This is part of a series of (very) short stories that I publish here on the blog. Flash fiction is a story under 1,500 words. It’s very short and gives a brief flash of narrative. It’s not elaborated on and stands on its own. In my case, this is very much fast fiction as well as flash fiction. This piece was generated from a prompt and written in under twenty minutes. My story is transcribed as written. (With some minor spelling changes.) Other then that, everything remains the same as when I first wrote it.
I wrote this short piece at my writing group. Our prompt: make the ordinary interesting by creating a scene in line at Starbucks. I’ve included some thoughts on the prompt at the end of the piece. Enjoy!
Callie never went to Starbucks or really out in public. But there she was on a rainy Tuesday afternoon waiting in line for a white hot chocolate.
Callie barely left her house anymore because she attracted miracles. Now you might be thinking how could attracting miracles be a bad thing, but when people discovered that Callie was really the Saint of Sellersville able to vanquish people’s problems and bring light into their lives, they would surround her. And Callie’s own miracle was the ability to give other people miracles.
You could see how this could get very tiring for a woman just trying to crochet bunnies and sell them online for a living.
This is what she dreamed of waiting in line for her white hot chocolate with whip cream and a dash of cinnamon. All this reminiscing on her dreams of becoming the most famous maker of yarn rabbits meant Callie didn’t notice the young girl standing just under her elbow looking up at her with severe green eyes.
“Excuse me,” this young girl said with a confidence that fit a fifty-year-old lady, not a five-year-old one. Callie started, holding her purse tight against her side.
“Yes,” she said rather rudely for someone who was a Saint and bringer of miracles.
“I was just wondering where you got your sweater? It seems very soft.”
“Oh,” Callie said relieved, “I made it actually.” Callie could talk about crafts all day long.
“Can I feel?” Before she had time to answer, the little girl was feeling her wool sweater between her hands and her fingernails painted bright yellow.
“I want–“
“No!” Callie cut her off.
“What?” The girl retreated with surprise.
“Don’t say what you want or else…” The end of Callie’s sentence faded away just thinking about her miracle.
“I was just going to say that I wish I had sheep so I could make yarn.”
And as this little girl spoke her greatest wish in her heart, a flock of twelve fluffy sheep appeared in the middle of the coffee shop, making her a shepherd.
I’m currently listening to the audiobook of All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater which is all about miracles. It definitely inspired this piece! I love the idea of a new sort of magic realism fantasy genre. You can always see what I’m reading on my Goodreads account.
When given such a basic prompt like this one, I have a hard time keeping it realistic. I always add an element of the unexpected. But that’s what I like to read, a bit of twisty magic even waiting in line at Starbucks.
It’s been since the beginning of May that I shared a piece of my fast, flash fiction. You can read my last one here, a historical mystery scene. Do you enjoy reading these fun nonsense pieces of my writing? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy Writing-
Very interesting story! I love how you combined the ordinary with the extraordinary!
Thank you! And that really is the perfect way to describe it. Thanks for reading 🙂
What a sweet little story. I can easily picture it in my head and it made me smile picturing she sheep appearing in the coffee shop. Thank you for sharing.
It would make life a bit more interesting haha. Thank you for reading!
Such a great short story! this should be a book. It would be a great read! By the way, i just found your website and i love everything about it !