Wednesday, March 31, 2010

In Which I Reveal First Place

Today is the day!
Today is the day that I reveal who I chose for first place in my 100 followers writing competition.

After reading it, I'm sure you'll see why I selected it.

First Place and the winner of





Is:

Christi Goddard!

Without further ado, here is her story:

*******************

The first crack of thunder of a Texas storm is a sure sign to unplug everything promptly. Lightning around here seems to aim for electrical poles instead of lonely trees in fields. One of Murphy's laws, whoever he is. I'm pretty sure he should be impeached or something, though. I hate his rules.

The storm that blew in at dusk raged until dawn, and when I left for work I found my dog had run off. Never a brave soul, I named him Spike to give him some confidence. So far it hadn't worked out so well. I called his name for several minutes, then gave up.

Next to my car's tire was a soaked book I'd never seen before. Curious, but running late, I tossed it onto the floorboard to scope out at a later time.

I'd no sooner closed my car door and started the engine when a rapid tapping on my window startled me. I rolled down the window and gave my neighbor a vague smile. He always unsettled me with his nervous fidgets and darting eyes. It did not help that he was gaunt with long black hair that always hung in his face, obscuring his features.

"Quoth the raven," I said with a smile.

"What?"

"A gentle tapping at my… nevermind." The man never understood my humor. "What d'you need, Ray?"

He arched a brow at me, seemingly annoyed. Perhaps he knew I thought explaining a joke would be futile in his case. "Did you see anything…odd last night?"

"I don’t watch American Idol."

Ray frowned deeply at me, so I tried again. "No, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Why? Your dog run off, too?"

He didn't own a dog. I knew this, but it was my way of letting him know Spike'd gone missing and he should keep a lookout.

"Not yet," he replied, which I thought was odd. Perhaps he was trying to be as funny as me. He shouldn't do that. It's like trying to fly a plane after watching the pilot. Only not as dangerous.

He glanced down the street nervously, then scurried off without another word. Chocking it up to him just being the local crazy inventor, I rolled up my window and
proceeded down my driveway.

As I checked to make sure the coast was clear to enter the street, I saw Ray at his truck with rope, tying something down in the bed. Curious to a fault, I pulled up at the curb and rolled down my passenger window.

"What's that thing?" It was a metal box with knobs and switches. It almost looked like a giant toaster that'd been steam punked.

"Nothing. Something my brother made."

Right. The dead one. I didn't want to bring up touchy subjects.

"Oh. Well, good luck with it." It was a lame dismissal, but I had to get to work.

I pulled into the nearest coffee drive thru and ordered a hot java, but when I whipped out my wallet to pay for it, all I had was one hundred dollar bills. These paper items did not belong in my wallet. In fact, it was at least three month's wages. I knew I'd had nothing to do with them materializing in my wallet. I paid for the coffee with my debit card.

I wanted to go home and back to bed. It was a strange day already, and I'd not gotten to work yet. When I got to the office, I took the wet book inside with me. I put it under my office fan to dry it out some.

"I pray every day that it will stop, but it keeps getting worse," said my boss behind me.

"I know I'm late again, but my dog ran off," I said. "I'll get better, promise."
She gave me a disbelieving look and walked away.

I peeled open the damp book to discover it was a diary.

Ever since I woke, I smell the fear of others. I wish I'd just slept until I died. I'm so tired of feeling like a freak…

Entry after entry was like that. A woman had developed the olfactory abilities of a canine upon waking from a coma. Weird. Or she was crazy.

Three weeks passed, and I'd given up on Spike. When he did come home, he had a long, strange bone in his mouth. I decided his name had given him confidence after all. I renamed him Spike the Buffy Slayer.

****************

Do you see why I love it? Not only did Christi choose a prompt and write a story, she used all of the prompts! Can you believe it?

Also, the last line was such a winner for me because as soon as I read that the dog's name was Spike I was all, oh, like Spike from Buffy. And then, at the end to have Spike bring us a bone from Buffy??! So awesome and hilarious!

Great job Christi! Please email me your mailing address and I will send your prizes post-haste!

Tomorrow - the rest of the entries and their prizes!

26 comments:

Anne Gallagher said...

Congratulations Christi! That was fantastic!!!

Christine Danek said...

Congrats Christi! Great story!

Christi Goddard said...

OMG! I won? Like... really won? I never win anything, this ROCKS. I got up expecting to read a good story, but it was mine! I was all 'hey, I've already read this.' ;-)

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOO much. I didn't expect this at all.

Joan Crawford said...

Yay! Congratulations! "I don't watch American Idol" Hahah!

Unknown said...

Congrats, Christi! Your humor was spot on in this piece. Thanks for the fun read :))

Hannah said...

WTG, Christi!! I loved it!

I especially loved when the creepy neighbor tried to tell a joke and the MC thought, "He shouldn't do that."

The voice was so strong and funny. loved it loved it loved it.

Summer Frey said...

Awesome job, Christi! Way to go above and beyond! :-)

Thanks for having such a great contest, Sarah! I loved reading all the winners.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Christi - i laughed out loud at several places, and Twin also agreed it was quite funny. But the kicker was using all the prompts.
You deserve it!

Courtney Barr - The Southern Princess said...

Congrats Christi!

great story.


Visit My Kingdom Anytime

Lola Sharp said...

WOOHOO Christi! You go with your bad self, girl!
Using ALL the prompts, genius.

I enjoyed this very much.
CONGRATS Christi!

All the winners did an awesome job.

~Lola

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Christi! The story was wonderful and using all of the prompts was brilliant.

Southpaw said...

Congrats to all the winners all the writing has been a pleasure to read.

Tara said...

Yea Christi! Great job. You have a terrific voice, girl!

Austin Gorton said...

Congrats! Strong voice, hilarious, great piece. I especially liked "Perhaps he was trying to be as funny as me. He shouldn't do that. It's like trying to fly a plane after watching the pilot." Great simile.

I toyed with the idea of using all the prompts in one piece, and quickly dismissed it, thinking there's no way I could work in all six prompts in under 750 words and still tell a good story with strong characters.

So color me impressed that you managed to do all of that, and do it well!

Rebecca T. said...

Congratulations! That was fun :) "Quoth the raven..." very clever.

Elana Johnson said...

Congrats! What a great idea for a contest. :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations, Christi.

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Cool story--had all sorts of eerie, humorous touches.
Congrats to all, and, Falen, I have left an award on my blog for you should you wish to play.

Talli Roland said...

Congrats Christi! Brilliant piece!

Susan Fields said...

Congratulations, Christi - great story!

DL Hammons said...

Yay Christi! Way to go girl! Excellent story.

sarahjayne smythe said...

Congrats, Christi. Great story. :)

xoxo said...

Wow great story I totally loved it, she should continue it, I think.

Unknown said...

Well deserved! Congrats to Christi :)

Unknown said...

Oh wow... That was brilliantly done. I loved the line about Murphy's laws. Haha. Seriously.

This contest was so much fun! Yay :D

Jemi Fraser said...

I just popped over from Christi's blog! Great contest and good choice :)

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