My Writer's Digest Mishap

I've had my heart set on writing something that was worth publishing for as long as I could remember. When I saw a Writer's Digest "Your Story 53" competition I was immediately sold.

 I worked hard to craft the perfect short story and was happy with the result. When October 15th finally came, my story was ready and I was ecstatic about submitting my entry, that is until I went to submit my story and realized the due date was October 14th.

I was feeling quite heart broken that after all the work I did no one would read it. That is when my boyfriend convinced me to make this blog to share it. Here it is. Enjoy.

Prompt: A girl puts a quarter in a gumball machine and a human tooth comes out.

Sally McLibben and the Quick n' Eat

By: Camille Cassella

 

 Sally McLibben found herself inside of the greasy Quick n’ Eat one crisp autumn afternoon, feeding her only quarter into the colorful gumball machine.

 She’d possessed a terrible gum addiction for as long as her ten year old mind could remember. Sally long ago went through the painstaking process of tasting and rating all of the gum sold in Cedar Rapids and the Quick n’ Eat had the best gumball machine by far.

                On a normal day Sally would bring three or four quarters so that she could chew all day, but with cool weather quickly approaching, her Lemonade monopoly was not making much of a profit these days. She was seriously toying with the idea of switching to hot chocolate for the winter, but that would require her to take out a loan from her older sister Scarlet.

Scarlet McLibben had been running a wildly popular black market Girl Scout Cookie Business since the age of ten. It was Scarlet who handed down the Lemonade stand to Sally, but it was Sally who had turned it into her own personal Boardwalk.

Sally looked forward to mulling over her decision with a good piece of gum, so with a flick of her wrist Sally twisted her quarter into the gumball machine. She waited impatiently hoping it would be a blue raspberry gumball that would come spiraling down the slide and into the shoot. But nothing came. Sally kicked the machine in frustration.

Just as she turned to walk away she heard a distinct “clink” in the dispenser. She bent down, lifted the flap, and to her horror a single human tooth dropped into her hand.

Sally stood in a shocked stupor that soon turned into anger. She knew not if she were more perturbed by the unsanitary conditions of her most beloved machine or that she was scammed out of her gumball.

Without a moment’s hesitation Sally marched herself up to the front counter, where mean old Thelma Brown resided happily watching her patrons choke down their flavorless meals.

Thelma ignored her as well as she could; however, Sally’s coughs quickly drew her attention. “What do you want girl? Get your grubby little fingers off my counter.” Thelma scolded.

“This came out of the gumball machine”, Sally said thrusting forward her hand that held the tooth. “I’d like another quarter. It’s only fair.”

“Give me that tooth child. How do I know that came out of my machine?” Said Thelma skeptically, “No you won’t be gettin’ no quarters from me.”

“Then you don’t get your stinky old tooth back. Consider this war!” Sally said over her shoulder as she attempted to make a dramatic exit.

Sally was thoroughly insulted; she intended to have her revenge, it took her no time to devise a plan. After all she was “the girl” who single handedly put every lemonade stand in a 5 block radius out of business, then turned around and reopened them under her name.

With the help of poor Billy Johnson, who worked at the Quick N’ Eat, Sally’s plan was soon put into motion. It didn’t take much to convince Billy, due to his deep infatuation with Scarlet, who didn’t realize he existed. The promise of putting in a good word to her, for him was all it took.  

Her plan was simple. All it encompassed was: placing cat hair into the food, routinely setting Sally’s guinea pig  Leroy loose in the building, blocking off the entrances to the Quick N’ Eat and the last and most effective technique entailed sludging the coffee.

Sally was deviously amused when the rumors around town had it that Mr. and Mrs. Smith swore to never come back after their twin boys had an allergic reaction to their eggs; and again when she heard that people jumped onto their chairs at the sight of Leroy. Every mishap occurring in the Qick N’ eat was music to her ears.

Before Sally knew it a month passed, but Thelma’s business had not slowed. There was no doubt that Sally had caused a bit of ruckus, but no real damage. She did the only logical thing she could think of; she went to Scarlet…

 

I hope you have enjoyed the story:) Before you go please feel free to leave a comment.