Category: Four Elements Prompts

Two Figures Move Along The Catwalk

  1. Character – judge
  2. Setting – zeppelin
  3. Object – nail-gun
  4. Situation – hiccups

Two figures move along the catwalk, one in black robes and one in blue overalls. With his hands up, the robed man turns to face his captor.

“This won’t solve anything,” the judge says to the roofer.

“You put me away for a long <hic!> time,” drawls the man in overalls, menacing the judge wit his nail-gun.

Not long enough, thinks the judge. A low groaning sound permeates the superstructure as the Zeppelin Chambers – literally the highest court in the land – banks slightly to port.

“Careful with that. You’ll kill us all!” the judge implores.

“May <hic!>, maybe <hic!> that wouldn’t <hic!> be such a <hic!> bad thing!”

Oh why didn’t I take my gavel with me at recess? the judge lamented.

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Xyblorgyz Peered At His Ticket

  1. by jenCharacter – alien
  2. Setting – dry dock
  3. Object – one-way plane ticket
  4. Situation – obscene phone call

Xyblorgyz peered at his ticket. Murmansk. One way. It was the closest he could get to Tunguska. He hoped he wouldn’t miss his train connection. The shuttle to the mother-ship wouldn’t wait for stragglers.

But where was Niplodiuma? She should have been here by now.

Xyblorgyz’s digits fumbled with the tiny buttons as he tried to reach her on her Earthling cellphone.

“Hello?” said the female voice that answered.

“Plody, it’s me. Where are you?” he said in their native Centroplaxis tongue.

“Oh gross!” the female voice said. “You obscene phone callers need to get lives!”

That definitely wasn’t Plody. Xyblorgyz looked around at his fellow passengers. They were all brawny, sweaty, and wearing work gloves. How odd. His phone rang and Xyblorgyz answered it.

“Blorgy! Where are you?” It was Plody. “They’ve begun boarding!”

Xyblorgyz looked around.

“Not where I am.”

“Where are you?” She sounded frantic.

Xyblorgyz checked his translator. “Dry dock.”

“Blorgy! I told you to get that thing fixed! A dry dock is not the same as an airport!”

Xyblorgyz looked around in shocked horror.

“Oh, frazglark!”

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Steve Walked Up To The Counter

  1. Character – interior designer
  2. Setting – shopping mall
  3. Object – lunar rock
  4. Situation – dropped a contact

Steve walked up to the counter with his purchases – a “moon rock” and two hand-crafted replica ceremonial masks “from Honduras.” These seasonal stores at the mall sure made his job simpler.

“Forty-three Seventy-five. Charge? Okay.”

Steve ran his hands through his long hair while the cashier waited for her machine. She was an older unit – the cashier, not the machine – but had a tattoo peeking out over her low collar.

“So you collect this stuff?”

“It’s for a client. I’m an interior designer.”

“Hey! My nephew would love to meet you.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tightly, causing his right contact to pop out. “I’m not gay, alright? Just because a guy has long hair and decorates for a living doesn’t automatically make him gay!”

The cashier wilted. “Jimmy’s not gay either. He just bought a new house, though.”

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Lolita Panned Around The Garden

  1. by jenCharacter – retired pearl diver
  2. Setting – botanical garden
  3. Object – camcorder
  4. Situation – quitting the order

Lolita panned around the garden with the camcorder, looking for the best view. The orchid display was exceptional, the delicate white and pink flowers providing startling contrast to the black rubber worn by all of today’s participants.

Lolita made sure the camera was white-balanced properly and sat back to wait.

Gustav and Yoko were finally ready. Their wetsuits got harder for them to struggle into each year.

After the swearing in of the initiates, it was finally time for the retirement ceremony. Lolita started filming, then left the tripod. Gustav and Yoko looked warmly at her, extending their hands for the ritual handshake.

Lolita choked back tears as they removed her triple-strand pearl necklace and oxygen tank. After the ceremonial returning of the flippers, it was all over.

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Rizollo Was Sullen

  1. Character – drug dealer with a heart of gold
  2. Setting – the catacombs
  3. Object – syringe
  4. Situation – hysterical blindness

Rizollo was sullen, but mercifully didn’t pull rank. He didn’t buy any excuses for dealing narcotics, didn’t want hear some street pusher’s side of the story, but even Rizollo could see that something odd was going on. He bagged the syringe as evidence and watched the proceedings warily.

Nobody was talking. Amplified echoes of distant dripping overlaid the charnel smell and vague, almost subsonic reverb of the city permeating these ancient tunnels.

Hemp was shivering. He was pale. Nobody had a blanket, so Williams draped his jacket over the poor guy’s shoulders. His pupils were gone. Constricted down to nothing. Which was very strange in such a dark place.

“Hemp?” Williams asked gently. “What happened back there?”

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Philip Stared Down The Barrel

  1. by jenCharacter – gay bike messenger
  2. Setting – shooting range
  3. Object – one-way plane ticket
  4. Situation – first day with the new brain

Philip stared down the barrel of his .357. Unlike the other alleys at the shooting range, his target wasn’t a human silhouette; it was a plane ticket. A one-way plane ticket to San Francisco.

BLAM!

The ticket made a very small target, and Philip missed wide to the left.

His coach, Bernard, clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Phil. Everyone has trouble their first day back. That new brain will take some breaking in, but soon enough you’ll be back to your old self.”

BLAM!

Too high, and still wide to the left.

Philip wondered whether he’d ever really be back to his old self. His old self was proudly queer and ready to move to The Castro with Jerome. He already had a job lined up as a bike messenger. But then, that horrible day as a bike cop during the riot, taking a keg to the head. The brain transplant. Philip wondered if he’d ever feel gay again.

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“Pierre, Get The Eel.”

  1. Character – French circus performer
  2. Setting – the principal’s office
  3. Object – live eel
  4. Situation – power outage

“Pierre, get the eel.”

“Oui, Monsieur Crampton.”

Jacques blundered out of the office, knowing it would make no difference if he corrected the man about his name. After all, he mused, do not all the French look the same in the dark?

Also, he decided to bring candles, as well as the eel. It was not, after all, electric, and would not be of any use to drive back the darkness.

Halfway to the supply room, he resolved to run away from the circus. The wrongness of the preposition infected the whole proposition and he abandoned his resolve. Besides, they’d track him down. Like they tracked down Crampton.

Why, oh why hadn’t they just left him to run that wretched school?

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“Can I Help You?”

  1. by jenCharacter – not-so-handy man
  2. Setting – the lost and found
  3. Object – entrails
  4. Situation – missing spectacles

“Can I help you?”

Jerry squinted at the woman behind the counter. “I lost my glasses.”

She just stood there. Jerry squinted again. She looked horrified.

“Look lady, I’m in a bit of a hurry. I was trying to build my kids a tree-house, but without my glasses something went wrong with the circular saw.” Jerry shifted his grip on his gaping gut and shoved a loop of intestines back inside. “I tried to close it up with a staple gun, but I don’t think it’s gonna hold. I need to get to the doctor. Do you have my glasses or not?”

The woman fainted. Great.

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Hank Moved Swiftly

  1. Character – Ninja, just one week from retirement
  2. Setting – shopping mall
  3. Object – large pink balloon with 25 live bees inside
  4. Situation – obscene phone call

Hank moved swiftly and silently among pleated slacks, pursuing Max through menswear, both of them unnoticed by the many shoppers despite being locked in mortal combat. Hank had learned much in the food court. He knew this was a serious thing, that he could fail. Such dishonor, just a week from retirement.

He’d carried on his pursuit relentlessly from the far end of the mall, except when he’d moved swiftly and silently to the front of the line for frozen yogurt. He knew that others of Max’s clan were present. Battle was finally getting close. Max seemed to be slowing.

Hank sensed a trap, and changed from hound to fox just in time. Leaping unseen over the tops of the racks, he fled Sears. As he’d thought, three ninjas gave chase.

He wove among the crowd, seeking a place of refuge. There! Squeak’s Boutique would be a perfect hiding spot.

Diving headlong into a bin filled with anthropomorphic inflatables, Hank used his ninja skills to make himself as light as them. His pursuers entered. Live bees careened within a pink female balloon marked “special order” and he could hear the telemarketers in the back room making lurid suggestions to retirees. The searchers began to paw through the contents of the bin.

Light and bouncy, thought Hank, forming a perfect circle with his lips. Light and bouncy…

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Eli’s Pants

  1. by jenCharacter – the chosen one
  2. Setting – haunted house
  3. Object – mood pants
  4. Situation – unplanned amputation

Eli’s pants were a subtle shade of green that was almost blue. That meant he was calm. So far, so good.

The brooding, dark shell of the once-splendid mansion came into view at the end of the winding, tree-lined lane and Eli’s heartbeat quickened. His pants shaded over the line into turquoise. Very sensitive.

Standing in the light of the full moon, breathing deeply and keeping one hand on his VW for reassurance, Eli considered whether he was doing the right thing. Claire would still respect him if he didn’t go in. But would he respect himself?

As he took slow, deliberate steps toward the stone porch, a high-pitched keening sound erupted from somewhere deep inside the house. The mood pants began darkening toward indigo. After that was violet.

Nobody knew what came after violet. No one had ever gone that far and made it back to tell the tale.

But Eli would. He knew it.

Boldly he climbed the stairs and strode through the gaping front door. The place smelled like urine and citronella. Not a pleasing combination. The door creaked closed with a bang, and Eli’s pants were definitely purple. He shone his flashlight up and down them, checking for color uniformity.

As he moved deeper into the sprawling abode, Eli’s fear grew.

A large puddle of blood covered the floor outside the billiard room, wet and glistening. His flashlight beam skittered over the surface until he saw a hand. A severed hand, still twitching.

And then Eli knew. Beyond violet, the pants turned clear.

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