24/250 Writing Contest Winners

You can enjoy the top three stories below.
To view the E-Book with ALL the stories CLICK HERE.

ADULT WINNER

Abernathy C. Furlong Heads to Alabaster

Tim Mackinnon

Abernathy C. Furlong rose that morning with a stir, checked his face in the mirror. The beard was long, the eyes sunken, and a tinging yellowed hue hung on his cheeks. He’d been out here in the hills of Alabama alone in his cabin since the winter of ‘58.  How long since Annabelle died, hard to say, maybe a decade? But today, Abernathy was headed to town.

The sun glinted off the dusting of snow that fell last night. Rare for this part of Alabama, but not unheard of, Abernathy took the old route, enjoying the light as he passed through the sloping landscape, the pine groves, around the lake, and down the valley into Alabaster.

Main Street seemed different somehow, emptier. Never a large town, but it had been full.  Now, fewer goods hung from the general store window, some saloons gone, and he only noted two women pass as he made his way to see Ms. Penny, the fortune teller.

Penny welcomed Abernathy softly, and showed him to the Tarot table.  Strangely, she didn’t appear much older, but her accent had changed, maybe softer around the southern edges.  She told him about the war, General Lee, the collapse of the Confederate Dollar, and the Night they Drove old Dixie down. Then, she took out the pack of cards, laid them on the table, and drew.  Abernathy watched as she pulled one gently from the deck, slowly turned it over, and placed it on the table. It was blank.

KID WINNERS (A Tie!)

Princess Evelyn

Miri Hahn

Once upon a time in the Cherry Blossom Woods there was a princess named Evelyn. This year she was turning 16 and her mom said, “Your cake is very special.” Evelyn was going to have a big party. The whole land was invited including all the kings and queens in the land! Evelyn was so happy that she could not feel her fingers! When the day of the party arrived, Evelyn was so happy. The party was going well until her mom called everyone over for cake. Since Evelyn was the birthday girl, she got the first slice of cake. When she ate the cake, she turned into a goblin! One by one everyone turned into a goblin. This happened because when her mom was younger, she fell in love with a goblin and she used the cake recipe that the goblin gave her. A few decades passed with everyone as a goblin. It was chaotic. Then one day a prince came along. He walked through the Cherry Blossom Woods and he found the castle. He went inside and he opened the castle doors. Then he saw goblin Evelyn and all the other goblins. The goblins started running, trying to get the prince. The prince ran away. Goblin Evelyn caught him. Goblin Evelyn ate the prince. Turns out, being a goblin wasn’t too bad. Goblin Evelyn ruled over her goblin kingdom with kindness and respect for the rest of eternity. She ate so many more princes.

Two Friends

Naya Israel

Once upon a time, there were two kids. Their names were Katie and Jon. They were playing onthe monkey bars at a playground. Katie fell off the bars. And she bled. She got a band-aid. She felt hurt and scared.

Her friend Jon was a funny kid. He liked to make jokes. Some of his jokes were so funny that people fell out of their chairs from laughter.

 Jon saw Katie fall and felt sad that she fell. So, he decided to try and make Katie laugh. He told her a joke about two dinosaurs. Katie still wasn’t laughing. Then he tried another joke about3,000 chickens. And it still wasn’t funny. Finally, Jon told her another joke. This joke was abouttwo babies crawling around, making cooing sounds, and then they both stood up and belly-bumped. Jon was making such funny faces and acting out the little-baby-belly-bumps that Katiefinally started cracking up.

 They walked home together laughing. Every few minutes they would start cooing and belly-bumping the whole way home.