The Bad Joke Returns

What are the odds that my bad joke that I wrote on the day my friend was buried actually got me through to round 2? Well, that's what happened. I'm actually in the middle of my 24 hours to write the story for round 2 and I don't know what I'm doing. 

So, here's my first round story.

A Most Fetid Fête

“Not those rotten cheeses again?” She was cutting up a musty block of something. The smell filled the whole house. I grabbed a napkin and pen and scribbled the words HELP ME, pretending to choke.

“There’s nothing wrong with my cheeses,” she said.

“There’s plenty wrong with them, most of which double as medical diagnoses.”

“Is there a medical name for getting buried under the patio?”

“Ha!” I barked. “Ha, ha! You’re very funny, you know that?”

She turned and left the room.

“You are joking, aren’t you?”

She didn’t look at me. I reread the napkin and gulped.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the judges said the story flagged a little towards the end and one even suggested that I could have had the female character pick up a shovel on the way out of the house. Given the day that was in it, I don't see that having happened. 

I'm a bit embarrassed by the '"Ha!" I barked.' Don't judge me. I was having a bad day. Surprisingly, none of the judges picked that particular faux pas out. It was a waste of words that could have been used elsewhere. Like dump it and the final "and gulped" and I could have maybe changed the final line to "She didn't look at me as she picked up the shovel. I reread the napkin." It would have been a much darker ending, but not unfunny. And still 100 words or less.

So, I'm on to round 2 and I have to write a RomCom. I'm in better form today and have a story I like. Whether it's strong enough to get me through to the final, I don't know, but I'll find out in August, I guess. Then we have a silly RomCom story to look forward to.

Keep reading. Keep laughing.