Junk

JThis is my fifth April A-to-Z Challenge. The past couple of years, I’ve written 100-word flash fiction each day. This year I’m doing the same, only with a twist: each day’s story will be inspired by the title of a Paul McCartney song. So let’s continue the fun with…

JUNK

The old man was in an armchair, head drooped over, pill bottle at his feet, the little white tablets scattered around the floor. Someone from forensics was searching his pockets. She pulled out a wallet (“Joseph Kramer, 69”) and a dead cell phone. I looked around—no land line.

“Over here, sir!” Sergeant Cobb was at Joseph’s PC. “I went to check his mail but accidentally opened his spam folder. Found this.”

He pulled up a message from Dr. Roxie Lovemaster:

Joe! Don’t take the pills!! Wrong prescription. I tried to call but your phone’s dead. Please call me ASAP!

Check back tomorrow for “K”…

“Junk” is another track from Paul’s first solo album, “McCartney,” released in 1970.

cds

Colin D. Smith, writer of blogs and fiction of various sizes.

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25 Responses

  1. Oh dear. Not just his phone that’s dead sadly.

    Keith’s Ramblings: a story with 4 neglected J words!

  2. Oops! Most unfortunate. Great little story. I love starting my morning with these. My boss has me in a meeting for 4 hours today so need some distractions to lift my little spirits.

  3. Dena Pawling says:

    Yay! Another one I figured out! These are fun. =)

    Altho any doctor who communicates that kind of information only by email deserves to be prosecuted.

    • cds says:

      YAY! I think I’ve found a niche audience for my flash! 😉 Thanks, Dena. I tried to show that the doctor had few other fast communication options (no land line, cell phone dead) short of driving over to his house, which is probably what she should have done. As well as changing her name. 🙂

  4. Yikes! That’s a scary flash fiction. Imagine it happening for real??? =O

  5. julieweathers2014 says:

    Oh my. I knew your soft side wouldn’t last long. Poor guy. I don’t check my email very often and frequently miss calls and texts, which drives my son crazy. He walks in, “Hey, you alive? Tried to call, but you didn’t answer.”

    My neurologist in Texas refused to allow anyone to fill their prescriptions at Walgreens. He had several newspaper clippings on the walls where they had filled the wrong prescriptions and people died.

    It happens.

    Great story. Sure not was I was expecting. What a great twist.

    • cds says:

      Thank you, Julie! Really? That’s unnerving. About Walgreens, not about missed calls! There were a couple of directions I could have gone with “Junk,” and when I got this idea, I nearly didn’t write it for the challenge. I liked the idea so much, I thought I could spin it out to at least a short story. But no. None of the other flash ideas worked, so I decided to use it for the A-Z. Perhaps if I change it up enough I could still make a saleable short out of it.

  6. Me says:

    Niiiiiice, I love a short story with a good ending that I don’t see coming! It’s amazing how you can use such a small amount of words to create an atmosphere and a twist. Really like it 🙂

    • cds says:

      Thank you so much, Me! It’s not easy to cram all that into 100 words, especially with a story like this when you want to be descriptive and maybe build up the characters and show some backstory. You have to really pick and choose which words you use. That’s why it’s such a good editing exercise.

  7. Aw, the poor guy!

  8. Classic! I definitely think you could morph this into a short story, Colin. There’s so much there and even more twisting you could do if you elongated it. Maybe the person he was taking the pills for was going to kill him anyway, and now suddenly has a motive for something they didn’t even commit. All sorts of ways to go, as you well know. I’m liking it!

    • cds says:

      Thanks, John. I’m definitely considering it. Throw in some red herrings too, and I think it could be a good short.

  9. Celia Reaves says:

    It’s amazing how you can pack so much in without it seeming cramped. Little touches (about his wallet, for example, or the doctor’s name) that you didn’t have to prune away. Nicely done.

    • cds says:

      Thanks, Celia. This did take quite a bit of pruning, too. It took a while to get down to the handful of words I needed to convey what I wanted to convey. I’m glad it worked out. 🙂

  10. Clever! As always… 🙂

  11. ddeepa says:

    Oh no, a little too late! Sad also that it went to spam!

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