5PM Fiction 107: Red suit and all

Welcome to the one hundred and seventh in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.

Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.

I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story from the prompt of ‘merry’, so here is my 150-worder.

Red suit and all

“Yeah, Merry Christmas.” Rick shook his head. There had to be better ways of making money than a Santa. He wasn’t even built for it; 5’5 and skinnier than that boy in the striped pyjamas. He’d stand up for himself, that’s what he’d do, say “no” next time he got offered a temp job. Maybe he’d be a gigolo, give private lessons to lonely housewives.

Always relieved when it came to Boxing Day and he’d not have to see the red suit for another year. He smiled as the phone rang and recognised the number. “Hey, Marcia, what have got for me this time?”

“You free New Year’s Eve?”

He was, but said, “It depends.”

“They money’s good,” Marcia tempted. “Two fifty for five hours.”

Escort money, Rick thought and was going to speak when Marcia continued, “Bunch of tourists, only just arrived, want the works; red suit and all.”

***

Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.

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Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

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