CYNTHIA VARADY

All That Glitters is Prose

CYNTHIA VARADY
WeWriWaWriting

The Carter File – Weekend Writing Warrior

weekend_writing_warriors_header3All right all, I’m trying to make good on my promise to post twice a week. I missed last Sunday but managed to get my Hump Day Haiku two weeks running. Now for the WeWriWa’s post. Here goes nothing!

Molly made it to the McCreedy’s yard just as the distant town clock tower gave a double chime. At the same moment, Angel’s long-limbed figure came into view from the opposite side of the yard followed by her younger sisters, Bets, and Paige. The trio nodded a silent hello to Molly, and together the four of them entered the barn together.

Inside the barn, a group of about twenty had gathered in the shadowy space whose darkness was periodically interrupted by shafts of blue moonlight seeping through the cracked and weather-worn roof.

“As you all know, we are here to discuss a very serious matter,” proclaimed Miss Cups’ confident voice, quieting the din produced by small talk and greetings from the meeting’s attendees. She stood on the far side of the barn from where Molly had entered atop makeshift stage supplied by farmer McCreedy’s dilapidated tractor. Seeing that she had everyone’s attention, Miss Cups continued, “So far, three of our number have fallen prey to the vile beast posing as the human Mrs. Mary Carter. This alien creature has taken up residence in our fair and humble community, keeping hoards of maddening parakeets, and poisoning felines every chance she gets!” Miss Cups swished her tail with agitation, punctuating her words.

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Happy Sunday All! I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from my short story, The Carter File.

This story was originally a writing challenge between my friend Renee and I (the other half of DuelingLibrarians.net). Every so often we challenge each other to write a story off of a prompt, image, or from a particular genre. The Carter File is the result of our Conspiracy Theory Challenge.

Thank you for participating! I look forward to reading all of your excerpts. WeWriWa/8!

Cynthia Varady

Cynthia Varady is an award-winning short story writer and Pandemonium Cozy Mystery Series author. She resides in Portland, OR with her husband, son, and two kitties. Cynthia has a BA in English Literature and a Master's in Library and Information Science. In addition to writing, Cynthia loves baking on the fly, crocheting, playing video games with her family, and reading mysteries.

8 thoughts on “The Carter File – Weekend Writing Warrior

  • LOL! This would make an excellent piece of flash fiction! I know you describe it as a short story though as flash, it works beautifully. Sure am glad I clicked on your link today! 🙂 That writing challenge you and your friend do is a great idea BTW.

    Marcia

    Reply
    • Thank you so much for stopping by! I haven’t done the Weekend Writing Warriors in ages. I almost forgot I had set the post to publish, then I received your comment. I better get to clicking links! Thank you again for taking the time to comment. I like the idea of adapting this to a trimmer flash fiction piece. That would be a fun challenge. Have a wonderful Sunday and a great Easter. Cheers!

      Reply
    • She’s so intense and bossy. I love her! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my excerpt. Now it’s my turn to return the reading love. Have a great Sunday and an even better Easter. Cheers!

      Reply
  • Nice scene-setting. I haven’t been following along so didn’t realize until the very end that these were cats. I re-read with fresh appreciation. Annoying parakeets indeed! Can’t have that 🙂

    Reply
    • You aren’t suppose to know they’re cats until the end, so you were totally on point. Thanks so much for reading!

      Reply
  • I’m not sure yet what’s going on (which is fine) but this strikes me as hilarious. Nice snippet.

    Reply
    • Thanks, Ed! It’s a pretty hilarious concept. Cats are aliens spies who, during naps, upload all they’ve seen to their masters, the Andromedians. Now they have to expunge another alien who has been murdering their friends to keep her parakeet collection safe.

      Thanks so much to reading and stopping by! Have a great Sunday. Cheers!

      Reply

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