Here’s your new Thursday story challenge:
Can you tell a story in 49 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- ROSE
- FRAZZLE
- MEDAL
- CHARGE
- PRUNE
Last week’s challenge was to write a story in 35 words using the following four words in it somewhere:
LAKE
COUPON
PUPPET
TUBA
Here are your super stories:
She sat on an island in the lake playing her tuba, when a puppy swam by with a glove puppet and coupon in it’s mouth. The puppy had never seen a musical mermaid before …
Kate in Cornwall:
“I’m not your puppet!” screamed enfant terrible musician, Henri du Coupon.
Rejecting demands for his most famous composition, Gimme Brass, he threw his tuba into the lake at Glyndebourne. Countless fans dived in after it.
By the lake, a boy traded a coupon for a puppet.
The puppet played a tuba, echoing oddly across the water.
I really must get my eyes tested. With a coupon I bought a puppet tuna and took it to the lake. I thought it was a bit heavy. Tuna indeed, nothing sinks like a tuba.
Nicola Daly:
Stuck on the M6 on his way to the Lake District, Bojo the Clown entertained the drivers by playing his tuba. Badly. A puppet could do better. Someone gave him an out-of-date coupon for McDonald’s.
Claire Jones:
I skipped past the lake into town, to purchase a tuba. I felt an idiot when the lady in the shop explained my coupon had expired, I only had enough money to buy the puppet!
Valerian, the tuba-playing puppeteer, sank gracefully into the lake. He had blown his last sonata, and gargled his last gottle of geer, his last clothing coupon ‘wasted on a deep-sea diving outfit without tubes’.
The puppet show on the lake was due to start in ten minutes.
Entry was by coupon and after everyone had taken their seat, a clown played a fanfare on a tuba announcing Curtain Up!
Murray Clarke:
In the 1940s, Veronica Lake, the famous American actress, purchased a tuba with a discount coupon from Macy’s, the department store. Interestingly, she was something of a political puppet, and died, aged fifty, of alcoholism.
The puppet player offered them a lake cruise coupon for taking one of ‘his guys’ with them.
They regretted having chosen the pirate instead of the tuba player, when the wooden thing came suddenly alive.
Let’s take a ride to the lake this weekend. There is a wonderful puppet theater that the kids will love, and best of all, I have a coupon to see a hippopotamus play a tuba!
As a tuba player in the Lake Puppet orchestra, I couldn’t understand being denied admission to the concert in which I’m playing because I had no coupon for entry.
In death we will face judgement. After hearing the trumpets, not a tuba, you will find a stairway to Heaven or find yourself being a puppet for Satan and guaranteeing you a coupon to Fire Lake.
A Question of Utmost Importance in Late Summer 1976
I spent my afternoon down at lake Winihaha playing my favorite Herb Alpert song “Tangerine” on my tuba.
I had a bogo coupon for the x-rated show “Let my puppets come“. Who should I take ?
The tuba player was like a puppet, hands flapping everywhere. He had a coupon for tea and sat by the lake washing his socks…. Then an ice cream to soothe his overstretched nerves… Brassed off!
The handsome puppet Sweep, was drifting on Lake Windermere clutching a prized coupon – a ‘Moonlit-Marshmallow Feast’ with sweetheart Sue. While in the distance, a tuba serenaded fireflies that pirouetted like golden confetti in celebration.
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Reflections In A Spoon
Near Whitehorse Lake, a pompous puppet dictator commands his marionettes, demanding applause and cheese with his Asda coupon.
He catches his reflection in a spoon, collapses, realising he’s merely an old tuba full of wind.
To Help You, Rhonda
The lake crowd controlled her like a busking puppet, throwing coins into her tuba case and requesting Beach Boys songs. Once home, she found that someone gave her a coupon for a free used accordion!
There was a huge, colorful puppet show at the lake. You needed a coupon to get in. At the door was a man holding a tuba and playing happy songs. The crowd was getting restless.
I decided I would take this coupon and buy myself a tuba. The day was still early and the lake was a perfect place to practice. I blew the tuba and out popped a puppet!
I had a discount coupon
It would reduce the price just a soupcon
The advantage I would take
To get entrance to the lake
To hear a puppet play jigs on a tuba bon bon
While swimming, Jesse found a toy floating in the lake. It was a puppet playing a tuba, dressed in Jesse’s high school uniform colors with a coupon for free popcorn at the next band concert.
Darren wanted a “different” vacation this year.
Dora said nothing– (“different” meant “cheap”: he’d scrounged a coupon for a “fun resort”).
Seeing the hand-painted sign, she felt sick:
“Welcome to Lake Puppet
and Lake Tuba!”
A coupon in the mail was responsible for the gathering of musicians at the retreat. The lone sound of a tuba echoed across the lake. Would they master Puppet on a String before the recital?
Rall:
practising his tuba
down by the lake
he found a coupon
under the bench
free entry to a puppet show
with andre rieu conducting
decided against it
too intellectual for his taste
His luck was in. With his coupon he could choose a life-size puppet or a brass tuba. He chose the tuba. As he sat by the lake practising, even the fish swam out of earshot.
Ruby was thrilled to learn she had the winning coupon for a midnight concert on the lake. However, she was annoyed to discover the romantic event had been switched to a Tubby Tuba puppet show!
***
Esther Chilton 
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