Season 2, Bonus Episode 8: Generational

Season 2, Bonus Episode 8: Generational

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction. Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of June, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt. Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Generational --- She looked at me, disappointed. "Don't you want to?" "Of course I do! But... I need permission." "From who? You're an adult!" "The Paterfamilias." "Ha, the Paterf... wait, you're serious? You still have one?" My great-great-grandfather wanted his dynasty to last forever. During that narrow window in the mid twenty-first century, when everyone thought they knew the future, he set up complicated deeds and entails. And he did it well. It's completely watertight - we still haven't found a legal route to unplugging the damned thing. "So, yeah. If we want to get married, we've got to convince a century-old AI." --- As I'm sure you'll have noticed, AI is currently the answer to everything. I do wonder which particular aspects future generations will look back on and groan at our stupidity. --- Take care, everyone, and I'll see you again sometime. https://www.elizabethguilt.com/drabbletober/s2-jun1-bonus

Season 2, Bonus Episode 7: Anything From the Canteen Sheet?

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction. Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of May, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt. Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Anything From The Canteen Sheet? --- He lunges when it slides under the door. The first week, still used to shops and restaurant menus, he sneered at the crooked page. He mocked his cellmate's eager interest - and got punched for it. Now, he's the same. Any break in the grinding tedium is welcome. Anything. When something new appears on the list, he savours it. Plays with it in his mind. Orders it, even hair products he will never use. Anything for novelty. This week, between instant noodles and A4 notebooks, is a new item: Final Apocalypse. He writes a 1 in the box. Immediately, thunder rolls. --- A while ago, I entered a drabble competition which had a theme of "Canteen". I sent this one, having discovered that the weekly order forms given to prisoners - in the UK at least - are called 'canteen sheets'. It wasn't placed, but I'll pop a link to the winning drabbles in the show notes. https://www.patreon.com/posts/100-word-project-128068977 [https://www.patreon.com/posts/100-word-project-128068977] --- Take care, everyone, and I'll see you again sometime. https://www.elizabethguilt.com/drabbletober/s2-may1-bonus

Season 2, Bonus Episode 6: Everywhere

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction. Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of April, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt. Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Everywhere --- There was a bang and, too late, a screech of brakes. "Shit! A deer, we hit a deer." "What?" "A deer! You saw that, right?" Dave was five or six whiskeys down, his voice rising, panicking. I'd seen blond hair, plastered by rain against a pale face. For weeks afterwards, I trawled local news sites. No reports of a road death, or a missing woman. I stopped drinking after that. Dave didn't. When his car ran off the road, I wasn't surprised. I don't drive at night any more. Is she there? I don't know, but I see her. Everywhere. --- Take care, everyone, and I'll see you again sometime. https://www.elizabethguilt.com/drabbletober/s2-apr1-bonus

Season 2, Bonus Episode 5: Yanked

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction. Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of March, 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt. Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Not Again --- Mason wakes up, a familiar pounding in his head. Not again. They'd only had six weeks this time. He looks wearily over the furnishings. 1800s. Probably Britain. He creeps through the house, finds clothes that mean he won't stand out, takes a couple of things to pawn, and heads out to look for Alex. They've got systems, but without internet it's difficult. Alex hasn't left messages in any of the usual places. It takes months. Finally, Mason finds a run-down boarding-house in Bognor. "Alex!" "What? Who're you?" Mason slumps. "Oh. This is one of the times when you don't remember." --- --- Take care, everyone, and I'll see you again sometime. https://www.elizabethguilt.com/drabbletober/s2-mar1-bonus

Season 2, Bonus Episode 4: Someone Needs Looking After

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction. Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of February, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt. Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Someone Needs Looking After --- "Evelyn! Come in!" Nan waves her visitor down the corridor, and keeps up her half of the conversation. "I know! Awful out there... Yeah... That's February for you..." Nan's delusions are getting worse. But no-one actually comes round now, and these imaginary visits keep her cheerful. I head to the kitchen so I don't have to play along. She can't live alone now, but I'm happy looking after her. Except when she hallucinates doctors coming to examine me. I could do without that. As 'Evelyn' 'departs', I hear Nan whisper. "So sorry about my grandson. His delusions are getting worse." --- --- Take care, everyone, and I'll see you again sometime. https://www.elizabethguilt.com/drabbletober/s2-feb1-bonus