It’s Thursday and so I have a new story challenge for you.
Can you tell a story in 50 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- POEM
- CRITIQUE
- MURDER
- CUPCAKE
- DICE
Last week’s challenge was to write a story in 41 words using the following four words in it somewhere:
- PETRIFIED
- HEPTATHLON
- UMBRELLA
- CRAYON
Here are your entertaining stories:
As I stepped out from under my umbrella, the downpour worsened. I just stood, petrified. The next event of the heptathlon was the javelin. In this weather I wouldn’t even trust myself to launch a crayon, let alone a dangerous spear.
Tom clicked his crayon which opened the translucent umbrella.
This was the third day it rained petrified heptathlon.
The colors were beautiful.
Gena stared at the hurdles, petrified. Coach talked her into the heptathlon but never mentioned hurdles. So that’s what the crayon scribble covered!
She felt a drop. Coach raced out with an umbrella as the rain hit.
“The event’s cancelled.”
Saved!
Fear of Losing Leads to Defeat
Grace was petrified by Camilla’s dominance in the 800m run of the heptathlon. Watching Camilla holding an umbrella with the colors of a box of Crayola crayons, Grace prayed that, for once, she could overcome her fears and win the event.
As a sports reporter, I drew a picture, with wax crayons, of the heptathlon I was attending. It was so wet I drew competitors carrying umbrellas in the events. I was petrified that the high-jump would look farcical, but it worked.
Nicola Daly:
Remind me not to eat crayons before bedtime. I had this awful dream where I was running through the Petrified Forest carrying an umbrella in a heptathlon. And the weird thing, was I was wearing lime-green Lycra. SOOOOO not my colour.
I was petrified of the roiling clouds and distant thunder, but quitting the heptathlon wasn’t an option. A raindrop hit my forehead. While spectators opened umbrellas, a child raised her crayoned sign: When life gives you rain, run in the puddles.
Hearts and Hands
Seven kindergarteners were petrified they wouldn’t finish decorating their teacher’s paper umbrella before recess was over. Each, armed with a different color crayon, they undertook what could only be described as a heptathlon of creativity, in time to say, Happy Birthday!
Holding a petrified rock in one hand and my umbrella in the other, I was on my way to the heptathlon to give my favorite runner a rock for good luck. On it, I’d drawn a clover leaf in green crayon.
LuAnne was petrified that her mother would be mad at her for using her crayons to color all over the walls, losing her umbrella as well.
Her sister, JoyAnne, was participating in seven different athletic events in the heptathlon that afternoon.
Petrified beneath sudden thunder, Brenda clutched the small umbrella like armor. The heptathlon still awaited, rain-soaked lanes gleaming. Her daughter, handing her a blue crayon, whispered, “Draw courage, Mama.”
Brenda smiled through tears, heart steady, sprinting forward into storm and glory.
Squirreljan:
Soaring over hurdles and high jump, dodging shot put and javelin, running 200 metres, leaping across the river, running 800 metres. Heptathlon in extremis. Petrified it was lost forever, my waterfall of tears uncovered a crayoned arrow pointing towards … my umbrella.
She was petrified, having no idea why she should be a heptathlon participant.
She suddenly awoke to see her two year old trying to eat his crayons.
She reached for her martini with the dainty umbrella and took an undainty slug.
Rall:
lost her nerve
petrified all of a sudden
heptathlon!
what was she thinking
too late now
the fans holding up
placards with crayon slogans
the whistle blower ‘s in position
Eureka!!!!
Saved by the looney
who attacked the whistle blower
with an umbrella
Murray Clarke:
Esther struggled editing her latest Saffy book, but had foolishly promised her daughter she’d participate in the local heptathlon – carrying a green dragon umbrella! Petrified, she put down the crayon she’d been using, and poured herself a large glass of wine.
Missing Since Oct 31st: Sheila and Steve Panchini
You can endure a heptathlon, but I ask you to spend time with me in a spook house; you’re petrified?
She points at where we hung our umbrellas and in blood red crayon it says “ENJOY BEING DEAD, SHEILA AND STEVE.”
Not Everybody Enjoys a Rainbow
The little boy took a pencil and drew a grey cloud and a black umbrella. “It’s a heptathlon. You also must use the watercolors and the crayons and …”
The child stood petrified in front of the friendly lady: “But I’m colourblind!”
Last time I did the heptathlon I was petrified by the thunder. I spent several hours under an umbrella and when they tried to tot up the scores the board burnt out so they had to use crayons.
What a disaster!
“Tom?” Petrified! My heart felt like I just completed a heptathlon. He looked the same except for the pepper gray hair and beard.
“Remember that note you gave me written in crayon?” he asked. “The poem about the magic umbrella?”
“Yes.”
The Champ
Most would be petrified when charged by a Pitbull, but not Tiny. That umbrella-like vicious reputation couldn’t rival a Chihuahua’s maneuverability. The heptathlon was on!
Tiny got away!
Having witnessed it all, his boy fashioned him a crayon written medal: Champion.
Jane was petrified before the first event of the heptathlon. The lemonade, sun umbrella and crayon box did nothing to boost her confidence. She decided not to participate in the race, but her crayon art took first place at the fair.
It’s All in the Mind
Petrified heptathlon officials found Clarissa behind a huge umbrella, clutching a crayon, drawing hurdles. She explained, ‘I have to realise the win in my own mind.’ Off she sprinted, crossing the winning line, and acquired a gold medal – for creativity.
Late!
It was exam day and I was late! I felt like an athlete in a heptathlon. Jumping over puddles with my umbrella for balance. I finally made it! I jogged to the classroom and pulled out my crayon, ready, but petrified.
Know it All
“Ah, it’s a petrified finger. Keep that umbrella still DS Thomas.”
Since DI Owens had come first in the police heptathlon, he was even more pompous. “Or a child’s crayon. See, it says Crayola?” The DS smirked to herself.
Petrified wood pieces, each the size of a crayon, sat in tubs on the seven tables inside the umbrella tent. No talking was allowed once the Silent Heptathlon Puzzle Games started. Using sign language, the winning team finished in record time.
Martha was petrified about the rainstorm on Sunday, the day she’d be in the heptathlon. Her little sister handed her a crayoned umbrella hat. “This magic hat shields the raindrops from your face and eyes. You can do it. Don’t worry.”
Someone had put up a poster in the Olympic Village. A crude affair, written in crayon. Sophie grimaced. She was forecast last. She was petrified of spoiling her hair during the heptathlon event, and carried an umbrella for the 200 metres sprint.
Every week is a heptathlon
(with NO option to decline 7-days of challenges):
if it rains, I’ve surely misplaced umbrella;
Sun’s petrified to rise on gone-crazy world;
and I’ve lost ‘special crayon’ for marking
off each day on calendar…serious bummer!
I waited my turn for the next event — shot put — in the heptathalon. I was petrified. What if my competition number, scrawled illegibly with red crayon, got smudged?
My granddaughter handed me the orange. “Okay, Grandma. Throw it in the umbrella!”
When storm clouds gathered overhead during the heptathlon, Brunhilde felt uncharacteristically petrified. She grabbed a nearby umbrella but it was no match for the deluge. Desperate, she drew a makeshift shelter with her trusty crayon, but alas, it was too small.
***
Esther Chilton 
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