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Write a story about someone who is working from home and constantly getting distracted by their pet.

Posted in Nonfiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 98 stories

A day with Jesus Christ.

Submitted to Contest #38

Tap. Tap. Tap. The sounds of my fingers typing away on my most recent project are quite soothing, almost rhythmic in its song. This, the song of my childhood twirling around my head like ethereal notes from a piano. Happy. My head unbeknownst to me slightly tilts to the left as usual when my creative juices are flowing.Shit.Those creative juices were actually the remaining few swallows of my breakfast Pepsi, which I absolutely remembered to move out of harm's way. Why is it now racing its way toward my laptop?That bag of bones cat I've calle...

44 likes 10 comments 10
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Those Glistening Golden Eyes

Submitted to Contest #38

My hand slid down the murky window, tracing the glistening wakes of the raindrops. This only leaves me with a murky feeling of procrastination and slacking corruption. I feel sick but not in the I-am-going-to-throw-up way but in the three-is-no-way-I-am-meeting-these-deadlines. The point of my index finger bristled slightly, and I pulled away from the window in profound boredom. My only boundary. In thinking this, I felt like I had been transported, to another mystical world, where ...

40 likes 34 comments 34
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A Small Dilemma

Submitted to Contest #38

All Karen had to do was finish this page. Just one more page. But sweet, playful Fluffy was demanding attention. Fluffy knew just what to do to distract Karen, and so far, it was working."Fluffy, I'm busy. You can't sit in my lap while I work. You're too big, silly puppy!" Fluffy sadly jumped to the floor. She sat on the rug and stared sweetly up at Karen."Oh, fine, I'll pet you. But only for a few minutes. I'm almost done." Karen typed a few more words, then closed her laptop. She reached down to pet Fluffy."You're such a good dog, being so...

32 likes 12 comments 12
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Daisies, Marigolds, and a Daffodil

Submitted to Contest #38

My palms are sweaty and raw as I attempt preparing the soil for new spring flowers. I never thought as a florist I would be working from home, but here we are! Not that I mind it all that much. I do miss my coworkers; fifteen year old Lili who saunters in after school with her mother and insists on arranging the red roses for the window display; Mauri, Lili’s mother, who has been working at the shop for over ten years and taught me everything I know; and Casey who is my age, twenty-one, and takes gorgeous photographs for Shower’s Flowers off...

32 likes 15 comments 15
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Distractions

Submitted to Contest #38

Shit, another conference call, I think as I see the notification in my inbox. My boss is such an asshole. Why can't he just send an email?I close the laptop and move into the kitchen for a snack. My third snack since breakfast. This working from home sucks. Well, not really. But it's what I'm supposed to think. If I am being honest with myself, I actually love it. I can sleep in until 8, get a quick shower, put on my sweats and a sensible blouse, and I'm all set. I check my Instagram feed and drink my coffee in peace instead of traffic, and ...

29 likes 13 comments 13
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Lost and Found

Submitted to Contest #38

“The world is overrated, Coffee,” Celia Balasco mused. The brown and black striped cat looked up at her from his seat on the floor. Celia slid down from the chair she was sitting on and crossed her legs. The cold floor bit her skin, but she remained seated. Coffee meowed. “Why, you ask? Let’s just say I wouldn’t be home this often if events had occurred differently,” she said. She pulled a cat toy off the table behind her and waved it around. Coffee’s rear end shifted and he pounced, his claws scratching the wooden floor of the apartment. Ce...

23 likes 4 comments 4
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Plague Dogs

Submitted to Contest #38

 A series of taps at his wrist alerts Nathan that a delivery has arrived. His vitaband lights up with the checkmark that indicates it is government approved and sterile, so he swipes the alert away and gets up from his desk. He can hear Edgar, already aware of the rover’s arrival, racing back and forth in front of the door with that manic energy that all mini-pins seem to have — tiny doberman pinschers with all the tension of a coiled spring. This racing habit has only become worse now that the lockdown has carried on for so long. Covid...

23 likes 8 comments 8
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I, Great Cat, Rule My Human

Submitted to Contest #38

She’s ignoring me. My human. Look at me, I plead in silence. Perhaps if I’m cute. Nope, not even being part of the Ragdoll breed works. Time for a new plan.“Lucy! I’m typing an email to my boss. Hold on,” Emily, my human says.Her voice is not as sweet as I like. She stares at the bright shape in front of her. I don’t like its light. Too bright for me. Only the sun can be bright because it’s warm. I like to lie down in the coziness. Not this box she pecks at. What are those squares with lines and curves on them? Does she need them? Am I not e...

14 likes 1 comment 1
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Ginger

Submitted to Contest #38

She stares at me, her big brown eyes now fluttering in the sunlight. Outstretched her paws lay on the warm carpet. Opposite me in a small cramped room, she lays grooming herself on the spot as the blue walls surrounding her are set light by the sun. The malting fur floats in the air, landing on the tip of my nose and the.... Oh, I forgot again. I sigh as I am snapped back into reality. Awaiting on twenty or so emails, barely passing deadlines for different projects. I steadily lift my hand to reach for my pen, resisting the temptation to loo...

14 likes 0 comments 0
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Two's Company

Submitted to Contest #38

He is later than usual but as I am the last person to always know, what does he care. Sometimes I wonder why I am here. He rarely takes any notice of me.I suppose I can't complain. I have it pretty comfortable here, much better than Ginger next door. I feel for her. She has really lengthy spells where she is all alone. I really don't mind her coming over and sharing with me. I hear his car now, let's see how long it takes for him to notice that I'm around or will I have to be the one to make first contact.Entering his modern little town...

14 likes 8 comments 8
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A Curious Visitor

Submitted to Contest #38

The sunflower-laden table cloth began to glow a brighter shade of yellow as the early-morning sunlight streamed in. The shiny, hardwood floors glistened as the beams of light bounced through the windows and coated Charlotte's apartment in a shimmery, iridescent glow.  Charlotte stumbled down the hallway, steaming cup of coffee in hand and squinted her blue/gray eyes as those pesky light beams speared her irises like tiny, glowing swords. Despite the sunny appearance of her fifteenth-floor apartment, Charlotte felt quite the opposite. Dr...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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Checkmate to Checkmate

Submitted to Contest #38

You know that quote from Robbie Burns about what happens to the best-made plans of mice and men?  It can apply just as well to cats and women. Though come to think of it, I’m not sure about that. My plans may well have gone, as Robbie put it, “agley”, but I think so far as Checkmate is concerned things are going entirely to plan.     After my much loved tortoiseshell Shelley (okay, it wasn’t original!) fell asleep and didn’t wake up on her favourite place on the armchair, I resisted the idea of ha...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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Virtual Ballet With Laci Evergreen

Submitted to Contest #38

The video starts and a woman with an uneven tan is smiling at the camera, hair not quite done, donning a bright pink unitard with a flimsy pink tutu -- not like the real ballerinas wear, but something you’d get from a gag gift shop. The only part of her that maintains some semblance of a pristine quality is her smile.“Hello,” she says to the camera. “Welcome to Virtual Ballet with Laci Evergreen. And of course, I am Laci Evergreen. It would be quite awkward if my name was Daisy Gugenthal, wouldn’t it?” She guffaws at her stupid joke whi...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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These are the Little Things

Submitted to Contest #38

Sometimes, it’s the little things that are hardest to deal with. When we’re all inside, looking at our screens, the most glaring of these little things become apparent. When Lily, the cat that (almost) played half of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star has made more people smile than you will in a lifetime, the little things feel like a means to an end that you’ll never reach.In these times, the only thing we can do is accept it - and embrace it. I say this, because I have found it. I know the formula. My cat will do something adorable, and I’m gonn...

12 likes 0 comments 0
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Isn't it Great?

Submitted to Contest #38

“Yay!  You’re home 24/7 now. We are so delighted!” Fluffy, my old lady cat, purrs as she rubs up against me. She is seventeen years old, has had at least 8 lives, and loves to cuddle; but only purrs when she is very pleased. She is the queen of the household. “Yeah, you’re home all the time now so you can serve us ALL the time. Pet me when I want,” adds Wimpie, the 10-year-old “baby”. For some reason she still seems like the little baby kitten I got from the shelter who was failure-to-thrive. I had taken her home to give her one mo...

12 likes 0 comments 0
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