It's Grusto! -drawing-

It's everyone's favorite puppet! Grusto!

101 WSS: Newton's Cradle

"Uhm, sir?"

"What is it, Johnson? Can't you see I'm busy?" Mr. Trollope stared intently at the Newton's cradle on his desk. "Amazing. Simply amazing. How does it do it, Johnson?"

"Conservation of momentum and energy, Mr. Trollope," answered Mr. Johnson.

"That sounds ridiculous. I prefer to think that the balls move back and forth by super magnets that change polarity with every click."

Johnson sighed, "That seems a bit overly complicated for such a simple device, don't you think?"

"I cannot see another possible explanation . . . other than magic," Mr. Trollope's eyes grew wide. "That's it! Magic!"

Mr. Johnson groaned loudly.

101 WSS: Zarquad

After all those long years searching, he had finally found him. "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" Stanley said with great confidence.

"No!"

Stanley's countenance fell.

"At least not any more," the former Doctor Livingstone said, "I am now known as Zarquad Fleeberflammer IV, Deputy Foreign Minister to His Greatness, Floyd, King of Monkeys!" Zarquad beamed from ear to ear.

"I . . . see," Stanley didn't really know how to carry on the conversation from there, but he tried like any good English gentleman, "And would King Floyd be interested in an audience with a journalist?"

"I don't see why," Zarquad said, "He's a monkey."

101 WSS: Father Flavian's Discount Icon and Relic Emporium

An unusually loud monk standing outside a nationwide chain store in a television commercial, "Come on down to Father Flavian's Discount Icon and Relic Emporium today! We've got all your articles of questionable religious significance at prices so low, you'd think we were mass producing fraudulent replicas which . . . ha ha . . . of course we're not, cause we're religious! And everyone knows it's impossible for religious people to be evil! We have bones of various saints, splinters of the original cross, holy grails, shrouds with shadowy images, and much much more! Be saved and save at Father Flavian's Discount Icon and Relic Emporium!"

101 WSS: Burritos and Time Travel

John's lips quivered at the thought of scarfing down the decadent Mexican-ish delight from Taco Town.

"No! Don't eat that burrito!" an old man cried. "I've come from the future to stop you . . . me."

"I come back in time for a burrito?" Present-John asked his future doppelganger.

"Not the burrito per se, but the culminating consequences that develop from eating that—DON'T BRING THAT CLOSER TO YOUR MOUTH!"

"Sorry."

"Thirty minutes from now you develop explosive diarrhea, which leads to several long and expensive medical procedures that leave you destitute!"

"But I get to travel through time," Present-John countered through burrito-mouthfuls.

101 WSS: Ancient Religion Or Modern Environmentalism

The leader stood and addressed the gathered masses, "We have angered the gods of this world with our decadent lifestyle!"

Several gasps arose from the throng.

"By our own actions we are weakening and killing our gods," the leader continued, "so in righteous judgment they will smite us if we do not repent!"

"What do we do?" several voices cried.

"Return to the ways of our forefathers who pleased the gods!" the leader answered. "Make sacrifices to the nature gods. Only we can save them and ourselves!"

Yet it was for naught. The Ice Age ended, their lands consumed by water.

101 WSS: Lawnba

"Hey, Steve, what's that thing moving around on your lawn?"

"Oh, that's my Lawnba."

"Lawnba?"

"Yeah, it's like a Roomba, you know, one of those self-propelled robotic vacuum cleaners. The Lawnba is like that, except it's for your lawn."

"Are you comfortable with that?"

"With what?"

"Well, with giving a robot something dangerous like sharp blades. Sure, a robot vacuum might not be all that dangerous, but what happens when the robots rebel and your Lawnba uses its sharp blades on you instead of the grass?"

"That's what a sledgehammer is for, Bob."

"Yeah. Before you gave it to the Sledgebot!"

One Sentence Story Collection IV

Onto the page he poured out his heart with ink and tears, fully aware it would never be seen by whom it was for.

The beast was felled; the trumpets blared, and thunderous applause echoed through the court as the boy, now a man, triumphantly returned.

Another dead body brought the total to four, but Detective Halpern felt down inside his gut that before very long it would soon be five.

Rain falls hard against my window, the backbeat to nature's glorious song.

Down, down, down she went, twisting and turning as she fell from grace.

101 WSS: The Case of the Death of Shamrock O'Malley- Finale

Continued from "The Case of the Death of Shamrock O'Malley" Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.
~~~

Shamrock O'Malley pounced on the clock-timer device, and Professor Montgomery grabbed for it as well. Their struggle knocked them all about Montgomery's office.

"Shamrock, watch out for the window!" I cried, but too late. Shamrock and Montgomery fell out the open window and onto the street below with a spine-chilling crack. I hurried to the street below finding both men beyond hope. The device was also smashed to bits.

The Netherlands was never destroyed by a giant-space-laser. I don't know for certain if it ever existed, but for my friend, the late Shamrock O'Malley, I will believe it was the case.

~~~
More cases from the files of Shamrock O'Malley

101 WSS: Eleven Things

"I love this song! Turn it up."

Jason cranked up the radio as Journey's 'Anyway You Want It' played.

Kevin sang along, "She loves to move / She loves to groove / She loves eleven things!"

"Wait! What?" Jason interrupted. "'Eleven things'? That's not how it goes."

"Of course it is! That's how I've always sung it."

"'Eleven things'? Really? Why would she specifically love eleven things?"

"She's obviously a woman of discerning taste."

"A taste that is limited—"

"—to eleven things."

"—Eleven things."

A momentary pause.

"The lyrics are 'the lovin' things,'" Jason said.

"Now that's ridiculous!"