Can You Tell A Story In…

It’s Thursday and time for a new story challenge:

Can you tell a story in 40 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • BONSAI
  • PUDDLE
  • KNAPSACK
  • REJOICE

Last week’s challenge was to write a story in 61 words using the following six words in it somewhere:

  • BABY
  • ICE-SKATING
  • ALBUM
  • SALAD
  • FRIGHT
  • CAMERA

Here are your brilliant stories:

Nicola Daly:

‘Here I am at an ice-skating gala, back when we used proper cameras and stuck the photos in albums. Don’t I look a fright?’

‘What are you meant to be?’

‘Little Bo Peep. But I think my mother got her nursery rhymes muddled and I look like a cross between Baby Bear and the salad bean in Jack and the Beanstalk.’

L Wie:

Granddad, Look Who’s Back!

She ordered a small salad und opened the photo-album. All these memories: A cuddly teddy bear in a baby cradle, children ice-skating, a happy family smiling into the camera. Cheesy, she thought. Before she left, she checked her new cv once more. It was time to give the old millionaire the fright of his life. The show of the impostor-queen began.

Rall:

baby
for you
i would learn ice skating
even though i loathe ice and snow
eat salad every day
even though i prefer chicken and chips
never look a fright
make sure i am impeccably groomed
in beautiful clothes
take photos to prove it
buy you an expensive camera
and every album you desire
i would even write poetry in 61 words

Christopher Farley:

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Well, that film definitely gave me a fright. Not as much as watching my kid sister ice-skating but certainly enough to make my salad go round like a vinyl album on 78 rpm. I’ve always thought that whoever it was behind the camera was some sort of madman. However, it’s a great film. Highly recommended.

Graeme Sandford:

The latest album cover from Erewhon caused even as much controversy as Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ had, with its naked ice-skating baby. 

Thirty years later, it was such a fright for the baby, when he was told of his immodest and unintentional modelling career. After his £500,000 interview for Cheek magazine, he posed before the camera, poised to start his Julius Caesar Salad. 

Life Lessons:

Taylor Swift’s Grandma’s Apologia for Staying at Home and Watching it all on TV

Baby, I’d love to go ice-skating with you, but even in my teens, I couldn’t manage to stand up on blades to propel myself over frozen water. Besides that, I heard a rumor that they’d be there shooting a promo for your new album, and even in my salad days, I was frightened of cameras, so imagine me facing them now!

Mark Fraidenburg:

The Frame

The photo album on his desk stopped her cold. Polaroids inside: past victims ice-skating, eating salad, living such ordinary moments before their death. But the newest photo triggered genuine fright, it was a baby in a yellow blanket.

Her baby.

The camera’s timer blinked red from the shadowed corner.

“Smile, Detective,” his voice whispered through the hidden speaker. “You’re already in my frame.”

Pensitivity101:

It was a frightful album cover, done in very poor taste, and absolutely nothing to do with artist or title.

Whoever came up with the idea of a baby ice skating in the biggest salad bowl on earth was unhinged.

The camera angle was horrendous, the blades slicing tomatoes and glinting in the craziness of the child’s eyes. Chucky was back.

Murray Clarke:

It was a beautiful, sunny winter’s day. A blanket of dazzling white snow covered the ground. The motley BBC camera crew arrived at the ice-skating rink, and began setting up their equipment. They got the fright of their lives when a ten-month-old baby crawled onto the ice – munching a salad sandwich. The resultant photograph was one for the family album.

iMartist:

Christmas 1978

After dinner which included Dad’s overdressed salad, he suggests we go ice-skating, but it frightens me. I say “I don’t want to fall”. He says “Oh, don’t be such a baby, you’ll be ok.” He snaps a photo of me with his kodak instamatic camera, right as I fall on my heinie. Laughing, he yells ” That’s one for the album!”.

Christine Mallaband-brown:

Baby Melanie was precocious. She started ice-skating when she was two. The newspapers were impressed and her mother collected an album of photos of her precious daughter.

Then one day they sat having salad for lunch Melanie shocked her mother and gave her a fright. “I’m sick of ice-skating,” she said. “Get the camera. I’m going to take up gymnastics instead!”

Silly Frog’s Blog:

Frightening Trickery

A shocking homemade camera video of an ice-skating 9-month-old baby suddenly popped-up in her Facebook feed causing her to tip her salad into her lap!

Dumbfounded, she rewatched it. This time, the title song from her favorite album, Thriller, played along.

Later on, she shook a little with fright from knowing that AI had managed to “trick” her so easily… again.

Let’s Write:

Ice Dance

One November day, a young mother was making a salad, when she looked up, through the window, she saw her baby girl skidding down the icy path. She stared in fright, but miraculously, she began ice-skating. The mum picked up her camera and captured every graceful pirouette. Later, everyone gathered to view the photo-album – for Lilah the ice held no fear.

Dawgy Daddy Responds:

The Beyond

When leaving a review Siri will constellate readers referring to an album and bringing me fright of being in the camera spotlight. I was ice-skating on a thin layer of frozen water when I wrote this book but after reading this review I found myself feeling as crisp as a seven layer salad. All I can say is thanx baby sister!

Lily’s Corner:

Reminiscing

I don’t know why I had a salad for supper when I could’ve had soup. Ice-skating made me chilly to the bone. I stoked the fire. And then grabbed my baby blue fleece blanket and fell into my futon. Looking at my tattered frightful photo album, which must have been at least 40 years old. I wondered about the 35mm cameras.

Therapy Bits:

During an ice-skating festival, a baby clutched a tiny camera as her parents assembled an album nearby. A sudden tumble caused brief fright, but the lens captured a stranger offering help. Later, over a warm salad in the lodge, everyone laughed at the moment, grateful that small mishaps can brighten memories and stitch unexpected friendships together for years to come always.

Marsh Ingrao:

The baby in that old album was mine, yes indeed. Ice skating at nine months. Yep, thick diapers helped. Dorothy gave Mom such a fright that she dropped her camera in the salad, as she watched from her seat at the restaurant. That’s why the picture looks a little greasy, and it looks like she’s wearing a strawberry on her head.

Ann Edall-Robson:

Her ‘baby’ songs playlist drifted into the room. The album of the family ice-skating at the lake sat unopened. Someone’s camera had recorded everything, including the look of terrorized fright when the ice on the lake gave way. Taking a bite of salad, she picked up the pen. “It’s time to start telling my version of what happened on that day.”

Teleportingweena:

Cameras rolled. lively album music played, and the show  started. It was recital day at the ice skating rink. First up was the baby class; the youngest students learning to skate on ice. Their theme was fruit salad, and all were dressed in colorful fruit costumes. Some children were frightened, but  they did well, and the parents were proud of them.

The Elephant’s Trunk:

Dirk Malone, PI: The Ice Princess

The baby wailed in the nurse’s arms while I examined the crime scene…photo album open to ice-skating starlet’s photos and newspaper clippings from ’39. The dame’s salad days were over. Someone had given her a real fright before pulling the trigger. I raised my camera, capturing evidence. In this city, innocence dies young. But Dirk Malone, PI, always finds the truth.

Treehugger:

I had such a bad fright when a man whizzed past me, ice skating with a baby secured on his back. I quickly got out my camera to take a video, only to find that the lid had come off my salad lunch and my camera was dripping in lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. By this time man and baby had disappeared.

Utahan15:

she thought baby just hey maybe!

skating on that thin ice not as nice

as what the singer crooned on her album last

it had cast the fright of the day removed from night

and a salad of the camera in her rem minds eye

why she did rise and wipe the tears away

***

Image credit: Pinterest

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

  1. small places

    such sad faces

    bonsai out of a knapsack

    she bounced up and back

    and tree she did sow

    showed rejoicing

    at the constant beauty of it all~

    Liked by 7 people

  2. That shrinking powder worked. I would rejoice for the money for the copyright. A jar of it in your knapsack and you’d be amazed at the possible adventures. A puddle becomes a lake and a few bonsai a redwood forest.

    Liked by 6 people

    1. I’ll have some of that, please 😂

      Liked by 3 people

  3. […] For “Can You Tell A Story In . . .” the words are:BONSAI PUDDLE KNAPSACK REJOICE and the word limit is 40 words. […]

    Liked by 1 person

  4. nikidaly70 Avatar
    nikidaly70

    ‘Why do you have a bonsai tree sticking out of your haversack?
    ‘My Glad Bonsai? It likes to be with me when I play the rejoice game and splash in puddles.’
    ‘Ok-ay. What did you say your name was?’
    ‘Pollyanna.’

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Great story, Nicola! Made me smile 🤗

      Liked by 2 people

      1. nikidaly70 Avatar
        nikidaly70

        Thanks 😁

        Liked by 2 people

  5. The hobo found a neglected bonsai plant in a puddle on the road. He picked it up and wrapped it in his knapsack. Through love and care, the bonsai plant came back to life. He was so rejoiced.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Very enjoyable and uplifting 🥰

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you. Have a great day 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

  6. A BONSAI sat in a PUDDLE thinking about it’s world journey. It had fallen out of a travellers KNAPSACK. It was free! It could REJOICE in the knowledge’ that its roots would grow and turn into a mighty oak tree!

    Liked by 7 people

    1. I love that! Thanks, Christine 🥰

      Liked by 2 people

  7. […] Can you tell a story … in 40 words […]

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Sometimes the prompt words just fit … although I could have done with a few more words. https://picturesimperfectblog.com/2025/11/20/if-it-fits/

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I really enjoyed it. You did well in so few words.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you. Small people squeezed in.

        Liked by 2 people

  9. I was trimming the bonsai trees at the nursery when I realized I was standing in a puddle of water, made by the gardeners that morning. I would rejoice the discovery of a towel in my knapsack. Bingo! Got one!

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Excellent! Made me smile 🥰

      Liked by 2 people

  10. All ready to rejoice. The bonsai fit into my knapsack and my planned getaway route was set. A face down fall in the mud puddle made the get away impossible.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Good adventure story – only the adventure didn’t last. Shame. Thanks for the fun, John.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Yes, pretty short for sure. Thanks, Esther.

        Liked by 2 people

  11. […] Esther Chilton – Can You Tell a Story in 40 words using BONSAI, PUDDLE, KNAPSACK, REJOICE […]

    Liked by 1 person

  12. An interesting choice of words!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I like to challenge!

      Liked by 1 person

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

    Liked by 1 person

  14. […] evening, this is my miniature story for Esther Chilton’s word prompt for this week. Have a good weekend […]

    Liked by 2 people

  15. I could not rejoice that day,

    At the garden centre I smuggled a bonsai into my knapsack. As I brazenly passed the checkout, I slipped in a puddle and to my horror the bonsai shot out and revealed my crime.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Oh no! That’ll teach you 😂

      Liked by 1 person

  16. Following along the track
    Your knapsack draped upon your back
    Crossing puddle, river, stream
    Realising common dream
    Of freedom. Truth. A common voice
    In nature let us both rejoice
    From our shackles hence release
    Bonsai! We have found our peace

    Liked by 3 people

  17. […] These are the words to be put in a 40 words story for Esther Chilton’s challenge […]

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Rejoice! The delivery driver drops a parcel on my doorstep before running away. However, the knapsack I’d ordered had been left in a puddle. I flicked the parcel into the hallway, where it knocked over two of my Bonsai trees.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Works so well, Stevie. Thank you for joining in 🥰

      Liked by 2 people

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

    Liked by 1 person

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

    Liked by 1 person

  21. The community was finished. Painted wee homes lined the path of tiny pebbles meandering through miniature Bonsai trees to the glass puddle. There would be time to rejoice once the Littles moved from the knapsack to the new fairy garden.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. What a lovely, magical story.

      Liked by 1 person

  22. […] for Esther’s “Can You Tell A Story In” –#314, exactly 40 words using these four promptwords: ‘bonsai’, ‘puddle’, ‘knapsack’, […]

    Liked by 1 person

  23. […] Last week, Esther invited us to write something in 40 words using the following in it somewhere: BONSAI, PUDDLE, KNAPSACK & REJOICE – (yes I’m so late with it!😊) https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/11/20/can-you-tell-a-story-in-314/ […]

    Liked by 1 person

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