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101 Word Short Stories

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Jubilation

February 1, 2022 8 Comments

By Karen Southall Watts

The first hymn was an old favorite, but the congregation still managed to lag a beat behind the organist. As the preacher stepped up to the pulpit, we could all see he’d come right from his chicken coop. His boots left a trail of hay in front of the choir.

Children who hadn’t seen each other for months wiggled and squiggled until they were dismissed to musty classrooms. The preacher lost his place twice, and missed a line of the Beatitudes.

Sunday clothes were too tight, thanks to two years of stress eating. The communal coffee tasted burnt.

It was perfect.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helen C says

    February 1, 2022 at 7:13 am

    Excellent I think there will be many places experiencing this.

    Reply
  2. Howard Humes says

    February 1, 2022 at 7:41 am

    Realistic and well written.

    Reply
  3. Stella Klein says

    February 2, 2022 at 8:02 am

    Great piece

    Reply
  4. Lauren W says

    February 2, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    Could really picture it, very authentic.

    Reply
  5. Liz says

    February 2, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    nicely done 🙂

    Reply
  6. Madison Randolph says

    February 4, 2022 at 3:40 pm

    This is such a sweet story!

    Reply
  7. Liz says

    February 7, 2022 at 2:10 pm

    I love your graceful positive ending. It’s what we all need to remember. Grace has been my word this past week and this expresses it perfectly.

    Reply
  8. Karen (author) says

    February 12, 2022 at 3:24 pm

    Thank you everyone for reading and taking the time to comment. We often write what we need, and I need to envision a better future.

    Reply

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