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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#100: Breaking Bread

One of the most intimate things you can do with someone is sit down to eat together. The idea of friends and foes, families and strangers breaking bread has been a recurring theme in art and literature for a very long time. It’s something that can bring us together against the steepest of odds; to quote Oscar Wilde, “after a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations”. But things don’t always end quite so harmoniously — food fights, anyone?

This week, we’re reflecting on the joys (or pains) of eating together or making a meal. Whether the dinner table is a place for communion or conflict for your characters, I look forward to sitting down to a hearty portion of food-themed stories with you. Bon appétit!

This week's prompts

Start or end your story with two characters sitting down for a meal.

Middle School – 264 stories

Write a story where a meal or dinner goes horribly wrong.

Thanksgiving – 201 stories

Write about a group of strangers — or people who know each other, but may as well be strangers — eating together.

Fluff – 152 stories

Write about a character preparing a meal for somebody else.

Fluff – 157 stories

Write a story that involves a secret or magic ingredient.

Halloween – 116 stories

Stories

“Road Trip” by Dr Stafford

Submitted to Contest #100

Road TripIn my enlightened state, I am ten Chinese men with an Abacus.This is not just a trip, this is the trip. If my Sophomore Calculus teacher could see me now, I’d get an A. That simpleton Einstein be damned with his Theory of Relativity, I’m solving Riemann’s hypothesis. Put that in your pipe and toke on it, Albert.I wipe dust from the lenses of my shades.I stare in the rearview.My pupils, dark, black flying saucers stare back at me.In front of my ragtop, the school bus burps exhaust clouds and turns West at the light.&nb...

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“ A LOVE STORY” by Marta Soltys

Submitted to Contest #100

In a junk yard, skipping school, hiding behind iron frames of old cars, they found a free space to bake in the sun. Just like birds bunched up together on a winter morning, sitting on top of a light pole, absorbed the light and warmth, Claire and Adam found themselves inseparable during that winter. They clung to each other, telling each other sad stories of their childhoods. He told her about how lonely it had been in the suburbs as an only child of an absent father. She shared her hatred for the blue-collar part of the town where she was f...

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“Walking away” by Abigail Green

Submitted to Contest #100

The room was black. I extended a hand for the switch, but the light didn’t come on. Tears poured down my eyes and the fear formed into panic when I realized I wasn’t in my bedroom. I stood only to fall back down. My breath got shorter and shorter while I curled into a ball in the corner. Taking in my surroundings in series of quick glances, I seemed to be in every teenage girl's dream room. There was a bed with a huge white cover hanging down the side, throw pillows placed perfectly, and a light pink blanket in the corner. White led lights c...

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“A SPECIAL LUNCH AND A PHONE CALL” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #100

Priyanka received a phone call. It was an unknown number. First, she hesitated. Then she picked up the call. The lady on the other side of the call introduced herself as an old friend from Yashoda Hospital and she reminded her about Priyanka’s blood donation stunts. Priyanka remembered the incidence and recollected the lady. She told her, “It was not any stunt Aunty. I genuinely donated blood at that time. Though it was not used for the patient you were referring to. By the way I am not seeking any fame or remuneration for my deeds. Neither ...

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“Bacon And Lanarous” by Arshiya Moin

Submitted to Contest #100

Bacon And Lanarous Cizon and Dorron sat down in the comfort of their wooden dining table which specifically represented the dining for two near the fireplace on the perfect night which was dark but loud by the deafening sounds of thunder and rain, the best time to fill tummies with deliciously prepared meal and slip in the comfort of warm and cozy sheets. The smell of the soil outside was soothing but their noble wooden cabin love...

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“Champion” by Calen Cross

Submitted to Contest #100

“The chosen champions of the realms, Sir Donovan for the Kingdom of Flugefell and Sir Wilhelm for the Kingdom of Gilhere!” We sat across from each other, a plate piled high in front of us. Neither of us had touched the food. We sat and sized each other up, the fate of the kingdoms in our hands and our stomachs. Breaking bread with one another had been a tradition of the realms going back for thousands of years, so far that no one truly could tell you when the tradition had begun. It started out as a friendly gesture- breaking...

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“Working Lunch” by Maisy Osbon

Submitted to Contest #100

“Sorry I’m late. A dog died on the tube.” Even in solid shoes, Leo stumbles into the restaurant, only just missing a waitress as she twirls with a tray in hand. He is nothing if not a martyr of maladroit. He falls into the seat opposite Bailey, who watches him with wavering contempt. Bailey tends to not buy into binary, but it’s obvious to the naked eye that he and Leo want very different things, are very different people. Bailey has been waiting for half an hour, wears a suit he bought for sixth for...

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“The Last Migration” by Roux White

Submitted to Contest #100

I don’t want to do this. I’m harshly yanked out of my beautifully repulsive white cell by one of the castle guards. He fumbles with his keys before he opens the doors out of the dungeons that lead directly to the throne room of the Fae Kingdom. This entrance is never used unless the king considers it necessary to use his resources for business - often deadly ones. I was one of those resources. “Your Majesty.” The guard shoves me to the ground the moment we were in His Majesty’s presence. “I trust our guest has taken to her new...

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“Catch-22” by George Puscuta

Submitted to Contest #100

*strong language, discretion is advised Ah, my head hurts! ‘What do you want to do with him, Sir?’ asked a gruff voice. ‘Just drop him!’ answered someone, a voice like honeyed oil, thick, sweet and gut churning. Where the hell am I? Why can’t I see anything? Is there… is there something over my head? What the hell? My head hurts so badly. Did someone knock me out? I wonder if I’m bleeding? No! I can’t feel anything wet back there. At least that’s some good news. I probably have a concussion though, need to get it checked out as soon as I c...

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“What is for you, will not pass you. ” by Jordyn Mackenzie

Submitted to Contest #100

It's funny how every person in your life, significant or not, started off as a stranger. A person with a different story and different dreams. Once you get to know these strangers, the most unpredictable question is whether or not they will return to only be what a stranger is to you, or if they will become the purpose you’ve been trying to find. I looked up at her one last time as she started to get up from the couch that she was sitting next to me on. “Eden” I said, “this can’t be how it ends, nothing this purely beautiful ends in ...

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“Final Business” by Sandy Braccey

Submitted to Contest #100

He watched Bruce as he broke and tore into the loaf of bread. The crumbs falling to the plate and into a red sauce which reminded him of blood. He dipped the bread into the sauce and ate it. Some of the sauce dripping off his face and hand onto a pure white napkin he had on his chest. Mark closed his eyes and turned away. “What’s wrong with you?” Bruce said. “Must you eat like a barbarian?” Mark said. “How should I eat, Martha Stewart?” “Is that what you did to her?” Bruce looked at Mark as he took another bite of the bread concoction. ...

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“The Golden Child” by Thomas Shorb

Submitted to Contest #100

A delicious, yet pungent scent of garlic saturates the air, as a loaf of bread lay split in twain, within the bowels of an open-faced kiln. Fire licks the bottom crust creating a charred and delectable finish. A woman in her early twenties with hair as golden as sunflower petals carefully removes the pieces and places them upon a long, ivory plate. Her verdant eyes dance with the light of the kiln and lanterns placed throughout the cobblestone room. She skillfully filets them at an angle. Placing the larger of two in front of a black-hai...

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“Lunch Hour Therapy” by Shanna LaCoss

Submitted to Contest #100

They used it as kind of therapy, these lunches together. Even when one or the other of them was on vacation, they seemed to meet at least once a week. They were two of a kind, a study in how opposites did not always attract, and maybe that was the reason they did this: to remind each other about the things they didn’t like in themselves. They took comfort, too, in reinforcing the idea between them that they were the only sane ones in a world full of imbeciles. Rae waited less than patiently for the waiter to take their order and then ...

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“Sacrificed to Surpass” by Harry Kearns

Submitted to Contest #100

The torchlight blazed in the Warden’s metal-clad hand, illuminating the makeshift elevator as the guards lowered the cage down the shaft to the lower levels. The clicking of chains echoed all the way down as they made their descent until the bottom was reached. The morning light had no place in the dimly-lit prison. Out from the cage the Warden guided Lord-Clairvoyant Silas down the halls. Two guards followed close behind, halberds in hand as they passed the cells. The two paid no mind to the voices of the prisoners. Whether they were beggin...

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“Masala Dosa” by Sri Melethil

Submitted to Contest #100

Masala Dosa Yesterday evening, I went to the ParDesi Restaurant & Bar near Harvard Square to reward myself for completing a big project: FedEx had just picked up my revised research proposal for overnight delivery to a federal health agency. I went alone, afraid that thoughts about the success of the proposal would distract me from being good company. I was wrong. “Bhabi kither?” asked Salim, the owner, at the foyer. This Indian custom of making total strangers into close relatives had always annoyed me. Accor...

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$50

Prize money

891

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 02, 2021 EST

Won by Rayhan Hidayat 🏆

Title: mie goreng

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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