Wordsworth

Gabe Atkinson

This week’s challenge was to write a very short story set in a seedy motel room, a second-hand bookshop or a sinking ship. Levin’s Bronwen Gunn hints at villainy:

The customer’s manner was mild and her interests wide-ranging: a slim volume on pesticides, dusty copies of Knots and Rope Splicing and Home Kills: A Complete Butcher’s Manual. Then an armful of

Meals For One and she was gone. Today, a policeman with a photo. “Do you know this woman?”

Sordid goings-on by Paul Kelly of Palmerston North: The door opened. A whiff of mustiness did not diminish his excitement. He eyed the cover and the sheets slightly yellow with age – he’d found this Jane Austen on the internet. Curious, he wondered about her name. She smiled, “My clients always remember me, not like those Brontë girls.”

Nelson’s Berni Myskow gets metaphorical: His life is a shipwreck. The wind has blown him nowhere of interest and the navigation instruments died long ago. His mast was snatched by a rogue wave and now he simply drifts. He wishes someone had taught him to sail strongly and well, but no one ever did.

A tale of chatty literature by Mangawhai’s Maureen Skinner wins: Headline: Second-hand Bookshop Uncovers Lost Chapter of Ancient Tome. “Bound to rewrite history,” reported Time magazine. “Bull!” roared Farmyard Management. “Language, please,” muttered Modern Etiquette. “It’s in disgracefully unkempt condition,” remarked Good Housekeeping. “Decrepit,” corrected the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

For the next contest, send us a witty insult expressed as a rhyming couplet. Entries, for the prize below, close at noon on Thursday, December 1.