How (I think) these posts are going to work

Here’s the plan. Subscribers to the page (that would be you), will be receiving one of my 101-word stories each week. The post will include the prompt I used to inspire the story. Prompts, by the way, are words or phrases given me by friends, family, neighbors, associates, telemarketers etc. I add the prompts to my inventory and each day as I set out to write, I take a prompt from the list and use it for inspiration. The resulting story may be a very obvious take on the prompt or it might be something far less obvious, but I assure you, I would not have come up with that day’s tale had I not started the brainstorming process by contemplating what kind of a story I could tell with the prompt in mind.

Here’s the story. At the end of it, I’ll show you the prompt I used. If you want to race ahead so you’ll know what the inspiration was up front, that’s your choice. If you’d prefer to read the tale and then see how I got there, I’m fine with that too. I hope you enjoy the quick read, and like I tell people, even if it’s the worst thing you’ve ever read, it’ll be over in about thirty seconds.

                                          A most unexpected gift

On the street, everybody knew him as “Shakes,” but nobody knew where the name came from. A human hermit crab, he spent his days scavenging for whatever he could “find” be it from dumpsters, Wal-Marts or unlocked parked cars.

The keys he retrieved from a puddle in the alley were particularly intriguing because they belonged to a Mercedes. Not many cars like that around here. He kept pushing the horn button until he located his nearby prize.

He casually drove off like he owned the thing.

The real surprise would be later—when he discovered the body in the trunk.

 

Prompt: Found Property 

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