Today’s writing prompt could win me eternal glory (or a few pencils).

According to the inaugural post of Promptly, a new Writer’s Digest blog penned by Zachary Petit, the person who submits the best story answering his first writing prompt will win “some around-the-office writing swag.”

I’ll take swag for sure.

The prompt:

In 500 words or less, funny, sad or stirring:

The phone rings and a low voice groans—“Why me?”
You hang up.
Twenty minutes later, it rings again. “You made a mistake.”
The dial tone throbs as the phone hangs from its cord, limp.

Here’s my entry. Wish me luck:

The phone rings

The phone rings and a low voice groans—“Why me?”

You hang up.

Twenty minutes later, it rings again. “You made a mistake.”

The dial tone throbs as the phone hangs from its cord, limp.

You make yourself a pot of coffee, set the kettle over the burner and toss five spoonfuls of Kona in the French press. Ten minutes later the kettle screams and you ignore it.

The kettle spits.

You change your socks because the cold stone floor chilling just the ball of your foot feels strange to you. It’s like the whole of your foot is dead except for one patch.

“If you’d like to make a call please hang up and dial the number again.”

You smell the Kona grounds from the bathroom, and hear the kettle whistle and gurgle as you brush your teeth.

A puddle of hot water bubbles under the flame.

Seven minutes later you fill your cracked Elvis mug with coffee and drink it black while a woodpecker hammers into your cottage somewhere outside.

You turn on the television and bring up the guide, and the bird keeps drilling in two-second intervals.

Paid programming — paid programming — paid programming.

And you shake your head — “Why me?”

An hour later you hang up the phone.

It rings again.

Related posts:

1. Prompt: The camp on the lake