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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#31: The Ordinary

The very last line of the NBC sitcom The Office is spoken by former receptionist Pam Beasley. She says: "There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?"

This week's writing prompts embrace that sentiment, and challenge you to write stories that take ordinary, everyday tasks and turn them into meaningful pieces of short fiction.

This week's prompts

Write a short story about someone doing laundry.

Adults – 94 stories

Write a short story about someone tending to their garden.

Spring – 77 stories

Write a short story about someone cooking dinner.

Nonfiction – 56 stories

Write a short story about someone going to the corner store to buy an everyday item.

Nonfiction – 64 stories

Write a short story about someone heading home from work.

Nonfiction – 81 stories

Stories

“Laundry Day” by Cheyanne Solis

Submitted to Contest #31

Shoot, I don’t think I brought enough quarters. I never bring enough quarters. The hum of washing machines and dryers accompanied the warm wafts of fabric softener sheets as I dropped my basket of darks. I began to dig in my bag for loose change, but crumpled receipts and forgotten pens whose ink leaked over my fingers were the only items that ran through my hands. I felt the judging glance of a man sitting on the bench by my machine. In rundown sweats, he’d most likely stripped from his work clothes and thrown on the one ou...

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“Striped Pajamas” by Christine Peterson

Submitted to Contest #31

No one hangs their laundry outside anymore. A few of the backyards on our block still have old clotheslines swaying like worn-out trees, but no one actually uses them.No one but Miss Ada.Old as the hills and as wrinkled as tree bark, she hangs her wet laundry on her clothesline every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the yard next to ours. As reliable as clockwork, she talks to herself while she pulls old-fashioned clothes pegs from the pocket of her flowered apron and uses them to pin dainty cotton house dresses and striped pajamas on the li...

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“Mom's Shirt ” by John Settles

Submitted to Contest #31

“Jack,” Jason cried out, “where did you put Mom’s shirt?” “I dunno, you’re one the one that always does laundry,” he yelled back. He swore, if murder wasn’t illegal, he’d be an only child by now. But instead of being upset with him about the missing shirt, he took it out on the other poor wrinkled shirts, shorts, underwear, and sweaters. If he couldn’t take it out on his stupid idiot of a brother, the clothes would certainly feel his wrath. That’s when his dad walked in on his rampage against the clothes in the drying machine.&nb...

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“Around and Around” by Lindsay Berg

Submitted to Contest #31

Leslie watched as the clothes spun around and around. The washer was nearly done with its cycle and she was excited to help. Finally, the machine played its little tune and Leslie ran to fetch her mother. Her little hands were almost shaking with anticipation as they lifted the lid too peer inside. "Yup." Her mother said, "looks like it's done. Would you like to get your stool so you can help with the dry clothes?" Leslie nodded vigorously and ran. After all, the faster she left, the faster she could get back....

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“Dirty Laundry” by Dianne Diannemaddox29@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #31

Charleigh glanced up at the clock and realized she had fifteen minutes to run to the bus stop. The buses in Park Slope, a section of Brooklyn that Charleigh adored, came every 20 minutes. If she missed the 7:40 am bus, she would miss her 9:00 am dreaded yearly review meeting with her manager. Charleigh had worked for Charlotte for three years. Charlotte was 10 years younger and 25 pounds lighter than Charleigh. Charlotte had a way of making Charleigh feel older beyond her years. “You just love...

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“Fluff, Fold and Farewell” by Dee N

Submitted to Contest #31

Manicured fingernails tapped across the paired collection of appliances. Her husband, David, had sought to talk Karen out of the cherry red color, but she stayed her ground, maintaining that white is monotonous, sterile and industrial, like a hospital. The remodeled utility room delighted her in the light, warm touches incorporated in the design. Wicker baskets held sorted clothing: white sheets, vivid colors and towels, which Karen always ran with the darker clothes. The basket of light clothing led first. She deposited them into the washer...

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“Sheila's Day Off” by Marianne Wilke

Submitted to Contest #31

Sheila’s migraine is finally gone. She walks around the house, seeing messes everywhere. There is a pile of dirty clothes 3 feet deep in the small laundry room. She decides to tackle that first.She sorts the clothes into 7 piles: lights, darks, her husband’s work clothes, jeans, towels, Cleaning clothes for her housecleaning jobs and the dogs’ stinky blankets.Sheila knows Wayne will be gone all day, so she isn’t going to stress out about the mess. She has all day to get it done, plus she can stay home today. It’s her day off.The first l...

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“Drake's Garden” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #31

See this place? It’s known as Drake’s Garden and I’m Drake. Drake Drisdroll, Patient number 67511 to be exact. Welcome to Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital. I’m not big on introductions as my social skills are at times lacking according to my case manager. I have reasons for my lack of proper social etiquette. I have been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. In my humble estimation, I am not the loony one. The zookeepers in this place are nuts and they want to keep the normal ones like me locked up so that no one ...

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“Don’t come between a man and his dog” by Bruno Lowagie

Submitted to Contest #31

Wilbur Jennings was still reading his newspaper when Ayla, a German Short-haired Pointer, started barking at him. Wilbur looked up from his paper.“Eleven thirty already?” he said. Checking his watch was a mere formality. Ayla was regular as clockwork. It was time for Wilbur to go outside for garden duty.Every day, on weekdays as well as on weekends, Wilbur took the “shit shovel” from the shed at half past eleven in the morning. Systematically, as if he was pacing distances to find a buried treasure, he covered the complete surface of the law...

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“Not with a bang but with a...tea towel” by Jane Thomson

Submitted to Contest #31

Margaret likes the way the sink is set into the bench facing the window. As she's washing up - a ridiculous task long since relegated (by the new race) to dishwasher AI - she watches the three wallabies on the back lawn. They bounce around one another, liking their own personal space: they're not like the congregating kangaroo. The grass is very green, the product of recent rains. The forests rise up behind it, a million eucalypts jostling for air and light. She looks at the analogue clock on the wall, a remnant of a bygone age. She has unti...

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“Teardrop Garden” by Sirena Trivett

Submitted to Contest #31

Abagail was in so much pain, distraught, just emotionally exhausted. For so many years now, everyday began a clockwork routine. Everyday ended, like clockwork, in tears and questioning everything she’s ever learned.physically and emotionally drained she prepared for another attempt at sleep, which she so desperately needed. Abagail would kneel beside her bed and ask God, “why God? What am I doing wrong? Lord, let me rest in peaceful slumber tonight, heal my body from the days work and my my mind from the venom words of my husband. Show me as...

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“TV Dinner” by Westley Vaillancourt

Submitted to Contest #31

Your laughter breaks my heart. You’re curled up on the left side of the couch, criss-cross-apple-sauce on the plaid cushions, waiting for me to join you for an episode of Saturday Night Live. We’ve watched and rewatched the tapes dozens of times over the years, but to you, they’ve never gotten any less funny. I set two plates on the counter. You found them in a thrift store when you were six, toddling over to show me with a big old grin on your chubby, happy little face. Mommy Mommy Mommy look! It’s Snoopy! Today, I might as well be co...

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“A dinner to remember” by Cody Ell

Submitted to Contest #31

I cracked my knuckles as I looked around the kitchen. It was 7:30pm.“Alright,” I said to myself. “I've only half an hour, better hurry.”Of course, anyone who cooks knows there’s always a couple of things you need to really be able to get into the mood. They’re a little different from person to person, but I prefer a small snack to nibble on (like olives if I’m making pasta), and some music you can dance to.It took me a minute or two, but my speaker got turned on, my phone connected, and soon a good beat was going. That’s the stuff.I swayed m...

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“War Dance” by Sally Mitchell

Submitted to Contest #31

Molten oranges and scorched reds were beginning their tango inside a cooking pot left on the stove. Never quite touching, but flirting with one another. A twirl around a lover, the promise of a kiss, but then a twist away, inching ever closer to the curtains. Building strength and growing, evolving. potatoes hissing and popping their outrage, but the flames wouldn’t deflect. Some kind of ancient tribal war dance, all knee slapping and ugga-bugging right there inside Cole Walters tiny Dagenham kitchen. He liked that description. Perhaps he’d ...

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“Little Ditties” by Daisy Collins

Submitted to Contest #31

Fusilli! Pasata! Onions, courgettes, peppers! I slap the ingredients down on my counter, bopping along to the nonsensical song in my head. Olive oil! Garlic! Three whole cloves of garlic! I crack the cloves off the bulb, watching the flaky casing fall down around my feet, shuffling in their striped socks. You whack it in a pot and stir it all a lot! Ha, I even made a rhyme! I fill up the kettle and click it on, throwing pasta into a saucepan and salting it. Dragging a heavy wooden chopping board in front of me, I get to work on the onio...

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$50

Prize money

372

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 06, 2020 EST

Won by Ariel Kalati 🏆

Title: The Memory Garden

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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