Esther Chilton

Here is your new challenge this fine Thursday: can you tell a story in 46 words using the following words in it somewhere:

• HUMBUG
• SPAM
• FAIRY
• BUMPER

The previous challenge was to write a story in 59 words using the following six words in it somewhere:

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

Here are your amazing stories:

Graeme Sandford:

When Esther set her new writing challenge asking me if I could tell a story in 59 words, using the words: PSYCHSOMATIC, CANCEL, ACCOUNTANT, FLUFF, REGGAE, and NEEDLEPOINT in it; I was, at first, non-plussed as to how I was going to do that. Then I realised that it was going to be quite simple – and so it was.

–

When I looked up ‘Psychsomatic’, my search engine told me that no such word existed. 

I cancelled that search, and called my accountant, Fluff (who loved Reggae and Needlepoint), and asked him about the physical symptoms or illnesses caused, triggered, or worsened by mental factors like stress, anxiety, or emotional distress through seeking the unseekable and not finding it. 

Tony:

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.

Sillyfrog’s Blog:

Vigor Required

The accountant’s fluffy 1970s afro and six-foot needlepoint of Jamaican scenery on the wall didn’t cause clients to cancel their appointments. Appearances don’t destroy credentialed success. It was the loud reggae music that he kept playing on a loop in his office. The psychosomatic effect of it was too relaxed and businesspeople especially desire vigor in their money matters.

Pete:

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.

Mark Fraidenburg:

The Capture

Torres cuffed him outside the reggae bar. No chase. No struggle. He’d been waiting.

“The accountant’s death wasn’t psychosomatic,” he said. “His fear was real.”

She didn’t fluff the moment. “You’re already done.”

He smiled. “Cancel that thought, Detective.”

The needlepoint precision of his calm unnerved her.

“Now it’s time for the next chapter of our story to begin.”

A Jeanne in the Kitchen:

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.

Susan Batten:

The psychosomatic accountant told his pretty bit of fluff to cancel his next appointment. His mother’s needlepoint haunted him; he couldn’t face the needle work of that reggae addict too.

The Bag Lady:

The accountant rolled the fluff off her needlepoint. It was not psychosomatic that her cat would secretly lay directly on top, making a mess. Miss Claws resented time spent on work, and hobbies. She pounced on the cd player to cancel the reggae music and still, her owner spent time dancing around humming when she could be petting her.

John W. Howell:

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.

Pensitivity101:

A qualified accountant, she may as well have a degree in needlepoint for all the recognition she got. The long standing partners in the firm fed her banal fluff to get her doing all the running around, then took the credit for her efforts.

The psychosomatic effect made her want to cancel her career and take up Reggae instead.

Murray Clarke:

Being a full-time accountant is not the easiest of jobs. Doctors refused to treat Bernard, saying that all his problems were psychosomatic – stemming from his love of listening to deafeningly loud Reggae music, and years of doing needlepoint. Earlier in his career, Bernard had fluffed his ‘A’ levels, and had to cancel his application for entry into Oxford University.

Dawgy Daddy Responds:

If this challenge doesn’t make me psychosomatic I will cancel my wordpress subscription. I don’t see any way to fluff this up with silliness so I consult my accountant for advice. She is busy doing her needlepoint while listening to Bob Marley wail some beautiful Reggae music in the background. Her advice for me was to just wing it.

The Afterlove Voice:

The accountant blamed psychosomatic headaches on deadlines and too much reggae in his earbuds. He tried to cancel stress like a subscription, but numbers clung like fluff to dark suits. One night, he picked up his grandmother’s needlepoint, stitching calm into canvas. Thread by thread, columns softened, and the ache dissolved, proving balance sometimes hides in quiet, unlikely rhythms.

Pictures Imperfect Blog:

Jamaican Tattoo

“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.

Kim Smyth:

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.

Fandango:

“Psychosomatic,” the physician declared, dismissing Gerald’s chest pains. The anxious accountant couldn’t cancel his next appointment fast enough.

Once at home, Gerald sank into his armchair, surrounded by needlepoint cushions his grandmother had stitched. The soft sounds of a reggae record lowered his anxiety. Stroking his cat and feeling her fluff between his fingers, he somehow, slowly, breathed easier.

Christine Mallaband-brown:

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…

Lily’s Corner:

Waiting

My stomach was aching, and so I looked up psychosomatic to see what it means. I have a faint idea, but that remains to be seen. My accountant was unfashionably late, and I didn’t want to cancel our appointment. So I pulled out my fluff yarn, and decided to do a reggae colour-themed flowery art using needlepoint to relax.

L Wie:

Loving reggae music was definitely a pro on the list. Needlepoint as a hobby? Odd, so rather a con. She leaned back into the fluffy pillows. As an accountant she exactly knew how to decide on whether to cancel a second date or not: Calculate! Gain or loss? The result made her stomach churn – just a little psychosomatic reaction.

The Elephant’s Trunk:

The Diagnosis

My accountant called to cancel our meeting. “Stress,” he said. “The doctor thinks it’s psychosomatic.”

I found him later that afternoon on his porch, doing needlepoint …. a palm tree, mid-sway …. while reggae drifted from an old radio.

“Fluff,” his wife whispered to me, smiling. “He just needed an excuse to finally slow down.”

So did we all.

Ann Edall-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.

Rall:

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

Richmond Road:

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?

poetisinta:

A Songwriter’s Blues

A songwriter blamed his psychosomatic fears for every fluffed word and dreadful chorus, convinced his muse had departed. His accountant urged him to cancel panic, pick up the needle – point it at the vinyl and let himself go to reggae’s rhythm. He took his advice, naturally it didn’t work, but he felt invigorated determined to get it right…eventually!

Therapy Bits:

The accountant blamed his psychosomatic cough on stress, but really it was the reggae drifting through the office vents. Each bass line felt like a needlepoint stitching of memories he tried to cancel. He hid behind spreadsheets and fluff reports, pretending numbers were safer than rhythms, until the music loosened something he’d balanced too tightly.

Utahan15:

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

***