Alyssa kissed Chuck gently before heading out the door. Chuck stretched, thought about getting up, and instead decided to stay in bed. He had nothing important on his agenda today.
Chuck wondered about Alyssa. She seemed preoccupied lately. He didn’t know if it was about work or money or something else. And frankly he didn’t care—he only knew she’d been neglecting him.
He thought about the best way to handle things and decided to give Alyssa the silent treatment when she got home.
Then Chuck curled up, licked at a tangled spot on his fur, and purred himself to sleep.
Aw, Scott. Sweet catastrophe!
Why kiss a cat when they always give you the silent treatment? Perhaps the closing sentence could have been Chuck loading his gun?
The comments are as good as the story! Alas, as a cat care provider, the unveiling at the end is just too pat for me. Cats are far more complicated in their emotions than this cause-and-effect portrayal
At first I thought you were writing about my marriage!! LOL
Great twist, works perfectly.
Nice voice and twist!
Cute, really! ?
Sorry that question mark was supposed to be a smiley
nice enough for a rumination but no real point. Two things which make mainstream editors shudder wrt short stories. One, where the focus is on a denouement where the mc awakes to find it all a dream – two where it is found the mc is an animal having human thoughts. These gambits go beyond the hackneyed and into a universe of similar carriages.
perry – i tend to agree really, but of the many variation gambits (mc is dead, mc starts as hero but is really the villain, mc has out-of-body experience, etc) where is the line between hackneyed and compelling? Is it just the number of times something has been used or the satiation of the audience appetite for that particular gambit? It will be different for each individual – I’m not an animal person, but I can’t help but notice that people seem to LIKE the animal angle as evidenced by the “funny cat video” following. Anyway, I was just having fun with this one and thought maybe others might too!
I get it. Diversity is usually facilitated by combination of standard themes over longer stories. Originality is difficult in 101 words and that is always remembered in any critique I offer. Never hurts to try though.
Perry, we really appreciate your thoughtful engagement with the stories, but please remember to be tactful when offering feedback. Thanks! – Maura, 101 Words
Good idea – spread that advice around.
I really liked the surprise ending.