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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

“State of the Art State of Mind!” by Hilary R. Glick

Submitted to Contest #155

Manny’s alarm goes off at 5:30am, just like it does every day. He hops up from his bed, brushes his teeth, shaves his face and head, and takes a hot shower, just like he does every day.He opens the closet doors and selects the singular gray coverall jumpsuit, a specifically designed uniform for plastic manufacturers, hanging in the back. He places his used pajamas in the laundry chute, turns towards the door, and reaches for his toolbelt hanging on the hook to complete his uniformed look, but something stops him in his tracks.Not someth...

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“Maine” by S.T. Kit

Submitted to Contest #155

When my parents told me we’d be moving, I didn’t know what to think. I mean of course I’d hate to say goodbye to my friends, but recently we’ve been growing distant. A part of me says this could be a good thing, while the other is completely terrified. I’ve lived here in Savannah Georgia my entire life, how am I gonna make it in Maine? I’ve tried to stop thinking about everything, but I can’t. Classic Amber, the overthinker. “Amber! Caleb! It’s time to go.” My mom calls my brother and I. “Coming.” I shout back. I take one last look at my roo...

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“A Roundabout Way to You” by Erin Webb

Submitted to Contest #155

Turns out there is no heaven or hell. I should know. I just died today. After my final breath left my body I found myself standing in a bland waiting room that reminded me of a dentist's office. Mismatched chairs ran along the wall and a smartly dressed woman sat behind a large desk flanked by two doors. One door had a “G” carved above it, while the other had an “A”. “Hello there!” she said brightly. “Welcome to immortality!” “Thank you, I guess.” Looking at the woman’s name tag I added, “Suzy.” Pulling out a file folder from a...

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“On Set” by Stephen Patmore

Submitted to Contest #155

Warning: Contains strong language and some scenes of gore. On Set By Stephen Patmore Over one hundred extras, with all sorts of bits hanging off or missing, wait for their cue. Danny looks at me over this one Creeper sipping a cappuccino from the top of an unlidded Starbucks cup, foamy blood oozing through the stringy hole in his cheek, and he says “Dude, it’s busy as hell today.” And I say, “Yeah, Jared’s big hero moment, init.” Nodding to the black spray-painted school bus kitted out with mesh grills over the windows and a ma...

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“Late night beers ” by Maxwell Taylor

Submitted to Contest #155

CW for mentions of death and minor mentions of suicideAllan awoke with a start. His phone was vibrating rapidly on his bedside table. Not the phone he used for personal matters, but instead his simple burner phone. The one he used for work. The one that could be remotely wiped by the press of a button. The one where he received orders to do reconnaissance on those who are having people paid to kill them. He sat up and tried to put on his best ‘awake’ voice for the person on the other end of the line.“Wa-h-wha-who is it?” he said. “Hello...

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“The Human Scale” by Glenn Holt

Submitted to Contest #155

The beginning of the end, of what Stanley and others called phase I civilization, or pre-Ruin, began when immigrants left there home countries in hordes because the land began to be overrun by water at the coasts. This began slightly after the last glacier melted and ice began floating everywhere. Then someone got hold of a nuclear fission bomb and The Big Kabooma it finally happened, but no savior came and neither did the end of the world. That according to phase II civilixation history happened about three centuries ago. The X in civilixat...

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“Swings and Roundabouts, Baby.” by Terri Carter

Submitted to Contest #155

He was a bad decision. No. He was worse than that. He was a train wreck decision that could only end in turmoil and disaster. But, Oh. My. God. The way he touched her made her feel like a woman again. His hands were soft and held her as if they were handling glass. There was a power behind his embrace that made her heart race in a way that only a dangerous encounter could. Strong. Masculine. Bad. And oh-so-good. &nbsp...

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“The Day Everything Stopped” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #155

Struter Jones rushed to the corner to catch the 7:58 Fifth Avenue bus. As usual, she had timed every action in getting ready for her daily work grind down to the last second. No fan of her current dull-as-hell-go-nowhere clerical position, she did only what she had to do when she had to do it, as every day she searched for the miracle job that would take her out of the morass that had defined every day of her life for the last five years. However, little did Struter know that her life and her world–indeed, the world of every other person on...

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“What was Dad thinking?” by J K Mactavish

Submitted to Contest #155

My father didn't tell me he died. However he left me a chalupa. Informed after the fact by a New York lawyer, who I trusted had administered his estate correctly, I wish Dad had been more forthcoming. I didn't know what a chalupa was or what to do with one. Was it a recipe he picked up in Mexico for a spicy dish? No, couldn't be; and it wasn't, although in a sense it was, spicy dish that is. To be clear Dad gave me a rustic house slash log cabin remotely located in his adopted, faraway land. I was puzzled. I already had a place to li...

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“lazy farming” by Peter Naughton

Submitted to Contest #155

LAZY FARMING My dear Auntie Gobnait was very upset that I did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up. She wanted the best for me, an innocent five-year-old boy in Ireland, and so, with the best of intentions, she started inviting her friends over to afternoon tea parties for storytelling. That's when they began to give me advice about what to do when I met a leprechaun. First I was to determine whether he was in a good mood. Second I was to be re...

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“Playground Mommies” by Danielle Jumper

Submitted to Contest #155

“Mommy! Bayleigh’s here!” My daughter, Hannah, squealed with delight. “Great,” I muttered under my breath. I had hoped for a quiet morning at the park playground, not a morning of small talk with the yoga moms. “Hey, Tina, good to see you,” Bayleigh’s mother, Steffie, flipped her hand in the air, dismissively and halfheartedly waving at me. Steffie was tall, skinny, and blonde. One hand was always glued to one of those mega chai venti pumpkin latte things, and the other hand gripped a new, designer purse each week. Steffie always fish...

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“Peyton” by Zoë Page

Submitted to Contest #155

“Ugh, my mom says I have to be back by six.”The swing groans underneath my weight, although I don’t believe myself to be heavy. Perhaps it's that thirteen is too old for a kid’s playpark, and the four of us should be somewhere else. Perhaps we should be swearing, blasting rap music dripping with slurs, scribbling inappropriate graffiti onto the zipline and the picnic table in an array of colors. I feel as if my age label – thirteen – does not resemble who I am, who I want to be.“Same,” I mumble in reply. My friends don’t seem to take any not...

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“Roundabouts Suck” by Davie McGuinn

Submitted to Contest #155

Dear Editor, This is America. We have four-way stops here, the way God intended it. Not roundabouts like some kind of Godless European country. You know, the kind of country that’s utterly thankless that we singlehandedly wrestled them away from the Nazis after we mozied on in, fashionably late to the party. The American way. We like to come to a complete stop at an intersection and stare down the other driver straight in the eye like we’re about to quickdraw our six-shooters at high noon, tumbleweed bouncing across the dusty landscape and...

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“Sky PlayGround” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #155

Look up into the sky and you will see the most amazing sight, a place so wondrous, so imaginative you won't believe with your own eyes until you see it in real time. So come with me and have the most magical time. Bring your kids, friends, bring everybody you know on this once in a lifetime adventure. Come and join me at Sky Playground. Emma looks at the flyer many times to see if her eyes are not playing any tricks. She sees people around her also reading the flyer. They look up into the sky as does Emma and see what looks like a UFO. The...

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“Albert Capone” by Isaac Jeon

Submitted to Contest #155

Albert Capone, the son of the famous Al Capone, had always wondered how he was left penniless especially because his father had been a successful businessman. Everyone that knew his father also knew about him which ended up causing Albert to be looked at differently than all the other kids. He was always alone, but according to his father if you ever felt lonely the one place you would eventually find a friend is at the playground. Day after day he would go to the playground in look of a friend; as he lay on the roundabout spinning it using ...

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$250

Prize money

194

Contest entries

78

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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