Can You Tell A Story In…

It’s story time. Here is your new challenge: can you tell a story in 59 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • PSYCHOSOMATIC
  • CANCEL
  • ACCOUNTANT
  • FLUFF
  • REGGAE
  • NEEDLEPOINT

The previous challenge was to write a story in 34 words using the following three words in it somewhere:

  • STORM
  • BOOKWORM
  • LIMBO

Here are your creative stories:

Darlene:

The wind and snow raged outside her bedroom window. Twelve-year-old Cecilie hardly noticed as she disappeared into her novel. She was in limbo, caught between a calm Caribbean beach and a New England storm.

Susan Batten:

Despite the raging storm yesterday, renowned sports coach, Runem Ragged, condemned notorious bookworm, Avida Reader to a lonely limbo outside the library in the rain.

He just said, “Words? Humbug!”

Kim Smyth:

Joel watched Jessica limbo in the rain, but when it turned into a storm, he snatched her up and ran to the car. He drove to a bookstore to feed the bookworm in them.

Tony:

Critical Missing

… Under the storm, the bookworm suddenly disappeared, caught up in the limbo of the collapsed library; by morning, only his annotations were still whispering truths that no one dared understand, that obscure silent night …

Sillyfrog’s Blog:

Mob Ignorance

Alvin is a bookworm. He rolled his eyes at storming protestors outside keenly aware of historical human mob ignorance grabbing his noise-cancelling headphones. His opinion, for now, within the limbo of withholding militant certainty.

A Jeanne in the Kitchen:

The storm rolled in, worse than expected. Everyone was in limbo, but not the bookworm. She pulled out her beloved books and was comforted by the words on the page.

The Bag Lady:

Everyone thought he was a bookworm, but waiting for his transcripts he felt in limbo til they arrived. He spent his free time at the library where there was always a storm of books.

John W. Howell:

The bookworm Charlie Dudley took the limbo world by storm when he managed a two inch how low can you go.

M.A.D. Works:

The storm trapped the quiet bookworm in a strange limbo, pages fluttering like frantic wings. With each thunderclap, the story she read shifted, rewriting itself, until she no longer knew which world she belonged to.

Graeme Sandford:

In the midst of the gales of Storm Drang, the 83rd Cornish Limbo Championships (sponsored by ‘The Bookworm Chomps’) continued unabated. 

The organisers were determined to make this the best championships yet – bar none.

Scrambled, Not Fried:

No Problemo

The storm of drones had immobilized the entire city (including the library’s elevator), leaving him in a silent limbo. He didn’t care. He was a bookworm, stuck between floors, thinking, “Bring on the silence!”

The Limerick Guy:

Outside a violent squall was brewing.
Inside a stressed bookworm was stewing
About some overdue books in limbo
And the weather too rough to go
Brave the storm to stop the fines from accruing.

Pensitivity101:

She’d always been a bit of a bookworm, so when the storm struck, settled down with her latest paperback. Three hours later she furiously threw it aside as the ending left everything in limbo!

Murray Clarke:

Leon had always been something of a bookworm – devouring every crime novel he could lay his hands on. His first published book: “Lingo” took the world by storm, and became an instant best seller.

Dawgy Daddy Responds:

The raging storm made the drive impossible. As she pulled over and waited in limbo for it to pass Pam noticed a little bookworm crawling across the cover of her recently purchased used book. 

The Afterlove Voice:

During the storm, the bookworm sat in limbo between chapters and thunderclaps. Each lightning flash turned pages silver, as if stories themselves were weather, waiting to break and drench her in brave beginnings.

Pictures Imperfect Blog:

Prospero’s Revenge

A well-versed bookworm prided himself that he could weather any storm. He kept tempting his fate with words from The Tempest. Until a cat’s paw pulled him out and he was dangling in limbo.

Teleportingweena:

There was a little bookworm

He was so cute and neat

When the storm came ‘aroaring

Made mish mash of the street

Little wormy was left in limbo

As his bookish house went soaring.

Squirreljan:

In limbo land, fierce winds and nail head rain hammered down incessantly. Frustration pervaded all who were stuck there apart from the bookworms and dear old Freya who, at ninety-two, finally learned to read.

Fandango:

After the violent storm knocked out the power, the bookworm sat in candlelight in his den, suspended in limbo between chapters and thunderclaps, waiting for the storm to end and the lights to return.

Christine Mallaband-brown:

Storm troopers from the Empire flew over the bookworm’s lair. But the force sent them into limbo until the Jedi could deal with them…

Luke and Leia worked together to remove their fearsome powers.

Lily’s Corner:

Reading Time

It seemed like forever to get there. Slow and steady wins the race. The storm didn’t help. The bookworm made its way into the library doing the limbo under the crack of the door.

Marsha Ingrao:

The bookworm stood teetering on the balcony in the quiet library in limbo about dropping her book two stories below when the lightning storm startled her. The book fell, echoing with a thunderous clap.

Lou by the Sea

Metamorphosis

The storm stole my electricity rendering mobile phone juice unavailable. What to do? A state of limbo. The strange objects with pages beckoned, metamorphosing me into a bookworm. See my redundant phone forever dead?

The Elephant’s Trunk:

Transformation

The bookworm waited in limbo as the thunder and lightning storm raged, pages unturned. When silence finally came, she discovered the library had been transformed and every book magically rearranged into new, incredible stories.

Ann Edall-Robson:

The loudspeaker crackled. “The library is now on emergency storm lockdown. You won’t be kept in limbo. Updates will be provided.” A loud cheer came from the Bookworm Club meeting in the back corner.

Annette Rochelle-Aben:

Low Bar

Confusing Carla was never a bookworm. An observation concluded when they recovered all her belongings carried off by the windstorm, and there weren’t even enough paperbacks to stack to hold her cherished limbo bar!

Blind Wilderness:

Jenny was in limbo between jobs. A bookworm, she was reading a book in the conservatory when a storm unexpectedly arose. A huge tree fell. The conservatory shook and began to crumble. Jenny screamed.

iMartist:

Reginal Longfellow and the Potential Afterlife

Reginald was a bookworm but also a know-it-all snob. Contemplating whether he should leave the library, wait out the thunderstorm, or be hit by thunder put him in a worrisome state of limbo.

Rall:

a bookworm reads theology

purgatory

limbo heaven or hell

none of them had appeal

she wondered how noah’s ark weathered the storms with all those animals on board

couldn’t find it in the book

Richmond Road:

Local library
Dry and warm
Seeking shelter
From the storm
A bookworm
Sitting. Reading. Dreaming.
Life is here. Or so it’s seeming
Past and present. Future next?
She’s held in limbo by the text

poetisinta:

Inside Your Sky

amidst the storm

the bookwrm

swallow thunder

like a swollen river

babbling between

commas

while i –

in limbo

float haplessly

a cursive heartbeat

pulsating

inside your sky

– tonight

only raindrops

will count

the seconds

Therapy Bits:

During the storm, a timid bookworm named Clara waited in the library basement, trapped in anxious limbo, listening to thunder drum above, wondering whether stories could shelter her better than walls ever had outside.

showtunnessal:

The Saga of Tom and Joe

So thankful my grandchildren were bookworms and engrossed in their new Junie B. Jones books, the plane ride from Memphis to NYC was in limbo because of a sudden storm. Tom marveled at them.

***

Image credit: Pinterest

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

  1. […] Go here for Esther’s Challenges. You know that you want to. […]

    Liked by 1 person

  2. […] Go here for Esther’s Challenges. […]

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Bonsoir Esther,
    This text in honor of Victor Hugo…

    The accountant of my days is your gaze. They said my sorrow was psychosomatic, it faded whenever your laughter, soft as distant reggae, crossed the room at dusk. On the table lay a toy of fluff, witness to a fragile needlepoint where I stitched our vows in silence. Nothing could cancel that trembling light against time or patient dark.

    Bonne soirée.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. So moving. Thanks, Tony.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Bonne soirée Esther.
        🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Humming the reggae classic ”Lively Up Yourself”, the accountant plowed through the wispy clouds of fluff receipts piled on his desk. The usual taxi, lunch, dinner, lodging refund requests. His job was to cancel as much as possible, so shareholders, not employees could profit from the psychosomatic needlepoint surveillance software’s nefarious endeavors. His remuneration was based on dollars denied.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Pete. Great story!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for livening up my day with your challenge 🫡

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I’m so pleased you enjoyed it.

        Like

  5. […] Can you tell a story … in 59 words […]

    Liked by 1 person

  6. “No woman no cry.” The reggae melody worked as a side-effect free psychosomatic remedy while he harvested the fluff in his partner’s navel. This cancelled out all his woes – from his relentless accountant to the pain in his arm which stemmed from a needlepoint session in which his biceps had served as an exquisite pincushion for his ink-stained companion.

    It’s the needlepoint that go me…

    Liked by 2 people

    1. This is wonderful! So entertaining 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks, Esther. Glad you like it.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. The psychosomatic accountant thought she was suffering from all kinds of ailments. She went to her doctor, who told her it was all fluff. Her doctor told her the best way to cancel these thoughts was to smoke a joint or two and focus on doing needlepoint while jamming out to reggae music.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. The perfect cure 😂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Absolutely. 🙂 🙂 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  8. it is a tale

    an account

    sick tales

    of having

    something all the time

    when young and old too

    physchosomatic head games

    time to cancel the culture

    and sing a song

    sews

    no longer

    a mother son

    has the final say so

    Liked by 2 people

  9. My accountant pleaded with the IRS to cancel the fluff submitted on my 1040. He explained that an extension was needed since his time will be taken to attend needlepoint lessons with his psychosomatic Reggae band member mother.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. That last line made me chuckle. Thanks, John.

      Like

  10. PSYCHOSOMATIC diseases really are rampant in my community. It has caused us to CANCEL several theatrical sessions. Our ACCOUNTANT is not happy because it’s left us short of funds.
    FLUFF and REGGAE my two cats have started creating NEEDLEPOINT to raise money…
    Their claws make the holes and they stitch in mousetails… Enthralling to watch. But quite messy to clean..

    Liked by 4 people

    1. That’s brilliant! Love the cats 🥰

      Liked by 2 people

  11. […] afternoon, my attempt for Esther Chilton’s, Can You Tell a Story in 59 Words using the words that are highlighted in bold. […]

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I had fun reading the submissions, 🙂 a challenge for me, but here is mine, https://tblbkreviews.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/tell-a-story-in-59-words-waiting thank you. 🧶

    Liked by 2 people

  13. Tension headaches are an example of a psychosomatic illness. No fluff y’all, its the real deal! Being an accountant caused her stress, which can also bring on such a headache. So what Sandy did to relax was needlepoint. Today she’s listening to reggae before Sirius can cancel her subscription. If that happens, she will have to sew in silence.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Oh, you’ve done so well with those words! Thanks, Kim.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Oh, thanks, Esther! I really had to use my brain on this one! 😉

        Liked by 2 people

  14. Cressida de Nova Avatar
    Cressida de Nova

    he was strange one that accountantreggae piping out of his officecat hair fluff all over his psychedelic jacketneedlepoint plus books galore on cancel culture

    piled high on his deskalway wanting to discuss topics such as pyschosematic illness

    and the prevalence of dementia in redheads

    but what the heck

    his creative accountancy saved his clients a fortune

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Such a good story. Thanks, Rall.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. […] her “Can You Tell a Story In…” prompt yesterday, Esther Chilton has challenged us to tell a 59 word story incorporating the […]

    Liked by 1 person

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

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

    Liked by 1 person

  18. THE DAY BEFORE THE TAX MAN VISITS

    Cancel my appointments
    Get rid of all this fluff
    Find a good accountant
    Who can disappear this stuff
    Play some reggae music
    Pass around a joint
    Put paint upon the canvas
    Or perhaps some needle point
    Anything to calm my nerves
    To avert financial void
    Am I psychosomatic?
    Or am I paranoid?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Love this. Thank you, Mr Richmond.

      Like

  19. […] are the fix starters Esther Chilton is giving us for a 59 words […]

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Really good story 😊

      Like

  20. […] for Esther’s “Can You Tell A Story In” –exactly 59 words using the six prompt wordsshown below. In exactly 59 words, here’s my […]

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Ann E. Robson Avatar
    Ann E. Robson

    The accountant had been advised to take up a hobby to cancel out the psychosomatic symptoms caused by work. Turning on his reggae playlist, he went to the attic. A cloud of dust and fluff rose into the room as he opened the vintage trunk. His grandmother’s half finished needlework projects welcomed him. Therapy would be filled with nostalgia. 

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Sounds like the ideal therapy!

      Like

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