Allez drabble!

I’ve just returned from CONvergence 2012. Hosted by the Geek Partnership Society, CONvergence is the Twin Cities’ largest gathering of science fiction/fantasy enthusiasts and all-around geeks.

As part of my con-going experience this year, I betook myself to the Iron Pen Drabble Contest. That was a programming event in which contestants are shown a “secret ingredient” and given an hour to write a drabble—a short story of exactly 100 words (not including title)—that somehow incorporates that object or the general idea of it. The object this year was an adorable black sheep stuffed animal. A panel of extremely kind judges willingly sacrificed some of their con time to read the entries, and winners were announced on Sunday.

I am pleased and honored to tell you that the judges chose my drabble, “I Wasn’t Looking for Trouble, but Trouble Was Looking for Me”, as the winner! I offer my thanks to the judges and to all the writers who came to the event. It was a fantastically fun time.

Since the story is so short, I present it in its entirety here. Happy reading.

Mine’s a good life. Abundant forage, comely rams–

“Oi, Ebony! You fall in the tar pit?”

–occasional idiots.

“Your dam lose a bet with the paint man?”

“Milkywhite,” I sighed, “your head’s as empty as cumulus.”

Albinia poked Milkywhite. “She just called you a cucumber!”

Two against one. I was in a bad way when Farmer Dell stormed in.

“Oi, you two!” he hollered. I froze in a patch of shadow. He hauled Albinia and Milkywhite off by the collars.

“Us two?” Milkywhite sputtered. “What about Ebony?”

But Farmer Dell couldn’t see me. Like I said, it’s a good life.

Awards and Honors, fiction fiction, prose