This is a creative writing exercise on endings, using the phrase ‘Spring will be a little late this year’. This one is from my writing buddy, Judi Walsh. I was bowled over by the version she produced in class, but she worked on it some more and submitted it to Paragraph Planet, who accepted it. You can see it there along with other fine flash fiction.
Damn! He thought. I forgot to flip the switch! It’s such a pain, being in charge of everything: sun up, sun down, planet revolving.
Pouring the tea, he remembered he hadn’t set the fires to snow-melt, or pressed ‘enter’ on the snowdrop programme, and wished one more time that he’d included an automatic season alternator when he’d designed the bloody thing.
Oh well, he thought, they’ll probably never notice.
Spring will just be a little late this year.
Judi spends half her time working as a scientist and the other half as a Mum to a 6 and a 4 year old. When she’s not doing either she likes to write – which could be why she specialises in short stories at present. You can follow her on Twitter @judi_walsh