Monday, March 21, 2011

Second Crusader Challenge

The Challenge: Write a flash fiction story (in any format) in 100 words or less, excluding the title. Begin the story with the words, “The goldfish bowl teetered” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional, and not part of the judging criteria), see if you can write the story in your own genre (eg if you’re a horror writer, write a horror story; a romance writer, a romance story, etc).

Once you’ve posted your Challenge post on your blog, pop back here and link directly to it in the linky tool below (make sure you include the direct link to that post, not just the link to your blog!).

Entries in the Second Crusader Challenge will close next Friday, March 25th (at 11.59pm EST), so make sure you get your post in the linky link before then!

My entry:

Dash the goldfish as Goldie
"Freedom"

The goldfish bowl teetered. Goldie swam to one end. His tail propelled him forward before his head struck the plastic again. It tumbled over.

Crash!

The bowl didn’t shatter but cracked along one side; the top skidded along the floor. Water leaked onto the tiles. Goldie leaped from his prison.

Victory over the humans would be his. Freedom never tasted so sweet to the goldfish.

He didn’t see the furry swish of the cat’s tail. By the time he felt the feather-light paws, it was too late.

Stripes pounced, trapping the goldfish. Mouth wide, he swallowed Goldie whole.

Romeo the cat as Stripes
Author's Note: "Freedom" came in at 98 words. No animals were harmed in the writing of this flash piece.

50 comments:

Kerri Cuev said...

Ha ha I loved this! Very entertaining. Although I feel for Goldie, Stripes aka Romeo is really cute.

Romeo would like my cat. Her name is Juliet, lol.

Maggie said...

Poor Goldie. He'd never make it in this house, with three cats. : )

Cherie Reich said...

Thingy - He wouldn't make it very well in my three-cat home either. *grins*

Elizabeth Briggs said...

Ha! Too funny. I love the photos you included too.

Anonymous said...

What a treat...for the cat that is.
Great job!

Nikki

Sierra Gardner said...

Loved it! Sounds like Goldie had a pretty bad day.

Carol Riggs said...

Haha, poor Goldie! He thought he was so clever, but he was outsmarted. ;o) Nice job.

Michelle Merrill said...

Poor fishy, but that stripes got a yummy treat :)

Sylvia Ney said...

Great Job!

Tony Benson said...

Ah! The ultimate freedom :-) Nice job.

Cherie Reich said...

Nikki - Thank you!

Sierra - Thank you!

Sylvia - Thanks!

Tony - Thanks!

Stripes did get the best treat, and he may have saved his humans from a diabolical goldfish too. :)

Nicole Zoltack said...

LOL I really enjoyed this. :)

CherylAnne Ham said...

What a great story. I love the idea of the goldfish wanting to escape. Too cute!! too bad it didn't work out so well for him *giggles*

Abhishek said...

Wow!! The story is awesome and the pic is cool!!!

with warm regards
http://becomingprince.blogspot.com

Cherie Reich said...

AllMyPosts - Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Very descriptive--poor Goldie! I hope he was tasty. :-)

Anonymous said...

Clever and fun. I love it. Plus, I always love a good cat photo.

Ben Langhinrichs said...

Good use of the photos. I use the concept of freedom as well, but somewhat differently.

Ciara said...

Great job with the challenge! I love it!

Angela Scott said...

Ahh, poor goldie. Thus is life.

Very nice. Love the added pictures as well.

Trisha said...

*sniffles* Poor fisheh! But I hope it was quick and painless :P

Anonymous said...

oh dear poor Goldie. I hope the sequel tells of his life inside the cat's stomach like Jonah and the whale. :O)

Theresa Milstein said...

Too funny! Poor goldfish was a goner anyway.


I'm having a 500 followers contest at my blog. Please visit if you get a chance. Great prizes!

Deniz Bevan said...

Glad to hear that no animals were harmed [g] Being a cat lover, I'm on the cat's side in this one!

Summer Ross said...

Woo hoo- cat to the rescue! great flash fiction for the challenge.

alberta ross said...

well wasn't so bad you know - it was a quick demise (swallowed whole no nasty teeth hurting) - and he died with the taste of triumphant freedom in his soul - died happy - good way for a goldfish to go I say!

Cherie Reich said...

Thanks, Liz, Jennifer, Ben, Ciara, Trisha, Summer, and Alberta.

Amanda Milner said...

Awww, poor Goldie!! Romeo looks like our kitty Iron Man.☺ He disappeared months ago though:(
I just noticed the Chelsea Cain books in your bookcase, are they any good? I just bought all three because she is coming to my town's Writer's Convention this May. I haven't started them yet though.

Cherie Reich said...

Amanda - Aww! I'm sorry to hear about your kitty Iron Man. As for the Chelsea Cain books, I loved them. I can't wait to read the fourth, which came out this month. I have reviews up under my book reviews blog (http://surroundedbybooksreviews.blogspot.com). I think I put the reviews up in August perhaps.

Amanda Milner said...

Thank you, he was a cool little guy. Coolness! I will have to check that out, thanks! ☺ They do have an interesting concept. :)

Akoss said...

Free meal for the cat.
You can never go wrong with that. ;)
I loved it.

Crystal Collier said...

Poor fish. =(

Unknown said...

Freedom always comes with a price -- LOL. Well done, Cherie. Very entertaining!

jkraus8464 said...

Very clever. I loved the pictures, as though your animals were the actors. A Fun piece, most enjoyable to read, especially since no animals were harmed in the process!

J.C. Martin said...

Poor Goldie. He was so close to freedom...as long as he could somehow figure out how to breathe out of water. ;)

Sarah Ketley said...

poor little fishy, you will give kids nightmares with that one... lol

great take on the story.

Sarah

Ps somehow missed being a follower of your blog, i swear i thought i was! anyway have fixed that up now.

Danette said...

So the cat's a hero... that doesn't happen very often! Usually cats are just too ornery! Very enjoyable! Thanks!

Kari Marie said...

I love the "victory over the humans" part. Poor Goldie.

Sylvia said...

Poor Goldie!!! Love the victory over humans part, also very happy that Stripes won!

Cherie Reich said...

Thanks, Sylvia!

Alison Pearce Stevens said...

"Victory over humans"--LOL! Love it. :)

Cherie Reich said...

Thanks, Alison!

Witless Exposition said...

Poor Goldie! I was wondering what he was going to do when he got out of the bowl. I guess Stripes took care of that for him.

Anonymous said...

This was really great. I loved,"No animals were harmed in the writing of this flash piece." Made me laugh. Great job!

Cherie Reich said...

Thanks, Shelley!

Charity Bradford said...

LOL, I loved the pictures to go along with the story. Nice job with the goldfish attitude. Too bad it didn't work out for him.

Anonymous said...

Fun piece, but poor Goldie. :-(

Cherie Reich said...

Thanks, Pam!

Adina West said...

Goldie came so close to freedom...but would have been safer if he'd never tried to escape! Nice twist.

Holly Vance said...

Goldie had the voice of a cat as portrayed in a lot of animal comics. Makes the ending ironic.