Missed Connections

The waiter comes around to check on me again. I avert my eyes in embarrassment and try to discreetly check the time on my phone. Going on two hours now. I should really give up.

“Sitting inside! Text me when you get here x”

Sent.

Delivered.

Read.

Ignored.

I sigh and crumple. I call the waiter over. I order a drink. “Of course, madam,” he says as he scurries away. Was that a look of pity in his eyes? I decide I’d rather be drunk than dwell on that any longer.

Man. Remind me to never use this app again.

From Guest Contributor Rachel Martz

My 100-Word Secret

I am often asked by people, “How are you able to write a complete story in 100 words?”

Well, sometimes I tell them something like, “I just condense one of my unpublished novels.”

Or I say, “I write my story, not paying any attention to the word count, and my smartphone has an app that revises it into 100 words.”

They seldom believe either of my explanations.

But it usually ends the questioning, and that's really what I want to do.

I certainly don't want other people to know my secret of writing a story in exactly 100 words.

I-would-prefer-that-the-trick-I-use-to-always-make-the-story-exactly-100-words-remains-my-secret.

From Guest Contributor Kent V Anderson

When Kent isn't writing stories, he is building robots.