There were still several houses left, but he stopped, clutching his belly. The cookies were taking their toll.
At the mantle, his stomach lurched. He doubled over, retching into one of the stockings.
Then it was up the chimney, wiping his mouth.
The kid was on the naughty list anyway.
JT is a 21-year-old college student in Virginia who lives and writes in worlds of his own. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Nanoism, 365Tomorrows, and ThickJam.
Carleton arrived at the office Christmas party sporting a black eye.
“How’d you get that shiner?” his boss asked.
“Boxing Day,” Carleton said.
“But that isn’t until the twenty-sixth and has nothing to do with fighting.”
“Tell that to the shopper who thought I’d blocked him from a doorbuster deal.”
John H. Dromey had a 725-word story, Hunger Gamesmanship, posted on the Stupefying Stories Showcase website on November 4, 2014.
Ratta tap tap tap. Ratta tap tap tap.
“John, that’s not centered.”
Ratta tap tap. Ratta tap tap.
“The tree needs to be perfectly in the center of the window. Planked by the lights and frosted glass.”
Ratta tap. Ratta tap.
“That’s still not centered… What will the neighbors think?”
Holly Jeffries is a southern city girl who spends the bulk of her time crunching some numbers. When she’s not working with an excel spreadsheet, she’s usually thinking up her next short story.
“Santa favors the wealthy,” his father told him.
So when spoiled brats got all twenty things on their wish lists, poor Timothy wasn’t surprised.
Tim knew the superstition: if you are bad, Santa gives you a lump of coal.
He shivered next to the dying fire, wishing for some coal.
Three months until Christmas seems too long for Jason, whose only wish is to have less homework.
He said he hadn’t drunk too much
Said he drove better with a few
We needn’t be worried about such ‘n’ such
At Christmas, he said, he always came through.
Now we never hear him joke
But we remember those words he spoke
And we always miss him at Christmas
Connell Wayne Regner wrote the first draft of this story as a dismayed reaction to the Christmas “toll” on the roads in his neck of the woods. Tim helped to polish the poem into its current form. From both, have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.
Connell has requested that this story not be rated, out of respect for its message.
Last year, his annual business trip left him exhausted.
“You’re overweight,” said his wife, and the little ones nodded.
“No pain, no gain,” he resolved.
This Christmas Eve, after a strict twelve month diet, a slimmer, faster Santa will whiz round the world to deliver his gifts in record time.
John B Sinclair is a much-travelled Scot who has now returned to Scotland, where he enjoys freelance writing on a variety of subjects.
On the seventeenth day of Christmas, he got the bills. What in the heck had she been thinking? Five golden rings? Calling birds? The poultry was a good investment. The party for the local lords and ladies had been fun. Excellent pipers.
Smiling, she served him stewed partridge with pears.
Elizabeth Archer writes poetry, flash, and short stories. She drinks too much coffee.
“I was twelve when I stopped believing,” Aaron said. “I was an only child; I always got what I asked for. Santa seemed like a reasonable explanation.”
Jean said, “I was four.”
“That’s pretty young.”
“I asked him for a normal family. Dad left the next day.”
“Oh,” said Aaron.
JC Brotsky is a history student who can usually be found reading comics, drinking iced tea, and procrastinating on writing her novel.
Sorry for the radio silence this week, everyone. It’s been hard to spare a moment of my vacation time to think about the site. But we’ll be back to regularly scheduled updates next week (hopefully)!
Two boys inspected their giftwrapped present.
“I think it’s a puppy. I can hear it scratching.”
“It’s a zombie,” his brother said.
“How do you know?”
“No air holes.”
They were both wrong. A considerate Santa’s helper had put batteries in a mechanical toy and forgot to switch it off.
John H. Dromey has had flash fiction published in a number of anthologies (print and electronic), as well as online at The Fast-Forward Festival, Liquid Imagination, three minute plastic, and elsewhere.