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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

“A Fed Secret” by Dre Nix

Submitted to Contest #155

B.G. Cosplain No one ever knew what happened that night. We all have been friends since Kindergarten. This was the first time we were all together in a long time. Posie, Trouble, Chastity, Olivia, John, Lisa, Karen, Henry, and Cameron wouldn’t mention to each other what they knew. Their friend Peter had a car that ran out of gas before he could get to the gas station that night. Trouble and Posie got lost in playing the Xbox. No one noticed that Peter was late getting...

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“Swings and Roundabouts” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #155

When I heard Aunt Maisie’s warble on the voice-mail I groaned. Although she and Uncle Leland are no-fuss visitors, the type who’d welcome a cheese sandwich at my kitchen table, I suspected they had an agenda behind their impromptu visit in late spring. They’re good friends with Genevieve’s family. I wanted an excuse for a knock-down belly-busting barbecue. I was in the mood to coax a T-bone steak to perfection on my shiny new thousand-dollar deluxe grill enthroned on the deck that I had lovingly refurbished most of the past year while Genevi...

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“Fatum V.1” by Jazz Leung

Submitted to Contest #155

‘Shirr, shirr. Schlock, shirr, schlock.’ A longsword is what Life has chosen for tonight. Specifically, the Fatum V. 1, in its broad format. Estella’s birthday: February 12th, 1994, destiny number 1. As it drags along the empty pathway, the silver steel glints in the light. The blade is tilted just right, and it trails along behind me, balanced by the burdens it has killed off before. ‘Shirr, shirr. Schlock, shirr, schlock.’ My eyebrows raise, and the corners of my lips hold a downturned quality. The Fatum V.1 is not my favourite blade. It h...

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“It's All Good” by J L Jones

Submitted to Contest #155

As a young mother, there were days when I couldn’t wait for my girls to grow up. I couldn’t wait for cries to become words. For diapers to become underpants. For their constant dependence on me to become self-sufficiency. Funny that as time passes and all those things come to fruition, all a mother wants is to go back to the days when those trying early years are the only ones in front of us. My girls, Elisabeth and Hanna, are now 29 and 28, respectively. Both live within 30 minutes of me, and I am so grateful. Time with them now is as imp...

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“from Jessica:” by Kenn Rho

Submitted to Contest #155

(TW: mentions of sexual violence, gun violence, and bullying) Betty sat, criss-cross applesauce, underneath the bleachers in the gym. She set down her lunch tray in front of her, taking occasional bites of today’s meal: biscuits and gravy. She thought that this was more of a breakfast food; then again, she also thought that Jared would be here by now. Disappointments happen all the time, she figured. Surely he didn’t forget. If he did, this wouldn’t be her first time spending the lunch period alone like this. Jared often forgot about th...

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“AH, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #155

AH, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! He entered the bar out of breath, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his T-shirt rolled up on his stomach, half uncovered. He squinted, he was not in his own ( he was not in himself) for the impatience to start telling us…oh, wonders. “ Ah, you don’t know, but sure, you can’t know! It happened a few minutes ago , as I was walking down the alley of the fools…and there was only me in the alley! Uh!” After that he , standing at the centre of the bar, wobble...

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“THE SUMMONS” by R. J. Garron

Submitted to Contest #155

The doors opened on a cold whim. No sound, no protest. Everything fell into the silent ambience of the alabaster lighting encapsulating every corner of the Civilian and Culture Building. The door slid shut behind without notice. In plain view was the conduct coordinator, a lump of a post-modern human more akin to a walking thumb, sitting at the circular desk in the middle of the room, a product of middle management handling the valuable contributions and disciplines of its employees. There was no na...

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“A Fading Touch” by Gregory Wright

Submitted to Contest #155

Under the nurse’s guidance, Marty walked into the cold exam room and shuffled over to the examining table. Awkwardly pulling up on the legs of his jeans to get comfortable, he pulled out his shirt tails to give him more room, his feet dangling in the air like a school boy’s. He sat quietly with his hands folded in his lap while the nurse, after reassuring him the doctor would be in soon, closed the door, leaving him there alone. This was the consult he feared. The one after all the tests and questions and probing. The one he was dreading ove...

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“Timing is Everything” by Amy Ingram

Submitted to Contest #155

PatsyThe morning after the office mid-winter Christmas party, sober again, I faced the reality of what I’d done. I didn’t mean to push Jeffrey into the harbour. Not consciously, anyway. He shouldn’t have been standing so close to the edge, the state he was in, but something on the water had got his attention and he was concentrating so hard on it that he wouldn’t have seen me roll my ankle and fall towards him. He’d had as much to drink at Dockside as anyone in the group and was none too steady on his feet as we headed, in twos and threes, a...

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“ même vieux” by Violetta Salabay

Submitted to Contest #155

Same old , same old . Work ,chat with Miss Mabel , home , repeat . Work ,chat with Miss Mabel , home , clean , tv ,,fall asleep on the couch , drag myself to bed , repeat . Work , chat with Miss Mabel , home , clean , tv , ,fall asleep on the couch , drag myself to bed , change into my pjs , snore , press snooze a couple times , look at my watch , realise I'm late , brush my teeth , repeat . Work ,chat with Miss Mabel , home , clean , tv ,fall asleep on the couch , drag myself to bed , change into my pjs , snore , press snooze a ...

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“Fleck” by Maxwell MacDonald

Submitted to Contest #155

Bobby Fleck couldn’t understand why he was getting heat about his performance. He wasn’t just doing his job; he was crushing it. Things running so smooth that he barely needed to get involved at all. That was the problem. The work was getting done, but Bobby wasn’t technically doing it. The words his boss used repeatedly during the twenty-minute railing were negligence, blatant lack of ethics, and massive sociopathic tendencies. They all took even turns in the burning circle of his speech, but negligence stood o...

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“There's more than dandruff on your shoulders.” by MJ Payne

Submitted to Contest #155

“Where is everyone? This playground is more boring than you are!” Drizelt whined in an attempt to irritate Brongate with the insult and start an argument. Drizelt could think of plenty of things that would be more fun than arguing with him, but with the playground devoid of children, Brongate was the only being available to pester. Brongate, however, had been ignoring Drizelt’s pathetic attempts to start conflict between them for longer than either could remember, and this latest jab was not nearly enough for Brongate to ...

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“The Playground” by Sheba Grayson

Submitted to Contest #155

TW: Suicide, mental health, language There was very little blood, but to hear him tell it, he narrowly escaped with his life. The enormous, bright green bandage wraps entirely around his tiny arm. I have normal-sized Band-Aids in the bag, but Joe won’t even consider them. “Five more minutes, Joe,” I say, interrupting the retelling of his harrowing two-foot fall and subsequent scratch. He and the other boys race back to the swings. I recheck my watch. Rose lays a gentle hand over my wrist, “It will be fine,” she says. I search her face f...

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“Roundabout Repairs” by Karen C

Submitted to Contest #155

Barry, the big chestnut with the white blaze, stared back at Pete with a look of defiance. Pete, intimidated by neither the horse’s glare nor the sheer size of his subject, crowded closer to the rippling shoulder muscles and knelt down. He ran his hand down the smooth red leg until he was touching the gleaming hoof. There it was! He could see a stray bit of rusty metal sticking out at the bottom. He grasped it with his pliers and yanked. The metal shard came out much easier than expected; Pete smashed his head so hard against Barry’s under...

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“The Holes Game” by Danny Mart

Submitted to Contest #155

Warning: Mentions and implied domestic abuse. A daughter is her mother's representative in the playground. She is her valiant stand-in when someone means to insult the absent elder. And praise to her is praise to her mother for raising her. The only exception to this is when the father leaves for whatever reason, and suddenly she is no longer the mother's 'mini-me'; she is clearly 'her father's child'. This dubbing of our roles as children are reflections of our parents' hierarchical community. Consequently, the scripts we follow frequently...

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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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