100-Word True Stories

IN 100 WORDS

A CAT’S SECOND LIFE

Our black-and-gray tabby cat had been missing an unusual three days. On the fourth day, I found him halfsmashed on the pavement a block from our house. We drove him home in our trunk. We prayed and cried as we said our last goodbye over his backyard grave. The next morning, I awoke and heard a sound at the door. There was our cat, alive and well. I said to my husband, “Honey, either we buried the wrong cat, or we have to rename him Lazarus because he just rose from the dead.”

CYNTHIA ASKINS, Houston, Texas

SUNRISE MELTS AN OLD SALT

On my 24th birthday, I was standing a communications watch on the bridge of the USS George Washington. The captain was feared by the enlisted men and never spoke to anyone below officer status. It was early, and the sun was just appearing over the Mediterranean Sea. “Shipmate, get over here!” the captain bellowed. “Yes, sir!” I ran from my alcove into view. “Look at that,” he said, pointing to the red glowing sun cutting through the fog over the still, black sea. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I’ll never forget his inadvertent birthday gift. MICHAEL SUTCH, Sellersville, Pennsylvania

IMPATIENT BIG SISTER

After confirming her pregnancy, my friend told her four-year-old daughter about the new brother or sister on the way. She made it clear that the baby’s arrival would be quite a ways away. Her husband came home, and the family had dinner and discussed the good news. Finally, it was time for bed, and the little girl, suddenly very distressed, said to her mother, “I know you said it would be a long time until we got our baby, but this is just ridiculous.”

JANET SIMMONDS,