20-Word Fiction: The Last Song on the Radio

Greetings to our blog readers in Argentina, Belgium and Canada.....

We actually listened to the song "Walk of Life," a hit single from Dire Straits from their album "Brothers in Arms" (1985) on Q-99.1-FM in Roanoke, Va., right before writing this piece. Our apologies to Mark Knopfler, the lead singer and guitarist of Dire Straits, though since we aren't using any lyrics from the song, we presume he can't sue us!:

"Nelson was listening to Dire Straits' song 'Walk of Life' when the train hit his car. His obit will run tomorrow."

Actually, this is 21 words, but this isn't "The New Yorker"!!!!

http://www.newyorker.com

20-Word Fiction (6 of 10): Mexican Lunch Date

Greetings from the Denver Public Library where we are blasting the 1968 Iron Butterfly song "In the Garden of Eden" and no one seems to mind, not even the 94-year-old woman reading a "National Geographic" magazine.

Of course, we are kidding, we are not in Denver, but we will go ahead and recommend La Loma for any of you visiting the Colorado capital as Google says it's a great place to do Mexican, and of course, they are 100-percent accurate..........:)

Here is today's 20-Word Fiction piece which does revolve around lunch, perhaps "Washington Post" food critic Tom Sietsema will like this one:

"She's ordering a taco salad. Cool. Okay. What do I want? Ask the waitress. Bad idea. It's a first date."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/tom-sietsema

https://www.denverlibrary.org/

20-Word Fiction (5 out of 10): The Stamps

Tonight, we continue with our series of 20-word fiction pieces. This is the fifth in a series of ten. After 11 years of blogging, it's hard to come up with new ideas, but hopefully this is working. And, perhaps, someone from a far away place like Vilnius, Lithuania, is reading this. Perhaps....

"Stamps. Stamps. Stamps. Where are the effing stamps? Gotta send that check to Duke Energy. I owe Verizon money too."

We dedicate this entry to the Verizon workers who are caught up in a labor dispute with the telecommunications giant. Yeah, despite the patriotic World War II stamp image, we aren't tea party people here.....!

20-Word Fiction: The Uninvited Guest

The image above is of a police car in Greensboro, NC, but this story has no specific geographical location in mind; it is after all just a 20-word story:

"There was a home invasion on Florida Street last night. The culprit recognized the man of the house. He left."

20-Word Fiction: Pumpkin Pie is out of Season

Everyone wants a piece of me. Sorry, I forgot the golden rule: Never use cliches. I'll remember that next time.