Two Bit Wishes

A few weeks ago I entered a writing contest along with my daughter Crystal.  It is run by NYC Midnight and is being judged by NY publishing people.  The parameters of the contest are pretty restricting: you have no more than 250 words for the entire story, and they give you a genre, an action and a word you must include.  And, you have 24 hours to complete the assignment and hand it in, so to speak.   Crystal and I wound up with exactly the same assignment, a pretty unlikely event since there were 100 different categories assigned randomly.  Our stories were Romantic Comedy, making a wish, and the word ‘bargain.’  Here is my entry in all its glory.

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The fresh snow crunched under their boots as Jeff and Ruby wandered in the park, holding gloved hands.  There, under a pale light, was a brick wishing well, awaiting their desires.

“Hey Jeff, let’s make a wish,” Ruby giggled.

“What’s the going rate? Payday isn’t until next Friday.”

Ruby took off her glove and rummaged up two quarters from her purse.  “Two bits, tightwad!”

Ruby backed up to the well, eyes shut tight.  She ached for Jeff to marry her, but it had been three years already.  She tossed her quarter.

Jeff walked over and dropped his quarter, vaguely wondering how deep it was.

“Well Jeff, what did you wish?”

“That the Broncos can make it to the Super Bowl.”

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“What’s wrong with that?” Jeff protested weakly, trudging after her.

It took Ruby several wordless moments of marching to get back to Jeff’s car, the night suddenly cold and damp, the mood shattered.  Stupid men!  She wiped her cheeks and took a moment to compose before turning to him.  There was Jeff, on one knee, holding out a little  box.  “Well?  This isn’t exactly how I pictured asking, but will you marry me?”

She laughed with relief and threw her arms around Jeff.  At last!  “Yes, you immature cheapskate, I will!”

Jeff’s long arms bundled her tight, radiating joy – fifty cents for a fiancee and a Super Bowl was a real bargain.


We will find out our fates on November 20.  Success in round one is being among the top 10 stories in a 50-person category, which will move the winners on to another group of 50 from which you must be among, I believe, the top 5.   I was mortified that I got rom com as a genre, but it was better than some of the other ones!  If you’re curious, Crystal’s story is published in her blog “Beauty in Life.”