Good afternoon, it’s story challenge time. Can you tell a story in 39 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- PEACOCK
- NEWSLETTER
- CYMBALS
- TOOTHPASTE
The previous challenge was to write a story in 85 words using the following eight words in it somewhere:
- SHARK
- CONGA
- LUXURY
- BUS
- FOUR
- TOWEL
- UMPIRE
- SOUNDTRACK
Here are your terrific stories:
Lou by the Sea:
On Board Entertainment
Parking my four wheel drive at the harbour, I got the bus to the port where finally the luxury liner waited for me. The tannoy soundtrack blaring- .yes, yes, “We are Sailing…” Annoying. Wimbledon’s on TV. McEnroe shouting at the umpire again. Early boozers take to doing the Conga around the pool – Oops! Watch out! Towel required please. Better entertainment on deck as a shark gobbles up a man overboard before my very eyes. No other witnesses.
The theme tune and soundtrack from ‘Jaws’ didn’t set the party alight. ‘Baby Shark’ might have worked – if they’d had it.
It wasn’t until hearing ‘Let’s all do (the Conga)’ that people got up to dance. Trouble was, following with ‘The Journey of the Sorcerer’ just got people asking ‘Do you have your towel?’
‘Happy Bus’ by Mad Dog Mcrea got them back on track; a short-lived luxury, as ‘Chalkdust – The Umpire Strikes Back’ was pure cheese.
Four of seven people, when asked, said, “What?”
Nicola Daly:
I’ve never done the conga to the soundtrack of ‘Baby Shark’ before, but it worked surprisingly well. And at the end of the line four umpires were waiting to hand us each a luxury towel so that we could dry ourselves off. I know it’s the trendy thing to do when you’re at Wimbledon and rain stops play, but I’m wondering if it would work when you’re stuck in the queue and the bus is late? Wouldn’t be the same without Cliff leading it, though.
Tickled
I watched the luxury bus depart, its four wheels going round and round. To do that, all day long!
But right now, with Chas’n’Dave, the silky-smooth soundtrack of my twenties, blaring through my earbuds, I turned to the beach, laying my towel carefully onto the golden sand stretching before me.
Heating uncomfortably, it was time for a dip into the inviting ocean. Waist deep, something brushed my bare leg. Was this a shark, or an eel dancing the conga? I’d need an umpire to decide.
Tony:
Brave Inspector…
Inspector Clouseau arrived by bus at a luxury hotel, convinced that a conspiracy to steal sharks had taken place within these walls. With four clues lost and a towel draped like a disguise, he questioned the guests while a dramatic soundtrack seemed to follow each of his faux pas. Taking the conga of a dancer for coded signals, he accused an innocent referee of espionage, only to untangle everything himself. Collapsing in an absurd triumph amidst the involuntary confusion, as chaos applauded his bewildering genius.
First and Last
Her first bus ride offered a conga line of weirdos instead of any expected hands-free luxury.
A flirtatious man, with a shark face-tattoo, winked and leaned against her.
THEN, four baseball players piled into two seats followed by an umpire swinging a victory towel.
Weren’t umpires always neutral?
When the burly bus driver applied lipstick in his mirror, she hailed a cab instead, but the soundtrack to Top Gun blasted as it weaved at terrifying speeds!
Edna happily drove herself evermore …
I won a luxury prize on a game show one time. It was to visit the Umpire, Inc. movie set where they were making ‘Shark-nado’, a horror tale.
The four prizewinners formed a conga line as we were asked to be extras in the movie beach scene. We had so much fun waving our towels around in the air while jamming to the rocking soundtrack. Afterwards, we took a bus back home.We invited all our friends over for a watch party and autographs were given.
Susan Batten:
I took a nº 4 bus to umpire the conga-wrangling contest at the Shark Club. I just love their soundtrack, though I need a luxury bath towel for my tears.
Joe adjusted headphones watching his wife dance the conga with friends they made on this tour. The bus was not a luxury, but adequate for the price. A shark in the tourism industry was plentiful, but Joe waggled costs down to something affordable. The “soundtrack” playing in his ears was the baseball game he was missing. After four years of sitting in a noisy seat, Joe threw in the towel. The seats were expensive, behind the umpire, but his wife and this tour replaced them.
The four of us took a luxury bus to view the shark exhibit at the aquarium. The soundtrack on the bus played only salsa music. I asked the driver to switch something else. He refused, so I threw in the towel, and organized a four person conga line and asked the driver to umpire our style to keep it authentic.
Circles in the Sand
One might call it: The sharks are circling! It was of course merely a conga line beach tournament but the competition was surprisingly ferocious. There was an umpire who oversaw the suitability of the soundtracks used (diddly-diddly dum-dum) and the proper placement of the towels (one inch above the hip bone). Four groups of twenty-one dancers each had reached the finals. The coveted prize for which they were competing was a luxury bus tour to False Bay in South Africa to watch real sharks circling.
The queue at the bus terminal was like a conga, but no-one was dancing to any soundtrack.
A luxury tour had been arranged and four pensioners were having a heated discussion as to who should have the front seats. The driver ended up acting as an umpire to the dispute.
The men finally threw in the towel and agreed to take the seats behind, the guy wearing sharkskin shoes having coerced the ladies to allow them to join them for afternoon tea at their destination.
Murray Clarke:
On our first date, I took my girlfriend to a luxury cinema. Not owning a car, we caught the number four bus. I splashed out on tickets on the back row. The film was great, but the soundtrack way too loud! Later, I discovered she was a card shark, and an umpire for the local cricket team – before a knee injury forced her to throw in the towel. After that, she was unable to participate in her favourite pastime – the conga.
The luxury bus rattled toward the coast, its soundtrack a mix of laughter and old songs. Four strangers formed a conga down the aisle, led by a retired umpire with surprising rhythm. At the beach, a warning sign mentioned a shark sighting, but no one cared. They danced on the sand, waving a towel like a flag of joy. For a fleeting afternoon, worries dissolved into music, salt air, and shared silliness that felt richer than any luxury they’d ever known.
The Shark complained to the Conga…. I prefer the luxury of a shorter word challenge… His words bubbled through his hills like an old spluttering bus.
Four hours later he still hadn’t composed his story… The pen kept falling off his fins even though the Conga had tied it on with old fishing nets.
Get me a towel he said.
The umpire can adjudicate if it’s okay we will make a soundtrack. Instead, it’s easier…. Everyone is into Podcasts now!
Meditation
Make no fuss
Sit with me
Inside this bus
Tiptoe-Tiptoe
Doing fine
Progress
In the conga line
Hours passing
Twenty-four
No fight, no right
To ask for more
Such is life. For you and me
No expecting luxury
Try to sleep
But not to dream
Fight the current
Swim upstream
Away from sharks
And all your fears
Tissues, towels
To dry your tears
Ending soon, this imposition
Umpire makes the last decision
Sad existence. Man and wife
This – the soundtrack of our life
A Lingering Dream?
The umpire had this strange dream of how he was leading a conga line dressed up as a shark with a pink towel around his head in the ballroom of a luxury hotel, while the soundtrack of Jaws was playing. Crazy!
In the bus to the afternoon game he sat next to his team mate’s four year old daugther. To pass time he grimaced for her until his face started hurting and the girl screamed hysterically: “What’s happening to your head? You look like a shark!”
Uninfluenced
Sue walked to her bus stop, so relieved to have left the luxury store. Baby Shark was blaring in there and the previous three soundtracks were no better. She wanted to shout like an umpire as she was leaving the store. That’s four annoying songs, and you’re definitely out! She almost went to the bed and bath section to get a towel to put over her ears.
As the bus pulled up, she wondered why the stores couldn’t use musical instruments like a conga drum.
All Aboard
Four sharks boarded a luxury bus,
Each clutching a towel, causing a fuss,
A conga soundtrack played loud and clear,
While the umpire waved a flag near to the rear.
The bus bounced over breathtaking hills,
Passing clouds laughing, giving thrills,
Towels flew like birds into the sky,
The sharks danced raucously they weren't very shy.
Music and chaos mixed without pause,
Even the driver joined in because...
Life is a dance, wild and often fraught,
And sharks love a good conga - who'd have thought?
Last Game of the Season
It’s the bottom of the 9th in our last game against the Shanty Town Sharks. I’ve been pitching a perfect game until now.
The Umpire yells “Ball 4!” and the batter saunters to first base along to the Miami Sound Machine lyrics to Conga “…’Cause tonight we’re gonna party ’Til we see the break of day…” Perfect soundtrack for a pitcher about to throw in the towel.
The Sharks crush it and win the game. No laughs only cries in our luxury bus headed home.
Death Dive
The luxury charter bus pulled into Miami’s Dive Aquarium early that morning. At closing time, the body of the driver was found behind the shark enclosure, a damp towel knotted around his neck.
Detectives Crockett and Tubbs surveyed the scene, eyeing four suspects: the conga dancer, the umpire, the recording engineer, and the shark trainer.
“The soundtrack was looped,” Crockett drawled, “and nobody noticed … until the computer malfunctioned.”
He turned to the recording engineer. “You shoulda read the user’s manual, pal! Cuff him, Rico.”
Once a driver for a luxury tour bus company, Tony had supplemented his income as a freelance baseball umpire. It was the side gig that had introduced him to connections and the ins and outs of making money from lending it. Now the independent business magnet, a.k.a. lone shark, listened to an energetic soundtrack in the penthouse suite of the hotel where he lived. With a towel around his waist, and holding drink number four, Tony danced precariously with an imaginary conga line.
Rall:
such fun
on his way by bus
to a luxury resort
on shark island
for four weeks
the soundtrack of a conga
heightening the mood
of excitement
he was so pleased
he threw in the towel
resigning from that
dead end tennis umpire job
no more smashing of raquets
and drama queen outbursts
the days of hit miss and giggle
were definitely a thing of the past
more than a century ago
Anyone for Tennis
We got on the bus for a mystery tour. The bus ride was a luxury, so relaxing. I shut my eyes. A soundtrack of seabirds calling, rang out to give us a clue to our destination .The seaside. I thought to myself I could buy a towel and have a paddle in the sea.
To my surprise, four teams were engaged in volleyball on the beach .The eventual winners were dressed in shark outfits, and they began dancing the conga along the seafront, led by the umpire.
Joe loved to do the conga. No one realised that he was a shark . He had managed to get a luxury car in a rather dubious way. He had got bored with using the bus. He was ready to throw in the towel. He had an appointment for four o’clock to see the car. In qthe showroom he heard his favourite soundtrack. He talked to the salesman, and became irritated with him.
Soon the manager had to come and act as umpire. Joe walked away.
On a luxury bus, four strangers shared a strange soundtrack humming softly. A towel lay over a cage, hiding a small shark that swayed whenever the conga rhythm played. The driver, a retired umpire, insisted it was perfectly normal. At sunset, the bus stopped, the cage opened, and the shark slid into the sea, leaving behind only music, mystery, and four unforgettable passengers who later wondered if the journey had been real or just a looping dream carried by that peculiar traveling soundtrack forever echoing.
***
Image credit: Pinterest
Esther Chilton 
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