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101 Word Short Stories

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Chatherine

May 29, 2022 18 Comments

By Sylvia J. Martinez

The spelling of Chatherine kept Julia up. What kind of parents would do that, she thought, flipping her pillow over for the seventh time. It never stayed cold enough.

Julia was in her twenty-third year of teaching. She’d seen the gamut of spellings for Catherine. Katherine. Katharine. Kathryn. Some went by Cathy or Kat, and one went by K.

Julia did a mental inventory of Cha- starting names in the quiet of her side of the bed: Chris, Charles, Charmaine.

“Just go to sleep,” her husband said.

“Ochay, Chyle,” she said. She flipped her pillow chold again, and chontinued chontemplating Chatherines.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helen C says

    May 29, 2022 at 7:20 am

    Funny

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 10, 2022 at 1:10 am

      Thanks for reading, Helen!

      Reply
  2. Pamela R says

    May 29, 2022 at 7:21 am

    That gave me a real “haha!” As a former teacher, I relate. And her actions “spell out” her sleepless frustrations.

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 10, 2022 at 1:10 am

      Thank you for reading, Pamela!

      Reply
  3. Coco says

    May 29, 2022 at 8:17 am

    Cute!
    As a teacher I saw some pretty unusual names myself.
    Nicely done!

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 10, 2022 at 1:09 am

      Thanks, Coco!

      Reply
  4. Rosemarie says

    May 29, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    As a teacher I fully commiserate!

    Reply
  5. Sylvia says

    May 29, 2022 at 8:03 pm

    Thank you for reading!

    Reply
  6. Tom Baldwin says

    May 29, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    Great ending, showing the mindworm that stops us sleeping.

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 10, 2022 at 1:09 am

      Thanks for reading, Tom!

      Reply
  7. Steve says

    May 29, 2022 at 10:14 pm

    Nice, Sylvia! Funny! Great ending! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 10, 2022 at 1:08 am

      Thanks, Steve!

      Reply
  8. Christie says

    May 30, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    This is great. And brought back a memory for me. One year I had a teacher I couldn’t stand and to make the year interesting (well for me anyway), everything I submitted to him, I spelled my name differently. Finally at the end of the year he pulled me aside and said, “how the hell do you actually spell it?”

    30+ years after graduation and he and I are Facebook friends.

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 9, 2022 at 4:19 pm

      Ha, that’s so funny, the story of your year of changing names! Thank you for reading!

      Reply
  9. rgcviper says

    May 30, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    Unexpected, and fun, ending. Made me chlaugh–er, laugh!

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 10, 2022 at 1:08 am

      Haha! Thank you for reading!

      Reply
  10. Grant says

    June 2, 2022 at 7:03 pm

    lol Nice work Sylvia

    Reply
    • Sylvia says

      June 10, 2022 at 1:08 am

      Thanks, Grant!

      Reply

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