Susanna Hill is hosting her annual Halloweensie Contest. The
rules are to write a Halloween story in 100 words or less including the words
pumpkin, creak, and broomstick.
After having a good poem at 111 words, I cut it down
to 109. Then I thesaurused (that's a word right?) a few more changes to get to
105. Then I stomped around and pulled my hair out and threw myself on the bed
and cried, "Why? Why only 100 words?" I rubbed some fake spiderweb for
inspiration and finally got to 100 exactly.
Sulky Spider's Spooky Webs
By Lauri Meyers
Sulky Spider planned a scheme
For making trick or treaters scream.
Spider silk began to spin
A Jack 'o Web with wicked grin.
"Pretty?" Sulky hung her head.
"A webby ghost will do the trick!"
She spun a spooky ghoul up quick.
Pirates shouted, "Ghosts are neat!"
She gobbled up her web.
"Defeat."
Spinnerets began to twitch.
"A warty-broomstick-riding-witch!"
A princess cooed, "That witch is sweet."
She stomped all eight offended feet.
"I need a buggy snack," she frowned.
Sticky thread went round and round.
She didn't hear the stairway creak.
"A spiderweb!" they hollered, "Eek!"
I'd like to thank the Orb Spider (I think that's the right identification) who has been living in my shed for weeks for the inspiration. This spider moved her gigantic web every other day so we had to approach
cautiously not knowing where it could be now. My husband suggested (gasp!)
killing the spider. But this spider was working hard to deal with the bugs in
our shed, and I classified her as "too big to squish" anyhow. Yeah, bigger than a quarter = too much spider guts.
Make sure to check out all the other great entries for the Halloweensie contest too!
Update: Sulky Spider's Spooky Webs won THIRD PLACE, and I won a critique from Alayne Christian!
Update: Sulky Spider's Spooky Webs won THIRD PLACE, and I won a critique from Alayne Christian!