Congratulations to Maggie Rascal, the readers’ choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. Thanks also to everyone who participated – excellent entries!
The winning entry is rewarded with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.
Without further ado, here’s the winning entry:
Feast of the Ninja
by Maggie Rascal
A masterfully mendacious marsupial, Paulie had his surreptitious sights set on a palette of prime pickings: yummy hamburgers, tasty pizza crusts and juicy melon rinds.
As always with these missions, stealth and cunning would be the key. The spoils would be his if he managed to get to the buffet without waking the obnoxious little furball blocking the way. If not, he’d be stuck with a bland diet of bugs and berries. Motivated by that thought, he crept forward.
Just feet into his quest, the nipper stirred. Paulie reacted instinctively, his secret agent skills honed by rigorous practice: He froze. Not merely a stop, this was a Ninja Freeze, a complete and immediate cessation of movement that all double-O ‘possums knew made them invisible. The maneuver never failed.
Several Ninja Freezes later he made it to scavenger Nirvana, salivating as he stuffed the remains of a piece of pizza into his mouth. It took a few seconds for the burning to start, but when it did it was an all-consuming fire. Spluttering, Paulie spat it out and moved on to a half-eaten hamburger.
But when he bit into that, something bit back! It was even spicier than the pizza. Yowie, what did these creatures eat?
A bit of melon turned out to be the only thing that didn’t hurt him; gratefully he gorged himself on it before waddling back to his den.
Bugs and berries weren’t so bad, Paulie decided. Bland was an underrated flavor.
Congrats, Maggie
Thanks, Yvonne!
Good job, Maggie!
Thank you, Ed. Your line about “the asphalt river of opossum death” really tickled me. 🙂
Congratulations Maggie!! Good job!
Thank you very much, Patrick.
Huge congratulations Maggie. You were a very worthy winner. 🙂
Oh, thank you, Carole! Your Star Wars parody was imaginative and fun. 🙂