Esther Chilton

It’s Thursday and time for your new story challenge. Can you tell a story in 73 words using the following words in it somewhere:

• EXCLUSIVE
• SWITCH
• RAVE
• LIP
• APOLOGY
• VERSE
• SWEATER

The previous challenge was to write a story in 52 words using the following five words in it somewhere:

• PIROUETTE
• COMIC
• EGG
• WRESTLER
• SYLLABLE

Here are your excellent stories:

Therapy Bits:

At dawn, a wrestler practiced a pirouette, oddly graceful. His comic coach balanced an egg on a book, chanting each syllable. Laughter echoed. Balance, he learned, isn’t strength alone, but listening to rhythm, patience, and surprise, even when crowds expect thunder, afterward under lights, the mat felt softer, wiser, alive, somehow, again.

Life Lessons:

Unfortunate Choices

Peeking out through the stage curtains, the comic realized he would be pirouetting on eggshells as he wrestled with syllables sure to displease this audience of militant women. He wished he’d checked out who his audience would be before choosing his topic. “Barefoot and Pregnant” was not going to win applause tonight!

Rohini:

Eggstreme Wrestling: No Shell, No Mercy

In the wrestling ring, burly wrestler Hulk Eggman pirouetted gracefully, dodging foes. Fans roared! But mid-spin, he slipped on giant comic book egg – splat! Yolk everywhere. “That’s one syllable I won’t forget: OUCH!” he bellowed, cracking up the crowd in hilarious defeat.

Sillyfrog’s Blog:

Broken Promise

The egg did a pirouette then dropped to the floor. Her rant, more profane than a pinned wrestler’s, would have been comical if every syllable wasn’t foreign to the sweet old woman. She was terribly frightened and addled by the scarcity of groceries. She wished she’d understood socialism actually meant “equally hungry”.

The Bag Lady:

Joe was not your ordinary wrestler, he loved ballet. Having a body shaped like an egg, it was difficult to aspire to that profession. Almost a comic sight secretly practicing one pirouette after another, his body shape helped achieve them. No one seemed to deduce possibly ballet interpreted symbol on his uniform.

John W. Howell:

The wrestler held an egg in one hand and a stand-up comic under his arm while doing a pirouette and reciting a seventeen syllable haiku. No one clapped.

M.A.D. Works:

At dawn, a comic wrestler practiced in the gym. Each pirouette became an inside joke and every move a new syllable in his silent language. He broke his fast with a single egg, reflecting on the absurdity of grace and strength. That morning, laughter and muscle danced together, rewriting what was possible.

Graeme Sandford:

Wrestlers of the 1970s were such characters: Big Daddy with his egg-shaped head and Nappy costume; Giant Haystacks with his Comic Cave-Man schtick; and the alliterative Polly-Syllable-Seasick-Steve who pirouetted, perambulating precociously, way before his time. 

Twenty minutes or so on the canvas, and none of them looked like a work of art.

Susan Batten:

“At the summer Wordquest Fest, we were entertained by jugglers, fire-eaters etc… After the talk on “Gendre”, an egg-wrestler put on a show with pirouettes for comic relief before we tackled the serious stuff in “Syllable”.

Pensitivity101:

I saw the prompt and began to ponder my response.

No common syllable rhythm hit me, but my mind began working overtime with a variety of ideas.

The best was a comic image of a wrestler doing a pirouette in a purple tutu whilst trying to fry an egg in a pan.

Murray Clarke:

Although pink flamingos often stand on one leg, and lay one large egg every year, they cannot pirouette like a ballet dancer in Swan Lake. Another interesting fact: A sumo wrestler can also stand on one leg, read a comic, and talk incessantly in words of one syllable like: dog and cat.

Dawgy Daddy Responds:

Macho Man Randy Savage became famous as a wrestler. After that he tried his hand as a comic until the night he did a pirouette on stage, twisting his ankle and screaming out two one syllable words in pain. For the next week Elizabeth made his breakfast every day, a raw egg.

The Afterlove Voice:

At dawn, the wrestler practiced a pirouette, surprisingly comic, on the pier. He balanced an egg on his palm, whispering each syllable like a spell. When gulls laughed, he bowed anyway, proving grace can bloom inside brute routines, even before breakfast and bruises fade today beneath clouds, courage hummed softly within him.

Pictures Imperfect Blog:

His documents state his profession as “comic wrestler”. What it means is that he performs in pink tights and a tutu between the professional wrestling bouts. He pirouettes on stage, then screams a single syllable, something like “Knoutsh!” or “Brang!”, and ends up with egg on his face. Dada is anarmadillo!

Nicola Daly:

Sidney Syllable read his comic while he tucked into an egg sandwich. His favourite story was the one about Ringo the Sumo Wrestler who fell in love with a ballerina. Afterwards he went to practise his pirouettes. If Ringo could woo a ballerina by learning how to pirouette, then so could he!

Christine Mallaband-brown:

Pirouette for me, said the artist, I want to add a super ballerina character to my fantasy comic. She will be up against the egg a wrestler with a name of one syllable. She danced a fandango instead and he was so impressed that he started work immediately. Rave reviews soon followed…

Teleportingweena:

The hefty wrestler came bursting into the diner. He bellowed one syllable to Midge, the little waitress, “Egg!” All the other diners were staring, some getting up to oust this beast. Midge just giggled, giving him a wink and a comical grin. “Dance,” she said. He twirled a perfect pirouette and bowed.

Lily’s Corner:

Thrift-A-Palooza

On a whim, I went to Thrift-A-Palooza to see what treasures I would find. I was so engrossed in the thought that I did a pirouette before entering the store. I saw many items; a Faberge egg, an 80s wrestler comic, and a guide book on syllables. Or does it say, syllabus?

Kim Smyth:

The wrestler downed his glass of liquid egg while reading a comic in the Saturday Evening Post. He got his protein by drinking raw eggs and eating a carnivore diet. Tonight, he would be in the ring with a woman. It will be interesting to see who will pirouette first! Not him!

The Elephant’s Trunk:

Laughed Off Stage

The wrestler changed career paths and became a stand up comedian. When he wasn’t funny, someone threw an egg at him. In a frenzy to utter his next syllable, he twirled himself into a pirouette and split his pants! The audience roared. Too late, the heartbroken would-be comic made the people laugh.

Ann Edall-Robson:

Broadway critic, A. Syllable was brutal in his review of The Pirouette at Wrestler Lane. 

“Everyone involved has egg on their faces for their effort in making a murder mystery into a musical about a standup comic and a troupe of aging dancers. This one gets a firm single syllable rating — Flop!”

Treehugger:

He dreaded hearing the one syllable command from the ring master.

Turn, Turn, Turn.

Hercules had been employed as a comic wrestler in the circus ,but to earn more money he was made to dress up in a pink tutu outfit and balance on an egg shaped ball and perform several pirouettes.

Squirreljan:

“How many syllables does it take to make a pirouette?” The comic twirled around three times. “Three, get it, ha ha.” He ducked as the eggs flew at him.

Later that night he flexed his muscles in the shower, washing the debris off. “Mum was right. I should have been a wrestler.”

poetisinta:

The Arabesque Annihilator – at the Gym

At the gym, the flamboyant wrestler tried a pirouette balancing an egg on his nose. It fell, he swore. The coach, reading a comic, barked, ‘One more expletive syllable and you’re out!’

Started, he leapt in the air – producing the greatest grand jete his fellow wrestlers had ever seen – and got a standing ovation!

Mark Fraidenburg:

The Comic

Detective Torrez watched as a comedian known as the wrestler completed a comic set with a pirouette on the stage, the crowd roaring with laughter. A red‑faced waitress tugged her sleeve, whispering a single syllable in her ear that cracked the case wide as an egg.

Utahan15:

the comic wrestler

is a not a serious nestler

as they piroutte

the audience no greek chorus

eggs him them on

with multi syllables

of pin up and pin him

end it

and the champion

will go the what is left

of the white house

on july four for number two hundred and fifty!

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