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#188: But There's a Catch

In life, there’s almost always a catch. The beautiful new shoes cause blisters. The exciting promotion at work leaves you feeling out of your depth. The free upgrade to first class comes with a screaming kid for a neighbor. If something seems too good to be true, maybe it is!

We might call these drawbacks ‘the fly in the ointment’; the little things that spoil what would otherwise be wonderful. With this week’s prompts, we’re encouraging you to lean into those frustrations, big and small. Will your characters be able to find a workaround, or is this as good as it gets?

This week's prompts

Write a story that starts with the line “So, what’s the catch?”

Dialogue – 95 stories

Write about a character who would have complete happiness, if it weren’t for that one thing.

Character – 63 stories

Write a story about someone who is determined to not have their day spoiled — but the universe is trying their patience.

Funny – 47 stories

Write about someone who thinks they just got a great deal on something, only for them to realize…

Mystery – 32 stories

Write about a character who’s attending a dinner thrown in their honor, but deeply embarrasses themself during their speech.

Funny – 19 stories

Stories

“The Catch? ” by Chloe Rierson

Submitted to Contest #188

“So… what's the catch? That’s too perfect.” I hear her say. I pause for a second, none of them have ever asked that. What is the catch? Ohh, the catch. The catch. The catch. The catch. Well… I guess the catch is me. Am I the catch? I smile with a smile that's been practiced to perfection, although maybe it looks like a smirk, “Me,” I take a small step towards her as her eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “You? I- I have a husband.” she says hesitantly, taking a nervous step back. I love it when they try to come up to...

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“The Roundabout Valentine” by Tom Bentley

Submitted to Contest #188

“Now Herman you just pull into that Stuckey’s and you can find out once and for all just where the road to Roundabout is. And you can pick me up a cherry cola in the bargain. Let’s just stop all this fussing and find out some facts. Land sakes, you’re as stubborn as a pickax stuck in briar wood!” Ruby Droopkins waggled a bony finger at Mr. Droopkins while she spoke, the big white plastic disks on her mail-order “ivory” bracelet clacking. Her wispy bird-like frame, always jittering in one direction or another, was pitching itself about, see...

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“Michael's Birthday” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #188

Michael woke up and stretched his arms above his head. “Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear me. Happy birthday to me.” He sang to himself with a smile. “Today will be a good day.” He placed one foot on the soft rug next to his bed. As he stood, he lost his balance. He caught himself on the corner of the bedside table. “That was a close one,” Micheal said to himself. Michael entered the tiled bathroom. He did his business. He brushed his teeth, gagging on th...

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“Someone up there hates me.” by Debra Koffski

Submitted to Contest #188

The universe has it out for me. How do I know? Well, I had a rough year last year. I lost my mom to cancer, which was the worst. And I didn’t think things could get any worse, but they did. I lost my job due to a miscommunication, which was my boss (whom was a wicked, mean, little woman) thinking I said something bad about her. Which, I kind of did, but I said it to my good friend, who also worked for the company. So, I also lost a good friend. On the way to a job interview my car broke down, and it cost me not only the new job, but a big ch...

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“Đurađ's perfect day” by Ksenija Rubež

Submitted to Contest #188

Rain. Around eight in the morning. It was a four-day work week, and now it was time for the three-day weekend. How can such a day go wrong? Universe, you have an impossible task ahead of yourself, Đurađ thought to himself with a smirk. Rolling around in his bed lazily, he stuffed his head back into the pillow multiple times. Finally, the day had come when he had the opportunity to get up whenever and be irresponsible. Excited, he could not stop thinking about the upcoming day. Since he got the new job, he never got the opportunity to ...

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“Mr Camus ” by Alex Cameron

Submitted to Contest #188

Man on the ledge Mr Camus was of average height, average girth, average intelligence and perfectly average luck. He had falling, fading brown hair and thin spectacles. He had no formal form of income, and he was seldom awake at this hour, but today he wore a pale blue tie. Even Mr Camus agreed that it looked quite nice, almost a poetic tribute to his honour, as it flapped frantically in the wind. How perfect this picture will be in, in high definition, in living rooms and cafes across the country. It was moving every which way, in part bec...

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“The Consequences of Being Early to School” by Nitya Nair

Submitted to Contest #188

The city bustled around her, the comforting roar hardly noticeable as Talia hurried to school, about to be early for most likely the first time in her life. This morning, miraculously, the alarm she had set the night before had gone off, and actually woken her up. She’d had plenty of time to get dressed, eat breakfast, and go over her homework from the night before. When she’d gotten downstairs, neither of her parents had left for work yet. Dad was standing at the counter making breakfast, and mom was working on her laptop. Their cat, Winte...

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“Bottomless” by Mandy Cole

Submitted to Contest #188

Theresa parked her Hyundai in the first open spot she could find. She’d gotten the Elantra in magenta, remembering how she’d always admired the jocks and preps in high school for their red sporty cars; she peered at the newly washed sedan’s reflection in the windows of the deli. In anticipation of this meal, she had not eaten breakfast, and her belly was slightly rumbling as she unplugged her phone from the dash and put the contents of her purse in order. It was her first Friday off work in ages, and as her kids were in school and her husba...

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“It is Going to Be a Good Day” by Christine Gries

Submitted to Contest #188

It was bound to be a good day. Nothing is going to spoil such a perfect day as this. The sun was shining, it was Friday and payday. The early spring weather made way for robins and other birds. Flowers and some flowering trees were already decorating the town with their color. I grabbed a light jacket, bid my two greyhounds goodbye, and headed out the door humming, ‘Come Sail Away ‘by Styx. The darn tune has been stuck in my head all week. Yes, siree Bob it was going to be a good day. I got in my 2016 Black Kia, threw th...

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“House Flipping Into Eternity” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #188

Sure, the glorified shanty had all the rustic charm of a Little House on the Prairie episode. But its price tag of $120,000 probably made it the bargain basement buy of the decade. Curb appeal didn’t exist for the rundown cabin, but a few steps from the entrance you stepped into one of the most beautiful lakefront stretches of forest he had ever laid eyes on. Then, after gingerly ascending the crooked front steps, Tom Cupiskin peeled back several layers of cobwebs on the porch and turned the ancient doorknob with his gloved hands. The kn...

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“Just One Click” by Darlene Chaney

Submitted to Contest #188

Just One Click Triggers: Narcissistic abuse, Mental illness, Language, abortion, suggestions of violence Lacy Carpenter sits at her computer desk/vanity eating a microwaved TV dinner. She takes the last bite, then dumps the empty cardboard tray into a nearby trashcan. She looks out of her Sedona apartment window and watches Spring’s new birth unfold. Too bad, there’s no sign of life in here, she sighs, looking at the dull dwellings and the shriveled-up cactus on the windowsill. &...

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“An Old Heirloom” by Blake Childres

Submitted to Contest #188

“So, what’s the catch?” The deal was much too good to be true. She had been in mourning for the last few days, then her grandmother’s supposed ‘lawyer’ showed up, telling her she was the only one included in the will. Caroline was conflicted, to say the least. True, out of the rest of her siblings and cousins it was Caroline who was closest to her grandmother. It was Caroline who visited the most often. It was Caroline who was with her grandmother when the elderly woman eventually did pass on thanks to organ failure. Old age finally caught...

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“Glow Worm” by Adam S. Karofsky

Submitted to Contest #188

“Alright, so what’s the catch?” “No catch. No rules.” “Bullshit.” “It’s true.” “Tell me the price again?” “A dime. Just like in the old days.” “Bullshit.” Kai examined the tiny pill. Held in a small zip-lock bag, it was triangular and golden, with white lines spiderwebbing out from the center like an exploding star. “Where’d you get these again?” “Leo. He owed me from that time back in Brooklyn. Relax, it’s all-natural.” “Leo?!” Kai looked nervous now, knowing the other kinds of stuff Leo used to sling in the old days...

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“Best Day Ever!” by Chell~Linn Araya

Submitted to Contest #188

My day is going to be great. The first day of my new promotion, the one I had worked toward for six months, and I was ready to tackle it. True, the day had not started great when the alarm on my phone did not go off. I guess I left the phone on silent somehow. But that’s ok because the outfit I spent forty-five minutes picking last night still seemed like the perfect choice so I did not have to go through my whole closet again. Just like that I was back on track! I grab a granola bar and a banana to eat later, place my mobile coffee order f...

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“Poverty city” by Michael Nguyen

Submitted to Contest #188

“So, what’s the catch” I asked the car seller. “No, no catch. Just a few issues. Rear wiper won’t work. But the brakes do.” “Wonderful.” “Half the time. All the lights work great. Especially the engine light that one stays on all the time.” “Well for $400 dollars-“ “Heaters start in seconds.” “It is getting colder-” “So long as you don’t mind toxic fumes and headaches that come with it but who’s asking anyways. Not you. So we have a deal.” “Absolutely.” “Hey you aren’t swindling me are ya?” “I don’t need this car for driving. I need to...

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$250

Prize money

256

Contest entries

133

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 10, 2023 EST

Won by Tom Bombadil 🏆

Title: The First Idol

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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