WEBVTT

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One more short story. Hello and welcome to episode

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four of One More Short Story with me, Chris Falwell.

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Thank you for joining us again. We're going to

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dive into even more stories from the world of

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writing battle. Again, if it's not something

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you've signed up for and you're into writing

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fiction, you absolutely should give it a look.

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It's my favourite writing competition. It's a

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lot of fun. It's, as I said before, just the

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right kind of bonkers. Yeah, I really enjoy it.

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We have a delightful little buffet of stories

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today. We've got four stories, but they're all

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only 250 words long. I think Writing Battle classifies

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these as nano -fiction. Short story, flash fiction,

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microfiction, nanofiction. Tiny, tiny things.

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Now, I've taken part in a couple of these nanofiction

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competitions myself and it's harder than it sounds,

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right? Knocking up a story which has a clear

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beginning, middle and end in 250 words, making

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it fun, making it powerful, whatever it is you

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want to do. All four of the stories here today

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are more light -hearted. Now, I don't... say

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that to denigrate them or anybody else it's it's

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a skill to be able to do something light -hearted

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and funny uh or you know a bit offbeat a bit

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bit kooky but yeah i'll start waffling and dive

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straight into the first one to begin we have

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starstruck by melanie york now this was in last

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year's summer nano fiction 250 word competition

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and melanie had road trip musician, and chocolate

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for her prompts. It's narrated by Regan Westergaard,

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so let's get into it. Starstruck by Melanie York,

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narrated by Regan Westergaard. The gas station

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cashier is a pimple -plagued teen, eyes glued

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to his phone, deliberately not noticing me. I

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smirk and say, if you want a pic, you could just

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ask. The kid looks up. I slide a Hershey's bar

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and a crumpled five across the counter. You a

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fan? Fan? I lower my shades. Of me? Who are you?

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I take my shades off entirely. Jammin' Jersey.

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The kid's face is blank. I cluck my tongue. Ask

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your dad. He's beep -boopin' on his register.

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I'm wondering how to salvage this. I sing, ooh,

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ba - Maybe mama tase me. The kid raises his eyebrows.

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Sorry? Electric love, I say. Big 80s hit. Heard

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of it? Are you on TikTok or something? I grin.

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Son, I got 20 ,000 subscribers on the TikTok.

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You on it? He nods, bagging up the chocolate.

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How about this? I hand him my lyric notepad.

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Write your TikTok name. I'll friend you. Maybe

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even mention you at my next tour stop. The kid

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hesitates, then writes, at gas station Nick.

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He slips my notepad and change into the bag.

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All right, Nick, I say with a wink. See ya. The

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tour van rattles as it belches to life. There's

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a red light, so I look up Nick while I idle.

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My jaw drops. He's leaning against a Lamborghini,

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his pizza face beaming. 16 .7 million followers.

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I sigh and tap follow, unwrap the chocolate and

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take a big -ass bite. Fuck the light. I floor

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it to my next half -empty crowd. I really enjoyed

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that one. It's a lot of fun. It's good. Yeah,

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I love it. Reagan nails the sort of slightly

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deluded. fading pop star there she uh yeah does

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a great job uh yeah melanie york that was her

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first ever battle and she got herself an honorable

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mention in the house stage so that's six out

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of ten judges who read her story versus another

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voted for hers which is great she's then in her

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next battle gone on to sweep the house 10 out

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of 10 points and make it all the way to the sweet

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16 in the short story contest and and that is

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no mean feat so a name to watch out for there

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melanie york our next story was actually a winner

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in the nano fiction battle it's by ben o 'neill

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and it's called pancakes mcbride now i'm not

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going to give this away but when i read the prompts

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you would not guess in a million years what he's

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done with this and it's uh yeah it's great he

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he had under the bed bride and pancakes so ben

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being ben he's just taken those last two and

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named his character pancakes mcbride he's narrated

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it himself so i'm going to step back and just

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let you enjoy it and i'm sure you will rain belted

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the bedroom window a distant saxophone created

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a general atmosphere of unease and ambiguity

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just another night for pancakes mcbride paranormal

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investigator pancakes opened a pouch of brightly

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colored salts and glanced at his rotund eight

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-year -old client Isn't this dangerous? Billy's

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little voice shook. That's why they call me Pancakes

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Kid. The grizzled gumshoe growled, tossing the

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salt under the twin -sized frame. I never waffle

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in the face of danger. The bed shook. Billy screamed

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and ran in horror as thick, dripping tendrils

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oozed from the darkness. They wrapped around

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each other, forming a figure Pancakes knew all

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too well. Hello, Deborah. The monster froze.

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Pancakes? She was just like he remembered. Grotesque,

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squelching, and all woman. Been a while, Pancake

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said. Back to your usual tricks? You didn't leave

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me much choice. You want to talk about leaving?

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You left me, Pancake spat. At the altar? Exactly,

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Deborah shrieked. It was a church. So? So, she

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said, exasperated. I'm an unholy hellspawn, Pancakes

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looked down. He had a point. That, uh, was my

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mother's idea, he said sheepishly. Deborah sneered.

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Oh, there's a monster. Pancakes smiled. Deborah

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formed her gaping maw into a similar shape. Sun'll

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be up soon, Pancakes said. Let's say we get out

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of here. Get some breakfast. Deborah wrapped

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a slimy tendril around the detective's hand.

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I got all the pancakes I need right here. They

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fell, bodies entwined, onto the young boy's bed.

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Pancakes dealt with the monster, giving Billy

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new nightmares in the process. Well, there we

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are. Poor Billy. Yeah, Pancakes McBride, a lot

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of fun. When this genre was revealed under the

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bed, everybody, well, not everybody, obviously,

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most of us assumed there'd be some kind of horror

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or horror adjacent writing. But Ben went, nah,

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I'm going to have a marital dispute between a

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monster and a grisly detective. And it's, yeah,

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well done. Congratulations to Ben. He thoroughly

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deserved to win this one. Very well done indeed.

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Our next piece is from the Nanofiction Battle

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of 2024, so we're going back in time a little

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bit here. It's called Shiny Love and it's by

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E .M. Forrest. E .M. Forrest is a writer who

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always enjoys writing about animals. So, with

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the prompts of jailbreak, soulmate and key, E

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.M. Forrest is naturally leapt to having birds

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in the back of a moving vehicle being transported.

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Plotting their escape. Now, I got to narrate

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this one a couple of years back, and I'm very,

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very glad that I did. I had a lot of fun doing

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it. I hope you enjoy Shiny Love by E .M. Forrest,

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read by me, Christopher Well. Meet with me, Maggie.

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What? It's fate, baby bird. You think the shiny

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box stopped here and the scrawny wing left for

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nothing? though brash maggie considered the male's

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proposal if not for him the magpie would still

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be cooped up in the back of the west hill bird

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rescue van squawking for help as the rat -a -tat

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-tat of a nearby woodpecker slowly drove her

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insane well if not for the open window and intoxicating

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shine of the ring of keys hanging from the ignition

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more like it she considered the fate argument

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perhaps it wasn't just good luck that made the

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driver pull over abruptly and shuffle away muttering

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shit shit shit bad burrito though drawn by the

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keys corbin had been entranced by her two -toned

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plumage peeking out from behind the wooden slats

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accented by her bright pink bandaged leg something

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about her had made him want to fan his tail feathers

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She'd admired him too. Most of all those eyes,

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deep, dark, shiny. Looking into them, she knew

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she'd be okay, that she would get out. Any doubts

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that remained evaporated when she overheard him

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convincing his pal, Lil Peck, to take a break

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from working on his beats and help out. The woodpecker

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had gone from tormentor to liberator. chiseling

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a hole in the upcycled wooden crate. Her mind

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was made up. All right, Corbyn, let's do it.

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Hoo -hoo, he rejoiced. You lovebirds make me

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believe in lifelong mating again, said Lil Peck.

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I should make a beat about this. There we are.

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Lil Peck is definitely one of my favourite characters

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despite their very small amount of airtime in

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this story and I think Ian Forrest knows that

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I'm waiting for Lil Peck to appear in something

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else. That story picked up an honourable mention

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back in the house stages and I think when this

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was done in 2024 that needed 7 out of 10 and

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a tiebreaker to score that honourable mention

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so really really strong stuff there. Yeah. Three

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out of four stories already. Can you believe

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it? Storming through it. I told you they'd be

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short and sweet. A little literary buffet for

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you. Our last story today is Two Peas in a Pod.

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And this is by Rosanne Stridham. Her prompts

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were road trip, naive student, and raft. Now,

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when she first... I hope she doesn't mind me

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saying this, but when Ros first... read this

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story, or showed this story to her husband, I

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think he asked what on earth was going on. Because

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we are taken straight to Two Peas on a Plate.

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It's wonderfully narrated by Maverick Jones,

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so do please enjoy Two Peas in a Pod by Roseanne

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Stridham. Are you in? Pete asked, his green round

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body ready to roll. I hesitated. Pete... The

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other pea in my pod fancied himself our spiritual

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leader. Some vegetables on our dish thought his

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teachings were a little... off the plate. Pete

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reckoned they were just being starchy. We belong

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in a pod, Pete tried to convince me. Not in a

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dinner! Around us, the broccoli grumbled disapprovingly.

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So you want to find the ocean because you think

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we're actually dolphins. I tried to muster logic.

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Penelope, we were born in a pod. We belong in

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a pod. Dolphins swim in a pod. Behind me, the

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carrots snickered. I started... But my resistance

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wilted under the hot humidity of the plate. Suddenly,

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a large silver fork started its ominous descent

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toward us. I'm in, I squeaked, hurriedly rolling

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my body aboard the onion raft Pete had prepared.

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The world tilted wildly as our onion vessel,

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creaking under the burden of destiny and two

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plump peas, slid dramatically off the edge of

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the plate. In the chaos, a mushroom hollered,

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Godspeed! While a potato rolled its eyes. Maybe

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believing we'd join a dolphin pod was naive.

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More likely, we were destined to join a trash

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can talent show. Or become a cautionary tale

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in the cult of joy. But... For a split second,

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as we hurtled into the unknown, armed with only

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faith and a bewildered onion, we felt unstoppable.

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Or, at the very least, difficult to catch with

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a fork. flee the plate and escape to a pod um

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very well narrated by maverick jones there i

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think i think my favorite bit is towards the

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end when the more absurd the story gets the more

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seriously maverick takes it which makes it even

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funnier uh rosanna's done a great job there very

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very funny story but not just funny of course

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funny and well written it got to the thrilling

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32 so the last 32 out of hundreds and hundreds

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of stories in the knockout stage. So very well

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done, Rosanne. And yeah, can you believe it?

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We've done four stories already. Blimey. So that's

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it. Four fantastic pieces of nanofiction, 250

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words apiece. Great things come in small packages

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and so on and so forth. Thank you for joining

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us on one more short story with me, Chris Fulwell.

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We'll see you next time. Thank you.