Short Story: Rainy Days

On rainy days, she makes a thermos of something hot, then heads up to the attic.

The attic has a large window, stretching almost from floor to ceiling, and it’s beside this window that she sits.

With a warm drink in hand, she watches raindrops run down the clear glass and lets her mind wander. And she will sit, sometimes for hours, until the rain stops or her thermos runs dry.

Whichever comes first.

~End~

 

Genre: slice of life

Short Story: Triple Trouble

Three pairs of eyes watched intensely as his needle dipped in and out of the jagged wound. Stitch by stitch, he pulled the gap close until worn fabric closed over the yellowed cotton inside.

One loop, two, three, then a knot pulled tight. He snipped the thread and the tucked the free end in.

“There. All done.”

Immediately, three little bodies pounced on him. He raised the newly-mended stuffed elephant above his head and out of reach of the over-excited kids.

“Careful! Remember what just happened?”

The triplets froze at the reminder of the three-way rough play that had almost ripped their stuffed elephant apart. Much more subdued, the triplets reached out for their elephant again. He looked them in the eye, one at a time. Deciding that they had learnt their lesson, he released the elephant to them.

“Thank you big brother!” three voices said in unison. Then the triplets dashed out of his room, eager to return to their interrupted playtime.

He packed the sewing kit and returned it to its usual spot at his bedside table.

For next time.

~End~

Genre: slice of life, family

Short Story: Forgetful People

There was a lunchbox on the table.

Was it hers?

She checked her bag. An identical lunchbox looked up at her.

Not hers. Then…

She pulled out her phone and dialled a familiar number.

“Hey, did you take your lunchbox?”

“Oh no!”

Mystery solved. Her forgetful brother had left his lunch behind. Again. Fortunately for him, their offices were on the same street. It would be a small matter for him to swing by her office and pick it up during lunch break.

She slipped the other lunchbox into her bag and rushed off to catch the train to work.

Only to leave her bag at her seat.

Well, almost leave her bag at her seat. A helpful fellow passenger called after her before she got off the train empty handed.

Haha. That would have been embarrassing.

~End~

 

Genre: slice of life

 

Short Story: Stumbling in the Dark

With careful steps, he felt his way through the dark. His feet didn’t make a sound as he crept heel to toe across the-

Something stabbed his foot. He stumbled at the sharp pain and crashed to the ground.

“Daddy?”

The light switched on. His daughter sat up from her bed.

“Sorry, Love.” He looked down at the broken pieces of what used to be a toy arrow. He swept it aside with his feet. “I’ll fix that later.”

He returned to his daughter’s bed and sat on the chair.

“Lie down. I’ll stay until you go back to sleep,” he said and patted her pillow. She settled back down and her turned off the light.

With a quiet sigh, he leaned back in his chair and prepared for another long wait.

Next time, he would not forget his phone again.

~End~

 

Genre: slice of life, family

Short Story: Elusive Thief

For weeks, things had gone missing from the kitchen table. Specifically, food. Cookies, meat, noodles, dough trimmings, even leftover lemons after zesting them. No one else in the house admitted to taking her food, but if an outsider was the culprit they would be missing much more than just food.

So she set up a surveillance camera and took her dog out for a walk, multiple times, at different times of the week with different bait. But nothing happened. In the end, she just had to make sure she kept her food straightaway and not leave it our for the elusive thief.

Before she kept the camera away, she watched the footage from the beginning of the installation to the end.

She found her thief.

On screen, her own dog pushed a chair away from the kitchen table and jumped on it. With the added height, her dog sniffed around the tabletop, found no food scraps lying around, then hopped back down to the floor. But before the crafty canine left, a swift kick sent the chair back into place.

Her trusty companion… was the thief.

This wasn’t why she paid for puppy school!

~End~

Genre: slice of life

Short Story: The Fire Alarm

The fire alarm rang just as their food arrived.

They were hungry, no one else was leaving, it was probably a false alarm, but she had kids with her. However she felt about fire alarms, she should teach her kids to take them seriously.

“That’s the fire alarm. Pack your things and get ready to go.”

It turned out to be a good thing, because not long after all her kids had kept their things, the fire alarm turned out to be real. They were all chased out of the restaurant, and with everything already packed, her kids left without any fuss.

Still, it would have been better if they could eat first. She was so hungry her stomach was trying eat itself.

“Mum?”

She looked down.

Her older son presented her with the tacos they ordered. Her older daughter held the quesadillas. Her younger son had salsa. Her younger daughter… had smuggled out the whole jug of pineapple juice.

Ah. Her wonderful children.

“Thank you.”

~End~

 

Genre: slice of life

 

Short Story: Not Enough Sugar Cubes

Fact: her brother started his day with a cup of coffee with a serving of milk and three sugar cubes.

Fact: she started her day with a cup of tea and a serving of milk and one sugar cube.

Fact: there was only two sugar cubes in the jar.

Problem: not enough sugar cubes.

“We can have one each,” she suggested.

“We can split one cube into half, so we both have half our usual sugar,” her brother said.

“That’ll just leave a mess everywhere.”

“Or you can grab more from the pantry,” a third voice cut in.

They turned to see their little brother, holding up a bag full of sugar cubes. He raised his eyebrow at them, to which they could only respond by reaching for the bag.

“Thanks, little bro.”

Solution: have a smart little brother.

~End~

 

Genre: slice of life, family

Short Story: Crispy Bacon

Everyone had something they would travel to the ends of the earth for. For her husband, it was crispy bacon.

Hot or cold, fresh or cured, as long as it had the crisp, he wanted it.

Their precious daughter knew her daddy liked bacon, but not that he only liked crispy bacon. So it was with great amusement that she watched their two-year-old waddle back and forth between the dining table and her daddy, bringing with her a slice of bacon on a plate each time.

“Bacon.” Their daughter presented the soft, non-crispy bacon.

“Thanks, sweetheart.” Her husband forced a smile and accepted the offered bacon.

One hand pressed against her lips to muffle her laughter, she recorded it all on her phone.

For posterity.

~End~

Genre: slice of life, family

Short Story: Room for Error

With everything he made, he always allowed some room for error. People didn’t always read instructions, preferring to fudge their way through trial and error. So he made sure his buttons didn’t break when twisted the wrong way or have circuits fry the moment they were plugged to the wrong power source.

But no amount of extra leeway could have saved his egg beater from concrete mix.

It took him a few tries before his mouth finally sputtered, “Why?”

“We thought it would work?”

With everything he made, he always allowed room for error, but even then, people always found a way to break them.

He sighed.

“That’s fine. I’ll make a new one.”

And lock it safely out of sight.

~End~

 

Genre: slice of life

 

Short Story: Disobedient Obedience

They obeyed his instructions, didn’t challenge his authority, didn’t break his rules.

And yet, they still managed to rebel against him.

You wanted me to withdraw money. Did that. Too little? Well sir, that was the most I could withdraw without the right documents.

You wanted us to create more space in the warehouse. We did. What happened to everything inside? We auctioned them. Look how much space you have now. We even got some extra cash.

It didn’t matter what tasks he set for them, they always found a loophole to abuse. And he loved creative minds like this. If only they weren’t turned against him.

If they thought this would chase him away, they… wouldn’t be far off. He was this close…

But this was his company. He would not be cowed by his own staff. He would win them over, or the company would die trying.

~End~

 

Genre: slice of life