I hope you’re having a great week. Here’s your Thursday story challenge. Can you tell a story in 28 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- SCRABBLE
- POLICE
- UNDERWATER
The previous challenge was to write a story in 64 words using the following six words in it somewhere:
- MICROPHONE
- ZEAL
- SNAIL
- COTTAGE
- IMMORTAL
- TEAPOT
Here are your fabulous stories:
Effortless Hero
Dale the Snail – nicknamed for ultra-slow reactions and lack of any zeal- was posted at the Medieval Cottage display when an unsupervised toddler raced toward a 2000-year-old teapot.
Sleepily turning to his shouldered microphone, Dale loudly announced, “Monster on the loose!” scaring the tot back into his mother’s arms.
That day, he seamlessly became an immortal museum guard hero only by turning his head.
Lou by the Sea:
The Ugly Bug Ball
The annual Ugly Bug Ball in the derelict woodland cottage brought the snail out of his shell and the woodlice wooh-hooing! The slug crawled up the teapot spout to listen to the grasshopper who chirruped into the microphone with great zeal. No more ‘Ugly’, welcome to the Immortal Bug Ball. Let’s rock!
“Is this microphone on? Okay, I shall begin.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to the seventh Swiss Cottage Tea Ceremony – with teas brought in from as far away as Old Australia and New Zealand.
We shall now sing our anthem, ‘Tea-Leaf Immortal, the Tortoise beats the Snail’.”
“That was special. Now, let us begin.”
“Teapots at the ready…?”
Nicola Daly:
You see that pretty thatched cottage? I called in once. It’s owned by a rock star – calls himself Captain Zeal and says he’s immortal. He wonders round in tight trousers pretending to be on stage with a microphone in hand doing pelvic thrusts. But it was when I saw the snails sliming over the teapot that I ran out screaming. I’m not going back!
Tony:
A very confused Frenchman arrived at a crooked English cottage, carrying a Microphone and absurd zeal. He expected fine snail cuisine, but found an immortal teapot shouting recipes. The snail escaped, wearing a tiny hat, while the host sang dramatically. Plates danced, chairs applauded, and the Frenchman politely fainted, still reviewing flavors in midair before landing inside his own hat, applauding the madness loudly.
I’m on stage with microphone in my hand about to sing karaoke then I see a snail go across the stage and onto my shoe with all the zeal it has going for it like it’s immortal or something kind of like a tea pot when it’s making noise very loudly then when I’m done I go home to my cottage and low and behold there is the snail again.
Brewed to be Immortal
At the village cottage talent show, I grabbed the microphone with heroic zeal, only to discover I’d signed up to duet with a snail.
He inched onstage, riding a teapot like a chariot. “I am immortal,” he whispered, very slowly.
We’re still performing. He’s reached the second note. The audience has aged gracefully.
The Nurse
Torres checked the hidden microphone.
His zeal remained terrifying. He acted immortal, smirking across the metal table.
“The nurse? Just a snail in my path,” he laughed.
Torres held up the evidence bag: a shattered teapot from his swamp cottage.
“We found her,” she said simply. His smirk vanished instantly. “She’s alive,” Torres added, watching his ego shatter just like the fragile porcelain pieces.
Gail, the singing snail fancied herself the chanteuse of the music world. When she saw her opening, she slimed her way up the microphone stand for her solo. Halfway out of her shell, she swayed and softly sang her song. The audience applauded with zeal and were happy rewarding her with a beautiful cottage, completely furnished, right down to the teapot. Immortality was guaranteed.
Susan Batten:
How could I resist the invitation to join my old friend, the writer, Joe Zeal, on his book launch? He was such a character – he shunned microphones and preferred snail mail – and I’m not sure his cottage by the sea even had a Wifi connection!
But his fifth book, “The Immortal Teapot”, was set to be a runaway success, like the other four.
“My heavens!”yelled the immortal Miss Pennypacker. She picked up the microphone at the cottage by the lake. Being the main speaker at a library convention, most of the ladies at this particular speech were hard of hearing elderly. However, the resting teapot on each small table teetered, hearing this exclamation. Miss Pennypacker approached the curious snail on the mic with zeal. “Do you read?”
On stage of the immortal Karaoke Cottage, Jerry pulled out a snail mail letter and with great zeal and an over modulated microphone, belted out the lyrics written on it. Unfortunately for Jerry the music was “St Elmos’ Fire” and his lyrics were “Ring of Fire.” Jerry came in last but did get the “Tone Deaf ” award engraved on a silver teapot.
Get Smart
Maxine Smart was a spy with a special zeal. In her career she had installed microphones in teapots, snail shells, in villas and cottages. But this was the ultimate undercover case. She would expose the agent from Botswana, rescue the former president of SWAPO from Namibia and with one foul swoop secure a year’s production of diamonds from Orapa. It would make her immortal!
Shell Out The Money
Poised in front of the microphone stand, Sammy Snail needed his voice to be heard if his plan stood a chance. He knew he would be immortal if his infectious zeal were to impress the creative minds of the Shark Tank investors. After all, turning a teapot into an air bnb vacation cottage for others of his kind was his greatest idea to date!
The old teapot was the perfect find for Sammy the snail. With a zeal he never knew he possessed, he planted a cottage garden and turned a cracked piece of china into an immortal monumental family home. In pride of place was a battered microphone mesh he’d utilised as a safety net for the youngsters so that they could explore and play every day.
Murray Clarke:
The soundman clipped on the microphones, and they were ready to go.
The cottage fell silent.
Then, the immortal words: ‘ACTION!”
Grinning like a snail, the presenter picked up the china teapot.
“More tea, vicar?”
“Thank you, Julian.”
“So, Father . . . I believe that, by zeal and diligence, you are about to be ordained a bishop? Am I correct, or is this just a rumour?
Sword of the Samurai
With zeal in his step he moved along a path towards a stone cottage. Upon entering he saw a Samurai taking a teapot off the fire to fill his cup. Glancing at the wall a majestic sword hung. The Samurai was speaking into a microphone. “Dang he spotted me”, thought the snail. His foot raises, But I am Immortal with a hankering for murder.
I lost my zeal for doing challenges and began moving like a snail with them so I decided an interlude was in order. I started singing on my microphone but without a proper recording booth it sounded like I was inside a empty teapot. I’ll keep practicing inside my cottage flat until I can sing like this immortal musician from the Progressive Pop Era.
In the quiet cottage, she spoke into a cracked microphone, her voice filled with zeal. A snail crept across the windowsill, unhurried, immortal in its patience. Steam curled from a lonely teapot as memories answered her words. She wasn’t broadcasting to the world, but to something unseen—hoping her voice, like the snail’s path, might linger long after she was gone.
Microphone time! Shouted the director, gather together for the first scene. He had great zeal but the actors were very slow and boring, like snails.
It didn’t help the scene was set in a small cottage, and the 18 actors were crammed in.
It was only when the immortal Douglas Fairbunks dropped the teapot that they shifted to avoid the poisoned liquid in it…
Shelly Snail
Miss Shelly is not smelly, she has the zeal of a thousand snail warriors when it comes to spring cleaning her cute cozy cottage by the sea. Her teapot whistled its usual high-pitched tone, which signalled break time. She checked her microphone settings on her hearing aids. It was effective and delightful to stream music to them. She was not immortal, that’s for sure.
The Wisdom of a Snail
In a cottage sat an immortal snail full of zeal,
Speaking into a microphone, explaining how to feel:
Take tea from a teapot, go steady, don’t rush –
Even endless life improves without a fuss,’
He’d seen ages pass, yet stayed rather spry,
Watching empires yawn and politely go by,
Then he ended his talk and so here ends the tale,
For wisdom, it seems, travels best with a snail.
Life was good back in the day. I thought I was immortal when I was on stage, microphone in hand, belting out song after song to thousands. Performing with a zeal that was fed by the music, the fans. Now I live in a cottage, walk like a snail, and can’t remember the words to I’m a Little Teapot. The accident has changed everything.
Rall:
all she wanted
was a country cottage
moving at a snail’s pace
sipping tea made in a pretty teapot
no wish to be immortal
do anything with zeal or
ever hold a microphone again
The DJ grabbed his microphone with zeal. He told his listeners about a witch who lived in a cottage in the woods. She told of a spell to make him immortal. She would add leaves from her everlasting eco-friendly tree plus a large snail and pondwater to her teapot, to steep for twenty-four hours. I drank a potion and hoped to live forever.
words can make you immortal
time and tide scribbled typed into this prosaic portal!
the microphone is mute and at a snail s pace
wag the dog bark on the pond
green toad frog s frond
the cottage industry of blog and slog
zeal has it s rancor and so too appeal!
The Race
Deep inside a quaint cottage, Chester’s zeal for the strange reached its peak. He sat before a classic old microphone, trusty teapot at his elbow, broadcasting to an enthusiastic audience of ghosts. A brave little snail raced across the table as Chester narrated the epic journey. It was, admittedly, slow going but the ratings were “out-of-this-world”, and the snail was destined to become immortal.
***
Image credit: Pinterest
Esther Chilton 
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