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100 Word Challenge – Week #50

The prompt this week is:

…the rain turned the road into a river…

I think my story has a moral. I haven’t quite worked out exactly what it is!

A Stranger in Floodtown

The rain turned the road into a river. Fortunately the drivers of Floodtown were used to this. As soon as the water level reached their car’s chassis, they pressed the button marked float. The wheels slowly vanished inside the frame and the bottom of the vehicle became more rounded. The drivers waited until the water level was high enough for floating. Then they continued their journey.

Today, Floodtown had a visitor: Darcie from Droughttown. She waited in her car watching all the other cars turning into boats and expecting the same to happen to hers. By the time she realised it wouldn’t, it was too late. Darcie drowned.

Miriam Drori's avatar

By Miriam Drori

Author, editor, attempter of this thing called life. Social anxiety warrior. Re-Connections, a collection of short stories, published with Ocelot Press, 15/10/2025.

31 replies on “100 Word Challenge – Week #50”

Hmm. Darcie sounds a little like people who won’t vote in government elections, but still wait to take part in any good changes that happen to occur, without really knowing how they occur. Even if I haven’t quite got it, you’ve written a good little puzzler here.

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Oh my goodness! I didn’t see that coming. Felt like being pelted somehow! LOL! way to twist the tale…!

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Oh, poor old Darcie. Coming from Drought town she found herself out of her depth (in more ways than one) and just wasn’t equipped to deal with such a new and different experience for her. But at least she’d taken the risk and gone into Flood town. It’s good to take risks and try things outside our own experiences (but hopefully we won’t drown). Guess I’m being much too analytical now. Loved your story, Miriam.

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Thanks Jean 🙂 But why didn’t any of the Floodtown people help Darcie? Were they unwilling to approach a stranger? Or am I being too analytical?

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Poor Darcie – she should have realized she was out of her depth! And I guess the smugly sealed, well-rounded Floodtowners were all too much adrift to notice she needed help…

(oops. I see I’m repeating what has already been said!)

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Brilliant Miriam. I feel like I ‘get’ the moral somewhere deep in my psyche, without really knowing what it is. I can’t explain it, except to say it just ‘clicked.’ Whatever it is, it really resonated with me for some reason. Perhaps it is about asking for help… I don’t know. Anyway, I liked it! Nice take on the prompt. I’m still waiting for inspiration…

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This is a bit scary, isn’t it? It shows how we have to really learn about the places we are going to visit before we get there, don’t we? When in Rome, etc. Poor Darcie was a bit too trusting and laid back. Nicely written.

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