my head and laying on ski poles, I made a note to the future. No more drinking with that dodo brain, Roscoe.

Pensitivity101:

Any ski skills I had were as extinct as the Dodo. Mind you, they made a good frame for a novelty lampshade. Note to self:  don’t forget, patent the idea!

Mark:

He steps to the mic,

Note in my pocket, dodo in my mind—
I ski through shadows.
Lampshade flickers,
Revealing secrets only night knows.

The Mic Drops

Kate in Cornwall:

As the last note of ‘Jerusalem’ faded away, the WI chairperson announced the winner of the ‘Lampshade made from jam’ competition. Bewildered new member Zofia Dodoski, nonetheless adored British traditions.

Squirreljan:

Dear Mummy, Today, I met a dodo. Now I’m sitting in a ski lift with a lampshade on my head. My notebook is full, please send another one. Love me.

Annette Rochelle Aben:

Note to self, the next time you consider dressing up like a Dodo bird to waterski while wearing a lampshade on your head to celebrate the Solstice, please just reconsider!

Graeme Sandford:

“No! Terrible idea for a prompt! Do dogs bark for a living? It gets under your skin, does this thing. All the lamps Hades has lit would not redeem it!”

my word (s):

“Take note,” said Dodo Dodkins, ski instructor. “No lampshade poses today.”

“Odd bloke,” I said to the woman next to me.

“Very,” she replied. “I should know. I married him.”

Treehugger:

My aunt converted her dodo figurine into a lamp, complete with lampshade. She stuffed a note in it’s beak explaining she would be away practicing on the dry ski slope.

Christine Mallaband-brown:

Note dodo ski lampshade

I just made a note in my diary:
21st June 2025.

Saw a Dodo on a set of Ski’s, it careened past my car with a lampshade on its head.

Margaret G. Hanna:

“I dare you to wear this lampshade.”

“But I’ll look like a dodo!”

“No one will take note as you sail off the ski-jump.”

He lied. People laughed for months.

Ann Edall-Robson:

Ski weekend team building: Bring a small household item. Sitting on the chairlift, a lampshade taped to my helmet, I feel like a dodo. Note to self: Find another job.

Andy Cripps:

Horror of the Mountain (A Micro Mystery)

The lampshade swings. Dirty, yellow light spills onto the ski-lodge floor.

A crumpled note, stained red, reads: Beware the beast.

Tapping at the door begins. I peer out… A dodo?

The Elephant’s Trunk:

I got drunk at the ski lodge and woke up next to a dodo.
 
A note from my girlfriend stuck on the lampshade read:

“NEVER CALL AGAIN, YOU SICK LOSER!”

***

67 responses to “Can You Tell A Story In…”

  1. nikidaly70 Avatar
    nikidaly70

    It was bingo night down at the Hotel Tacky Gold and the leader of the Orange Cult was losing. Badly. This was not good. Imagine: a man-baby throwing a tantrum; his minions running around like headless chickens, frantic to appease.
    ‘Look,’ said the chief minion, clapping his hands over his ears. ‘Just call out his numbers before it gets worse.’

    Liked by 8 people

    1. I’d love to see that 😂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. nikidaly70 Avatar
        nikidaly70

        Me too!!! 🤣🤣🤣

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Kate in Cornwall Avatar
    Kate in Cornwall

    “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

    “Go on, I’m all ears.”

    “To get to the bingo, of course.”

    “Right… We were frantic when you joined that cult, shaved your head…

    “…feathers…”

    “…feathers, and donned an orange robe.”

     “You needn’t have worried.”

    “No? What happened in that run-down, isolated hotel?”

    “The chickens taught us to play bingo, of course.”

    “Hmmm…”

    Liked by 9 people

    1. Very funny, Kate. I enjoyed that 😊

      Like

  3. […] words for this week’s ‘Can You Tell a Story In…’ are cult, hotel, orange, frantic, chicken, bingo, ears, and the story has to be told in 60 words, […]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’ve clearly had great fun with this.

      Like

  4. When I returned it seemed some cult had taken over the hotel lobby of old ladies with died orange or blue hair sitting at tables looking at large cards and eating fried chicken.

    A nun said, “Before.”

    I was stumped.  Before what? Christ – BC?

    The crowd frantically scanned their cards.

    A great-great grandma with large ears yelled, “Bingo!”

    Oh, “B-4”!

    Liked by 9 people

    1. That’s so clever, Trent, and very funny.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks, Esther, glad you liked the little story 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  5. A van carrying members of the Orange Cult rushed to the hotel to play bingo.

    With windows wide open to push the sound out to any ears available, willing to hear or not, they sang their theme song, “Bird Is the Word”, over and over again as a frantic chicken in the middle of the road yelled: “I’m crossing here!”

    Liked by 8 people

    1. I’d love to see that scene 😂

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Ah yes, the Orange Cult. Do you remember, back in the day? Absolute lunatic at the head of it all, big in the hotel business, from what I recall. Orange face and ears. Weird chap. It was like he played bingo with every country’s economy he came across. Sometimes he would give interviews and come across like some frantic chicken.**

    ** This story bears no resemblance to people either living or dead. You ain’t suing my ass…😂

    Liked by 7 people

  7. In the shabby hotel meeting room the marathon Chicken Bingo Game ground on into the next morning. A classic orange cult, head in the sand pastime. The prize being a bucket of Kentucky Fried. Leggs Eleven, the frantic mob boss, grabbed the Bingo number caller by the ears shouting, “Said needed Two Fat Ladies!” he spat “Not Two Little Ducks!”

    Liked by 8 people

    1. Very witty. Thanks, Pete 😊

      Like

  8. […] her “Can You Tell a Story In…” prompt today, Esther Chilton has challenged us to tell a 60-word story using the words cult, […]

    Liked by 1 person

  9. The Cult of the Fuzzy Orange Chicken was due to meet at the Estonia Hotel. It was all going so well. Everyone was wearing Blue ears as directed by their leader Hyram C. Bingo. But then a passing Stag do called in for beer and pies. The Orange Chickens were frantic as their ears were stolen. What a Clucking disaster!

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Love that ending! So funny 😂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Bonsoir Esther,
    This poem explores a decadent world, both grotesque and mystical, where religious symbols (worship, prayers, angels) mingle with the trivial (chicken, bingo, hotel).

    One-night cult, dying orange,
    in the frenzied hotel with leprous walls.
    A roasted chicken laughs under the neon lights.
    Bingo rings—the hell is applauded.
    Ears hang out, drunk on prayers.
    Everything speaks. Nothing listens.
    The angels flee the corridors.
    The real, made up, sells its soul
    for a warm caress
    in the dark moist
    of a room without sky.

    Bonne soirée.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Thank you for this, Tony. I read it several times – on each reader, it means more and more.
      Bonne soirée

      Liked by 1 person

  11. The Orange Footed Chicken Cult bingo game organizer went into a frantic fit when discovering the ears of corn, which were to be the prizes, came up missing. His life passed before him, and the vision in his brain of a Popeye’s menu could not be shaken away.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. You’ve had great fun with that, John 😆

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I sure did, Esther. Thanks for the opportunity

        Liked by 1 person

  12. […] Can You Tell A Story In… […]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This is so good 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you!

        Liked by 1 person

  13. This week on the cult fan favorite Survivor, contestants were taken to a hotel where they had to play a strange version of bingo. They were told to keep their ears open as they sipped on orange soda. Game play got frantic when they heard their prize would be to go have fried chicken and French fries on the island.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. What a great take on the prompt!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Aww, thanks!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Absolutely priceless 🤣

      Like

      1. Thanks Esther.

        Liked by 1 person

  14. […] Can You Tell A Story In… […]

    Liked by 1 person

  15. bingo
    alice looks rather frantic
    her eyes ringed in hookah blue
    hates these hotel tea parties 
    her cult following is hard to deal with lately
    what with the rabbit all ears  and neurotic running about 
    with a pocket watch declaring he is late again 
    spends too much time hanging out in the orange grove 
    with creepy chicken and meanie mushroom 

    Liked by 3 people

    1. That made me smile. Thank you, Rall. Really enjoyed this.

      Like

    1. Very entertaining, Ernie 😃

      Like

  16. Sanny M Avatar
    Sanny M

    His ears pricked up – did someone say chicken? He’d been going made for days since being shut in the hotel with only oranges to eat. The only sound from the bingo caller in the next room. Was this a dream or some weird cult?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s really funny, Sanny 😁

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Creative and clever !

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Sanny M Avatar
      Sanny M

      Typo should say mad not made! 🤣

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Don’t worry – I’ll correct it.

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Very clever. It is much more of a challenge to keep the reponse brief yet using all the words. Well done !

      Liked by 2 people

  17. The Orange Hotel is the home of the Frantic Ears cult. Daily, members make their way down the hall from their rooms to the out of order escalator that takes them to the entrance of the Grande Restaurant. The menu choice is an unrecognizable chicken entree they will all ingest before indulging in the all night marathon of blacklight bingo.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’d love to see that!

      Like

  18. […] Can You Tell A Story In… […]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you for your funny story 😁

      Liked by 1 person

  19. […] Can You Tell a Story In […]

    Liked by 1 person

  20. mu humble offering… Cover All | Annette Rochelle Aben

    So, I have heard tell, there was this CULT of CHICKENS with ORANGE EARS that would kidnap yellow bellied sapsucker chicks and attempt to convert them. The sapsucker adults were so FRANTIC that they would gather their young and hide out in the No-Tell HOTEL where a rowdy group of seagulls would caw the nightly BINGO games. Feathers would fly! ©2025 Annette Rochelle Aben

    Liked by 1 person

    1. What fun you’ve had there, Annette! So funny 😆

      Liked by 1 person

  21. […] Can You Tell A Story In… – Esther Chilton […]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’ve clearly had a lot of fun with this, Carol Anne. I loved your story 🥰

      Like

  22. We were all ears, intent on the dilemma of how to spend the weekend. I was frantic to watch the cult film, A Clockwork Orange .

    My sister had other ideas .She wanted to go to Bingo followed by a chicken and chips supper .

    My brother had booked dinner for three in a posh Michelin starred restaurant at the local hotel.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I like how you’ve made a realistic story from the word prompts!

      Like

  23. […] for Esther’s “Can You Tell A Story In…..?#293” – exactly 60 words using the seven requiredprompts: ‘cult’, ‘orange’, ‘hotel’, […]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Nancy 🥰

      Like

  24. Frantic Chicken Little cries, “The world is burning.”

    Do we have ears to hear?

    Orange sun peers dimly through clouds of smoke and smog

    Reminding us this is our only hotel, folks.

    Do we need a cult to tell us

    our bingo card has only four squares – Warm. Warmer. Warmest. Meltdown!  

    And the caller’s about to call the next number.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. That story builds really well 😊

      Like

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