It seems hard to believe, but since it’s right here in print, you know it’s true: You’re mere seconds away from the Story of the Week. A fun prompt provided by Kay Nyne-Luvah inspired this one. We do appreciate your sending it along. Got a prompt you want me to try to use? You know where to find me.

Without further delay, here’s this week’s tale.

          Taking It To Another Level

He dragged overflowing food trays along the buffet counter. Since he wore a massive rain poncho, gauging his enormous girth was impossible.

Customers gawked, shouted, “Try some self control!”

He sped around a slow-moving couple and stole their table. “Sorry,” he said, sitting. After sneaking food into Tupperware containers hidden under his poncho, he devoured a low-cal salad and left.

He drove around the corner, exited his pickup, and spread out a buffet on the tailgate.

His loud whistle summoned six homeless kids and a dog hiding in the park.

He tossed the dog a hamburger. “Sorry, guys. I overslept. Enjoy.”

Prompt: Apex Predator

Novel News & Notes…

How much novel writing did I get done this week? Almost none. I haven’t gone a week like this since…well, it’s been a few years now. My excuse? See photo above. Yeah, after four years of being a Novid (a Covid virgin), my streak ended last week. I’ll spare you the deets. I’d like to think that being fully vaxed kept my case pretty mild (after two less-than-stellar days), but the truth is, I just wasn’t feeling it (the writing bug, that is). I def felt the other one.

OK, enough with the pity party. Questionable Characters ain’t gonna write itself. Time to get back to work. The vacay’s over. Watch out, words—you’re about to get captured.

Thanks for listening.

Scotty out