Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by my old friend Al Forbes.
The idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in the picture (below).
This week’s prompt comes from J Hardy Carroll.
Click on this link to enter your tale, and to see what others have written.
© J Hardy Carroll
Click here to hear the author read his words:
Hotel Room
The problem with hotel rooms is that you never know who is next door.
Especially when you are in a casino hotel on an Indian Reservation.
The music thunders through the wall.
I groan, check the time.
3.17 a.m.
‘Stay there, sweetie,’ my wife says, ‘I’ll call reception.’
She slams the phone down abruptly.
I look at her in amazement.
‘High rollers,’ she snaps, ‘Reception say they can’t do anything until the manager gets here in the morning.’
The room is still vibrating.
I groan again, roll out of bed.
I dress, knock on next door.
I see a music device, surprisingly small for the din it creates.
The guy laughs in my face.
I show him my badge.
‘Get lost, detective, you have no authority here on the Res.’
His friends gather round, hurling insults.
I take out my gun, shoot the speaker.
Not the guy doing the talking, the thing making the noise.
‘Do I need to shoot anything else?’ I ask the stunned faces.
The speaker shakes his head.
The guy doing the talking, not the thing making much less noise.
I go back to bed in blissful silence.
The problem with hotel rooms is that you never know who is next door.
Ha ha ha ha ha. I absolutely loved what you did there. Such a smart little tale.
Thank you, sir, your comments are music to my ears!
I liked the repetition of the line that began the story at the end. I also enjoyed the clarification of which speaker the narrator was referring to. Very funny. A satisfying conclusion to the situation, shooting the speaker. Now hopefully he can get some rest.
I confess that I had fun with this one, Mandie.
Glad my little tricks worked for you.
I expect that’s how Dirty Harry would have resolved noise complaints if he’d been an Environmental Health Officer. Very cleverly written CE.
Thank you, Harry is only one of the inspirations behind this tongue-in-cheek piece.
Definitely an excellent “sound bite” when it comes to silencing sound!
Well, well, what a delightful surprise to see you here, my dear Penny.
I am glad my little story amused you, but when are you going to treat us to a tale of your own, it has been far too long.
My love to all, as always.
Hi, C. Yes, long overdue indeed. I’ll see what I can come up with. Thank you. Will pass on to fam. All are doing great, wishing you well.
Ha ha, clever! I liked the double use of the line about not knowing who’s next door, Clearly that applied to both rooms, in this case!
I like that too, Joy.
It was the first line that came to me when I saw the photo, and I realised it was perfectly cyclic.
Sometimes that “first line” comes to me too, and I have to figure out how to write the rest of the story around it, to make sense of it. You did a great job with that here.
Strategic move 🙂
Sometimes a man’s gotta do…
Well done! Rhythmic creaking, loud snoring, thumping music – I’ve put up with my fair share during my travels – and that’s in my room!
Beware of the neighbours, Keith
Oh yes, many of us would like to be able to deal with noisy neighbours like this. Loved the ‘speakers’ duality.
That came to me as I was writing, Iain.
I love when that happens, and someone appreciates it.
Loved the story, it felt like it could grow, almost like the start of a film
A slightly off-beat, trigger-happy cop?
Hmm, I think it’s been done before!
Oh, this is something we so wanted to do to inconsiderate neighbours some years back!
It is perhaps a tad extreme, but doubtless immensely gratifying.
🙂 🙂