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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#155: Swings and Roundabouts

One of my favorite British expressions is “swings and roundabouts”. It’s a tricky phrase to define, but it basically means a situation where good and bad, pro and con, ultimately cancel each other out. You might be up at one point, and down at another, but you’ll always end up somewhere in the middle. For example: “It rained on Friday. The laundry I hung out to dry got wet, but the flowerbeds needed watering, so, you know — swings and roundabouts.”

Much of life is a case of swings and roundabouts; accepting the good with the bad, and going along for the ride. This week’s prompts are all about this sense of balance, and the imperfect situations that we still make work.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a character facing a situation that isn't awful, but isn't great.

Middle School – 34 stories

Write a story that includes a character using the phrase “swings and roundabouts.”

Thanksgiving – 37 stories

Write about a character who gets good and bad news in quick succession — not necessarily in that order.

Angst – 46 stories

Write about a character who is pathologically ambivalent, until something shakes them up.

Narrative – 33 stories

Set your story in a kids’ playground, or at a roundabout.

Kids – 44 stories

Stories

“The Cruise That Changed it All” by Ell Peck

Submitted to Contest #155

Tom was not normally one to dwell on specifics, but when his mother reminded him that he’d promised he would join her on this cruise, he got just the tiniest bit defensive. Because while, yes, he’d technically promised her he’d join her, it wasn’t necessarily without any coercion or guilt-tripping, both of which his mom was absolutely famous for. Because what his mom hadn’t told him was that this cruise would be two weeks long and that her best friend Suzy and her incredibly annoying son Jaz would be joining them.“Honey, you have to give Jaz...

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“Chance of Rain” by Sabine Garlington

Submitted to Contest #155

Nate stared at the sign in front of him. He was still a little early to pick up his son, but he didn’t have time for this. He sat motionless in his beat up Dodge truck for a few minutes. Should he ignore the sign and go through? After all, his truck was a 4 x 4 with a lifted chassis. He could handle a fair amount of water. Or should he back up and go a different direction? And which direction should he go? North to Pitkin, or south to the Wye? The rain had temporarily slowed to a sprinkle, and his windshield wipers were...

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“Wins and Losses” by G. W. Cunning

Submitted to Contest #155

As the sun set lower in the sky he adjusted the brim of his ballcap against it. The brim already soaked through with sweat, even though the game was barely half over. The day had been hot, and tiring, and the lasting heat was magnified by the sea of asphalt that surrounded the ballfield. The parks and diamonds and courts at the north end of town wouldn't have this issue. There are tall elms, oaks and pines, and expanses of grass, in lieu of the heat reservoirs of the pavement. There would be a working water fountain as well and the dugout wa...

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“Adventures of Bugatti King” by John Jenkins

Submitted to Contest #155

"What?" said Dennis Fellis, holding the marker cap to his teeth. "What is it?"Dennis Fellis was in a bit of a bind. He had just gotten his first Bugatti at a tremendous discount. It had come with all of the bells and whistles, including hydraulics, window tints, and a racing mode. What Dennis hadn't bothered to realize was that the whole car was fake. Every inch of it was a counterfeit, made without even the semblance of propriety. His father, Max Fellis, was able to see through the whole thing right from the get-go. First it was the birthda...

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“The Goose and the Gander” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #155

The monthly book club meeting was always run efficiently when it was Mrs. Cameron’s turn to host, which might have been why the gatherings were small on those evenings. She was a perfectly friendly lady but as a retired English teacher had retained the ability to silence a rowdy class with a glance The discussion never lapsed into gossip or doings of husbands and children under Mrs. Cameron’s supervision but stayed on the topic of the current book. This month they were discussing a psychological thriller which had been on the New York Times ...

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“Donnie and Glover ” by Hunter Muller

Submitted to Contest #155

Donnie went to Cambodia for the weekend. Dumbest trip I’d ever heard of. We live in the Midwest- meaning he’d get to be on Cambodian soil for all of, like, I dunno, six hours before turning back. But he found one of those super saver deals. Four eighty-nine for a roundtrip ticket. I told him, Donnie- for that price, it’s gonna be uncomfortable, man, it’s gonna be like sixteen hours in a middle seat smelling bad breath on both sides. And what if you get stuck with some of those no shoes people? Forget the breath, Donnie, that’s over half a d...

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“Swings and Roundabouts” by Thomas Carson

Submitted to Contest #155

The sun is barely up now and I am more tired than usual as I let the water splash against the back of my head. I just remembered I submitted for a writing contest last night. Swings and roundabouts... swings and roundabouts.. swings and roundabouts. That was the topic. Repeating it to myself wasn’t giving me ideas, but maybe I would remember it. I have been to England once before and never heard anyone use that term. For the past 4 years, I have been working freelance. I always enjoyed the freedom of working on my schedule,...

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“189 Downing Street, Little Windsor, Sutton.” by Ann Walker

Submitted to Contest #155

This story contains sensitive content including mild language, violence, and abuse. July 18, 1814Dearest Domonique, Being my most trusted and longest-lasting friend, I thought it necessary to document the events of the happenings here at the estate of Bancroft. Let not cloudiness or muddle headedness interfere with the truth of such events. I would find it unarguable that the “good news” is the easiest to divulge, given most circumstances. The good news, in short, is I am finally free of the wretched company of the Duke of Dradevow, Sir...

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“Shark Bait” by Danielle Jumper

Submitted to Contest #155

I reached down to grab the man’s hand to pull him out of the boat wreckage. Shark fins occasionally sliced through water ripples just beyond where the man had been floating on wooden debris. I pulled him into my boat. His skin was blistered and oozing. He’d been languishing in the sun without cover for quite some time, I guessed. “Those sharks near the surface usually don’t attack,” I assured him. “Now the ones circling below you, well, those are ambush predators, and they sure looked like they were getting bolder, judging from your toes...

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“selective hearing ” by Violetta Salabay

Submitted to Contest #155

My grandfather , or as I like to call him Paps , was one of a kind . He had big floppy ears that stuck out and ceased to work , every year they grew bigger and bigger .Paps also had too much pride to wear hearing aids , he noted that he didn't like how he looked with them and they made him hear weird stuff . He had humongous bushy eyebrows ,each of which he could raise up and down and he always had that one long brow hair sticking out of place . Paps had grey eyes that turned light blue in the sunlight , and a clean shaven beard....

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“The Journeys West” by A.T. Westbrook

Submitted to Contest #155

Once in my travels, I came across a great walled city, a place of shelter and safety in an otherwise harsh desert. I entered through what I came to know as the West Gate and walked the stone-laid streets. I had spent weeks crossing the sands, surviving well enough on the supplies I carried with me, but both my horse and I welcomed the refuge. Away from the wind and under shade from the sun, I saw the people of the city presented in all manner of appearance and speech; no one characteristic seemed to unify them. Some wore little more than t...

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“First, The Good News” by Gary Wells

Submitted to Contest #155

Peter Dillon sat in the parlor of the swank offices of Blum, Rottenkirk and Slacke. He was anxiously jostling his knees up and down. He felt underdressed, even though he had put together one of the best outfits he owned – a tan suede jacket with dark brown elbow patches, a clean blue-and-brown plaid shirt, a pair of relaxed-fit jeans he had purchased a few days ago. His brown loafers were kind of old, but not ratty or anything.He wished that he had shaved. The young women he met at bars and social functions tended to like his scruffy appeara...

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“The Gift That Keeps On Giving” by Susan Dalziel

Submitted to Contest #155

Carly was thirteen years old when her grandfather told her that he would be gone before the next winter's snow; this would be their last summer together. Then he told her about what she had already inherited; her gifts. And how they were going to spend their last summer together practicing, developing, understanding these gifts. There was much to do he said and she had to be brave and listen and concentrate. There, in her grandfather's cabin, where she had spent so many of her happiest summers, she had felt the first piercing ...

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“Bad Luck Barb” by Jenny Blur

Submitted to Contest #155

Bad Luck Barb just won big. The phone call came in notifying her at 12:01 p.m. as she was getting ready to go to lunch. She could hardly believe it. “Yes, I’m sure,” said the woman on the line from the North Valley Hospital Association. “$100,000, you are the grand prize winner of the hospital raffle this year Barb.” Barb hung up the phone, gripped the winning ticket stub between her thumb and forefinger, then stood up and peered over the top of her cubicle across the expanse of empty cubicles at Orin Insurance Company. Good. Eve...

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“A Dangerous Punishment” by Marie White

Submitted to Contest #155

She pulled down the sleeve of her sweater to cover bruises she didn’t want the principal to see. The plush leather chair at the desk before her—a gleaming cherry block holding a stack of leather-bound books about bullying, a glass lily-shaped paperweight, a Newton’s cradle, and a gold nameplate that said, “Winona Smitherman, Principal,” as if anyone who ended up here wouldn’t know her position—bore down upon her like a funnel cloud. Despite the cushions beneath its burgundy burlap upholstery, the chair on which she sat felt as if made of gra...

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$250

Prize money

194

Contest entries

77

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 22, 2022 EST

Won by Lonnie Russo 🏆

Title: Someone Has Died

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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