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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 – 95 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

“The Stain” by Matt Strempel

Submitted to Contest #31

The stain is a black smudge on my white pillowcase. Depending on my mood, it reminds me of a horse or a pineapple or the Green Dragon character on a mahjong tile. It’s an inkblot test I take every Wednesday night at Tumbles Laundromat on Park Street. The stain is one year, three months and fifteen days old.There’s hardly anyone here on a Wednesday. I used to come on a Sunday evening when it’s busy with a pocket full of coins, a book, and the expectancy of finding a girl or two to talk to.Back then, when I met Harriet, I was one of those...

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“Airing out” by Marte Van Der Linden

Submitted to Contest #31

Here we go again. Why are humans so disgusting?Shirts, socks, skirts. Jeans, jumpers, jackets. Stained and smelly and utterly disgusting. I’ve seen everything. Ketchup, wine, grass, mud, blood, vomit. You name it, I’ve washed it.It’s endless. The laundry basket is not so much a bottomless pit as an overflowing sewer. They just keep chucking filthy clothes in with the expectation that someone will pop up miraculously to scrub them clean.That’s me. Hurray. What a great life I have.I don’t mind so much when it’s kids. They don’t know any better...

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“After Work” by Mia Hunter

Submitted to Contest #31

The first time I walked into my ad agency life, I was greeted by the strong smell of coffee mixed with cigar smoke and orange essence. It was, up until that moment, one of the oddest combinations of smells I had ever smelt in my lifetime of smelling.But eh, it doesn’t matter, right? I had a job; the most sought after luxury in this time of high unemployment, made worse with a handful of acute inflation.Or so I thought… As any working slave would understand; I got a JOB. I find this situation to be a mental conundrum; having a job is str...

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“The Pickpocket” by Juliet Martin

Submitted to Contest #31

The pickpocket danced down the road, drunk on his riches. He was the Pied Piper of paraphernalia. He came to his usual spot and brought himself a stop on the rough tarmac of the pavement. It was beginning to get dark. A single streetlight had sprung on with a low twang and now it glowed uncertainly, like a conspicuous singleton at a party. The two parallel rows of houses were obscured by greyish dimness that hung in front of your eyes and defied you to try to blink it away. The street was faceless. The pickpocket kept to the dark side of the...

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“Another Day of Laundry.” by Ellory Reiling

Submitted to Contest #31

I sigh as I grab my son's hamper from his room. It's only a third of the way full. I groan as I search through his room to find the other pieces of clothing; the ones that I know aren't in there because he either forgot or he's just too lazy. I can't even begin to describe what stains and smells I find in the process. It's going to be a world war to get him to even acknowledge they're there. I stretch before picking the basket back up because it weighs about 50 lbs. How can one boy cause so much laundry in just a week? I p...

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“Bread Crumbs” by Jᴇʀᴇᴍʏ Rᴏᴢᴇɴ ✍

Submitted to Contest #31

“You’re a filthy, disgusting monster!” Clyde shouted.He flung a full plate of food off the table.Food splattered across the chair in front of him, all over the floor and up the wall on the other side of the room. The tin plate followed quickly behind and smacked into the wall and then fell, with a clatter to the worn, wood floor where it spun noisily to a stop.“Well, now you’ve gone and done it,” said an old woman, barely paying the outburst any mind. She stood by the stove, stirring an enormous, steaming pot with an equally large, wooden pa...

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“January 25, 2020 A short walk in Brooklyn ” by Dawn Mandzik

Submitted to Contest #31

Robert stood, pushing aside the papers on his cramped desk in his rather cramped Brooklyn apartment. Looking towards the tiny window, which revealed just a bit of sky, he realized heavy clouds had moved in. Picking up his iPhone he checked the weather. Heavy rains to begin in an hour. He really should finish his assignment, he thought, still staring out the window, but in reality he was stumped, really stumped. Besides, they probably needed something from the store. He turned...

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“A Week in March” by Ariel Kalati

Submitted to Contest #31

On Sunday, Mina went into Smiley’s for a box of Tic-Tacs. At 6 pm, the right hour to be miserable if you got nothing done with the day. The sun was definitely not visible any longer, and there went the day, just like every other day for the past month. She’d hoped getting out of the house would make her less miserable, but she just felt worse. Seeing the gloom of blue shadow settle over the March evening was not any less depressing than seeing the inside of her room. &nbsp...

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“I'll Be Home in Five” by Morgan .

Submitted to Contest #31

I sigh, putting the key into my run-down car and opening the door. It had been a long day at work, and I wanted nothing more than to go home and see my cats.BUZZ BUZZI look down at my phone: Two missed calls from Rob. I turn on the ignition.‘Hey babe, just got in the car, what’s up?’ I send, setting my phone beside me and pulling out of the parking lot. BUZZ BUZZ ‘Can u stop and grab some cat food? Chunky got into the bag again LOL’ I smile and shake my head, shifting my glance from the road to my phone again. ‘Sure. I’ll be home in fi’It al...

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“The Money Tree” by Mishka Stennett

Submitted to Contest #31

This could never be what I have heard about, I told myself, staring at it in disbelief...and yet here it was in my garden…a real money tree. I was tending to my garden when I spied it. Weeks of intermittent rain had stopped me from doing my usual weeding and shrub pruning. Today was the first truly sunny day and I had been excited to see what the rains had brought, apart from weeds of course.It was adjacent to the fence of my property; short and slim but completely recognizable by the one dollar bills hanging from greenish-brown soft branche...

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“Sunday Dinner” by Jessica C

Submitted to Contest #31

“It smells a little burned, babe.”She sighs. It’s louder than she intended, but she can’t help it. He doesn’t seem to notice.“It’s not burning.”She hears the oven door open behind her, because of course he has to see for himself. She can feel the dry heat radiating throughout the small kitchen; buttery, smokey scents of rosemary and grease coming with it. “It looks a little burned, babe.”“It’s not. Please close the oven door.” “She says it’s not burning, Ma!” She hears the distinct crack of the Coors...

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“Larry the Laundry Assistant” by Felicity Edwards

Submitted to Contest #31

Today doing the laundry is easy. All you need to do is sort the pile of laundry into light-coloured items and dark ones. Open the door of the machine and load a pile. Add the laundry detergent and the softener and leave the machine to get on with the job. When done take out the well-spun garments ready for drying. A painless exercise but now consider this scenario:it is the mid-1970s, a young couple with a toddler and a baby move to Africa for the husband’s work. Everything is different, Africa is a place where water is a precious commodity,...

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“Garden gloves with a little love” by Ben K

Submitted to Contest #31

The back door. It's always been my escape. Not just from work, but from everything. When I step through that threshold into my garden. Everything else melts away. Just me and the cool morning air. The sweet tinge of yellow clinging to my cheeks as the sun rises over the horizon. It's okay to take my time out here, because it is my time. It always will be.Kneeling down I typically take the time to look over each plant before moving onto trimming, nutrients and watering. It's important to take a good look at your lower leafs close to the groun...

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“SORTING THROUGH MY LIFE” by Vickie Culbertson

Submitted to Contest #31

Sorting through the laundry, I automatically let my mind wanwh wder to a year ago when my Mom and I traveled to Colorado to make a new start. Dad had openly had an affair, his profession as a police officer and being teamed with an attractive partner allowed them to be together undetected for so long. Although, I got into a heated argument with my Dad in our driveway. I didn't know it was the last time I would see and speak to him.Today my mind is on replay, placing the whites with whites: bras, tee shirts, panties in the starting load ...

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“The Galician Garden” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #31

She’d brought the seeds back with her from Galicia. Grelos, broccoli raab, rapini. She had been a bit afraid, thinking it was illegal to bring them into the US, but they had been packaged in a box with a label, and didn't look like they could possibly harbor any sort of fatal disease. She had chanced upon the package in O Toural, in a square with an old fountain. She’d gone into a shop that had been there for years, selling exactly the same things: seeds, bulbs, a set of white porcelain cups and pitcher for drinking blood-red yet thin Ribeir...

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$50

Prize money

373

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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