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 the delightful Jade Wong. I confess that all I saw was the bow tie.
Click on this link to enter your tale, and to see what others have written.
© Jade Wong
Click here to hear the author read his words:
Punch Line
So this penguin walks into a bar.
Have you seen my brother, he asks the bartender.
And the bartender says What does he look like?
Stony silence.
I am dying up here.
I’ll be honest, it’s not the first time my act has fallen flat.
But it could be the last.
Johnny E is not a man to mess with.
It’s my old mum’s eightieth birthday, he says, if she doesn’t have fun you will pay.
The sullen old crone stares at me as though a poodle had deposited me on the Persian rug.
Apparently she does have a sense of humour.
They say she laughed for a week when she saw her husband’s car blow up.
But she doesn’t like my jokes.
She doesn’t like my singing.
She made a very unladylike comment when I did my magic act.
I am pretty sure the rabbit would not have enjoyed that.
Johnny looks unhappy.
I am getting desperate.
I nod to Emmy, my lovely assistant.
She raises an eyebrow.
I shrug.
Nothing to lose.
She opens the box, lifts out a large wet fish.
Swings it, smacks me right in the face.
And the old witch dissolves in laughter.
Great take on the prompt. Poor guy, but at least he got a laugh.
Well, he got her to laugh, that’s something. A fish ugg… I can smell it from here & I hate that smell. Interesting one for sure. Hugs CE 🙂
Desperate times making an urgent call to desperate measures.
kaykuala
Swings it, smacks me right in the face.
And the old witch dissolves in laughter.
Quite a reaction in response to a joke. A great twist at the end, rightly a punch-line to bring a finality to the humor!
Hank
“The sullen old crone stares at me as though a poodle had deposited me on the Persian rug.” A great line!
Funny, clever and slapstick…. all in one brilliant piece.
Thank you, Lavanya, very happy you found it amusing
So she likes slapstick.
Nothing funnier than a belt in the gub with a wet fish
🙂
Lovely to see you, Jules
Ha ha… nice one 🙂 So well written as always and a great punch line – well more of a slap really 😃
Thanks, Anna, ‘Punch Line’ was part of the joke, of course.
Of course 🙂
Absolutely brilliant. How you came up with that I can’t imagine but I’m sure pleased you did!
Cheers, Keith, humour is always tricky, so happy this worked for you.
Exceptionally funny, brilliant stuff – and a hint of Monty Python in the end, which is no bad thing if you need to make someone laugh.
Thanks, Iain, a nice change to spread some laughter!
God you’re funny!!!
I’m still laughing…
Penguins and snowman go together like tuxedo and bowties. Clever jump there C.E, I almost missed it 😉
Like I said, I only saw the bowtie, and penguins leapt to mind.
The rest followed as naturally as night follows March.