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#41 Fuzzy Friends (or Foes?)

Hey, writers! I'm Tracy Gold, an editor, writer, and mom to a toddler, horse, and dog. And this week, I'm taking over Reedsy Prompts!

 

As an editor, I've enjoyed working on young adult fiction (like Amanda Searcy's Watch You Burn), non-fiction (like Gary Vikan's The Holy Shroud), and sci-fi/fantasy (like Nikki Richard's Demon in the Whitelands). Visit my Reedsy profile to learn more about me and my work!

 

My theme for this week is "fuzzy friends." From Hedwig in the Harry Potter series to Enzo in the The Art of Racing in the Rain, nothing captures hearts like a beloved animal. Animals can be powerful antagonists, too: just look at Jurassic Park! Perhaps what I love most about books featuring fuzzy friends (or foes) is that they mine the depths of the human heart by exploring how we interact with animals. I hope these prompts help you sniff out a good story!

🥇 Winner

A Cat of Ganymede

Winner of Contest #41 🏆

Jupiter rose in the sky, and Zoe gazed up at it from her patch of turquoise grass. Brushing her fingers over the blades, she wondered if Jupiter felt more like air or water. It did rather look like there were oceans there. Red and orange and brown oceans, certainly, but their bands looked like waves on a shore to her all the same.  To her right, there was the dull sound of paw against turf and a heavy, shadowy body shifting its position. As always, the air nearby warmed up within seconds. Large bodies made lots of heat, especially synth...

175 likes 71 comments 71
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⭐️ Shortlisted

The Scent of Life

Shortlisted for Contest #41 ⭐️

The wind blows northeast, the sun peeking through the clouds, a harbinger of the rough days to come. Feet gather around the mechanical moving boxes, a strategic formation. There is one voice booming, giving instructions and detailing expectations. A gust of wind brings a multitude of scents: asphalt, lumber, concrete, mud, tears. Urgency radiates from the single voice—the feeling of sorrow and hope. Bruno sits there waiting for the voice to stop, looking beyond the houses, or what is left of them. “We need to inspect the area, we need to fin...

28 likes 8 comments 8
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The Bay Window

Shortlisted for Contest #41 ⭐️

A light caught her eye. The smallest flash of a spherical rainbow, a chink of light captured on the breeze. It floated, alone, past the window, the large light-filled bay out of which she had been staring for a lost amount of time. The shadow of years lengthening in the afternoon sun.The lawn was littered with the detritus of a summer's day; a straw hat crushed in its centre - trodden and abandoned -, a bottle of sun cream, cap open and oozing, bleeding summer into the grass. The bubble continued its solitary path across her line of vision, ...

27 likes 4 comments 4
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Corax and the Hatter

Shortlisted for Contest #41 ⭐️

I settle on the curve of a telephone wire and ruffle my feathers, for the benefit of the humans below. Of course mortals these days have little reverence for creatures they don’t understand; I’ve heard them joke about popping me with an air rifle just to watch the feathers fly. There was a time, a thousand thousand years ago, when they had more respect for those who came with messages from the gods. But that’s no reason to deprive them of the glorious flash of my jet-black wings against the bloody sunset.  A harried-looking woman hurrie...

26 likes 4 comments 4
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A thread unfurling

Shortlisted for Contest #41 ⭐️

The first accursed vibration resonates through me, causing my flower’s petals to bounce and sway precariously as they take in the shock. Plop. A tremor runs up my legs, and I struggle to stay put as I sway back and forth. Plop. Another drop descends almost directly upon me, and a shiver racks my body. I flutter my wings and half-fly, half-fall towards the nearest patch of undergrowth. I hear the pounding up above, beading and reaching past the shady foliage that protects me. After several feverish hours, the pour abates. In the storm's ...

24 likes 16 comments 16
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Spotlight

Shortlisted for Contest #41 ⭐️

I drag my trunk through the cool sunset orange water of the lake. The golden tassels dangling over both sides spread out on the surface like the legs of waterbugs. I swing left and right. The bug legs scurry in formation, like humans on parade.  THWACK I jerk my trunk up and flecks of water fly over the sand, darkening where they land like blood drops. As usual Gavith is standing near the line of stinging flesh on my side; he has a stick. He's my handler and has been for three years, I see him everyday and he hits me everyday. What is u...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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This week's prompts

Write about an animal who changes a person's life (for better or worse).

Kids – 231 stories

Write about an animal species that doesn't exist in real life — an alien, new discovery, imaginary creature — it's up to your interpretation!

Middle School – 144 stories

Write about an animal who goes on a journey.

Kids – 69 stories

Write a story featuring an animal who subverts expectations (like a snuggly tiger, or something more magical, like a literal fish out of water).

Kids – 69 stories

Write about an animal who causes a huge problem.

Middle School – 99 stories

Stories

A Cat of Ganymede

Winner of Contest #41 🏆

Jupiter rose in the sky, and Zoe gazed up at it from her patch of turquoise grass. Brushing her fingers over the blades, she wondered if Jupiter felt more like air or water. It did rather look like there were oceans there. Red and orange and brown oceans, certainly, but their bands looked like waves on a shore to her all the same.  To her right, there was the dull sound of paw against turf and a heavy, shadowy body shifting its position. As always, the air nearby warmed up within seconds. Large bodies made lots of heat, especially synth...

175 likes 71 comments 71
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Insanity Eater

Submitted to Contest #41

Beware, beware the creature’s eyeShe feeds from fear deep in your mind  The words carved into the cover of the disfigured leather journal. Remnants of arson gnawed on the edges of its half-burnt spine, and traces of murder stained the once freshly cut birch pages; to the stench of rotting flesh. The inspector closely examined the warning on the cover under fading light of his candle. Too hard to be penetrated by quill, yet the engraving lacked the precision of a blade. The madman had dug his own nails into the book, as if the warni...

91 likes 56 comments 56
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Fish in a Tree

Submitted to Contest #41

 Meg curiously looked down at the fish, struggling to hold a straight face. This was the animal who had been perfect. She laughed at the thought. The young fish pleaded with Meg. "All I want is the prophecy, before I get a hold of my fate." Meg glanced around her shack, no better than the standard witches' nook, or perhaps, an evil sorceress. A small cauldron, books of magic, and the ball of prophecies. Every other animal wasn't good enough, except for the fish. This fish, she thought to herself, was just right. Swimming in his tiny bow...

59 likes 21 comments 21
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How did we end up in this mess?

Submitted to Contest #41

I wiped the accusing froth of spilt, chocolate brown deep shade of coffee leaked drastically off the marble tiled floor. Mum sighed and glared at me. "Savannah, you're not going to Grandma's house until you're done." she lectured me, her slender, knobbly hands planted over the ends of her hip.I rolled my eyes dramatically. "Remind me again. Why are we going there?"Mum clicked her tongue, sighing in total exasperation and frustration. "Oh god Savannah. When Aunt Kenzie says it's a secret, its a secret. She wants you to find out when you get t...

59 likes 20 comments 20
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Phil

Submitted to Contest #41

A towering gate of navy blue and burnished bronze stood in a dark chamber at the heart of the Pergamon museum, Berlin. Creatures lined its walls, frozen in a hallmark of power and force. The chamber itself dripped heavy with silence, artifacts and stories meant to brim with life locked inside, forever stagnant. The center of this gate, the core of the museum and the jewel of Berlin, flashed with a spark of glorious light. In an instant everything changed. A swirl of crimson and gold extended from the gate and reached its blinding tendrils to...

58 likes 41 comments 41
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Making Friends

Submitted to Contest #41

I met Mr. Casey after I injured my back and quit doing yard work. My dear Edna gave our tools away to the old man to store in his garage, a few blocks away on the other side of the school. Since Mr. Casey ran the church program for students working odd jobs during the summer, we donated our lawn mower and gardening tools in exchange for free services, which he continued to provide during the school year when the kids were too busy.Lately, however, after his dog Max died in late August, Mr. Casey withdrew from church activities and stopped ma...

56 likes 6 comments 6
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Careful What You Wish For!

Submitted to Contest #41

Ava unfolded, and folded the brochure again, and again. Welcome to Celtic Asylum! The curly lettering read. Ava crumpled the brochure, and tossed it at the trash can. It hit off the side, and plopped to the ground defiantly. She sighed, and leaned back on the metal bench. She stared at the white walls, and ticking clock. She balled up her hands in fists, and dug her nails into her dark skin. She abruptly stood up, as a nurse walked into the room.“How is she?” Was the first thing Ava asked. The nurse sighed, and rubbed her hands together. “Sh...

49 likes 30 comments 30
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He was once a man of anger

Submitted to Contest #41

He was a man of provocative muscle with a burly heart. His hands as soft as whipped cream, his eyes as pure as water and his lips as ripe as a sweet honey-glazed cherry. With skin like pearl and hair as wavy as life’s ups and downs. You could call him the British a chocolate bar Aero; his bubbly outer layer could never be shown.His anger was one thing that kept him confided in a bubble of carbon dioxide. They say life is to be cherished, right? Well life is to be relinquished through inflamed affliction. Nicks growl sent the hitche...

49 likes 26 comments 26
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Clouds

Submitted to Contest #41

A purple rabbit, fur matted and coarse, sits on the shelf of a young woman. He gathers dust day by day, wondering if he will ever see life beyond his shelf. Not that he minds it all that much; he enjoys watching the sun rise and set every day, watching as his beloved owner returns from school wearing the brightest smile, and reading the books he is placed in between. Life on a shelf is much better than being dragged across the floor by Fuzzy Boots, their gray-speckled cat. Only sometimes does he wish he would see the outside world.Perhaps, o...

49 likes 24 comments 24
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The Man and His Conversation about Death with a Colorful Cat

Submitted to Contest #41

“I’m confused…” said the man with jet black hair and frown lines around his mouth. “What’s there to be confused about?” asked the cat with fire for eyes and stars for teeth. “Am I dead? Is this…heaven? Or am I somewhere…else?” “Where do you think you are?” mused the cat, licking its paw. With each stroke of its tongue, the fur underneath changed colors, shimmering between shades of black and blue and purple and pink and all other colors the man had seen. “What happened to me?” He was getting frustrated - the frown lines a...

48 likes 19 comments 19
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Little Friend

Submitted to Contest #41

I take the shape of whatever you imagine. This is how she imagined me:   It seems as though the sky is always trying to entertain us. During the day, clouds dance among the wind, and when the sun disappears the stars scatter throughout the sky. The best part of the show is when the sun sets or when it rises. It looks as if amber ashes have been shot into the sky. The color moves through just like the blood in my veins. At that moment the sky is the same color as my wings. I can fade into the sky without anyone seeing the diffe...

48 likes 13 comments 13
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The Tales of Primrose.

Submitted to Contest #41

Primrose breathed in the milky scent of her mothers’ fur. The soft, damp moss underneath her fur gave much comfort. She mewed pitifully, when her mothers’ milk didn’t fill up her mouth. Primrose prodded her mother in the side, but she didn’t move. She mewed again, and wobbled to her feet. Primrose climbed over her brother Vixen, and her sister Pixie. Primrose then climbed up her mother’s flank, and dug her little thorn claws into her sleek fur. Her mother didn’t respond, and there wasn’t the familiar feeling of her warmth, and rising flank.“...

47 likes 40 comments 40
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Phoebe the Guardian Angel

Submitted to Contest #41

“Phoebe! Phoebe! Come here, girl! Want a treat?”I yelled. I was looking for my pet phoenix, Phoebe. She had flown out of her sanctuary again and was flying all over the mansion. I was staying with my grandfather in his mansion for the summer. Grandfather hated phoenixes, but loved me, so when I told him I wasn’t coming without Phoebe, he gave in. “Oh, there you are! You’re never going to stay in your sanctuary, are you?”I asked. I had found Phoebe on the kitchen island in the South Wing Kitchen. I put my arm out and Phoebe flew over to me an...

45 likes 47 comments 47
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Every will have its own way

Submitted to Contest #41

In this 21st century, we may see that many of us literally have pets in our homes. What are pets? Pets are animals that lives with people, but it is not forced to work and is not eaten, in most instances. In most cases, a pet is kept to entertain people or for companionship. We may ask ourselves "What benefits do pets bring? Why should I keep a pet for myself?". There are many health benefits of owning a pet. Studies have shown that the bond between people and their pets can increase fitness, lower stress and bring happiness to their owners....

45 likes 23 comments 23
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A Folded-Up Dream

Submitted to Contest #41

Ava took one look at her new drawing and folded it up, preparing to toss it into the trash can. She didn't believe in crumpling up papers; if you folded them they took up much less space in the trash. But something stopped her from putting this particular drawing in the half-full can. On this piece of paper was something she had wanted since she was little: a Bernese Mountain dog. She had to admit, this drawing was decent...it almost made the puppy look alive. Yet again, it wasn't. And so she tossed it into the trash with purpose. ...

44 likes 10 comments 10
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