Short Story

Smoke Break

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

It’s time once again for
The Unicorn Challenge.
Here is my 250-word
response to the photo below.
Oh the irony! The hypocrisy!

© Ayr/Gray

There I was, sitting in my car taking a smoke break. Damn shame! We can’t smoke anywhere these days and that’s a perfect example of discrimination.

Anyway, I’m looking out the car window, and that’s when I spotted it …. a rubber glove on the ground. Disgusting!

Since I was parked just across from a nursing home, I figured that glove belonged to one of the employees there and that made me even angrier than I was. Imagine, a health facility employee tossing a glove away like that! I bet they throw their masks on the ground, too. Pigs!

What’s wrong with people? You’d think after 3+ years of Covid, they’d finally get it right and stop ditching their used gloves or masks on public property. I could never understand how someone, especially a health-care worker, could show such disrespect for other people. If I had seen whoever tossed that glove so indiscriminately, I would have said something.

Well, there’s only one thing to do …. I donned a glove, picked up the offensive litter and deposited it in the trash. Puffing on my smoke, I walked back to my car feeling very proud of myself.

Just then a pigeon landed on the trash can, picked out the glove and flew off only to drop the glove on the road. Well, I’ll be damned! It wasn’t a deliberate act of human negligence after all! I chuckled, my faith in mankind restored.

Flicking my cigarette butt out the window, I drove off.

NAR©2024
250 Words

The Unicorn Challeng-05/01/24

This is “Hypocrites” by Bob Marley

This portfolio (including text, graphics and videos) is copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR © 2017-present.

37 thoughts on “Smoke Break”

  3. Great story.
    (For reasons I’m probably well-advised to leave un-examined, the echo I got after finishing the story was from the movie, Annie Hall and the eponymous character, Annie’s ‘Lah dee dah…lah dee dah’)

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  5. Nancy,

    Your Unicorn Challenge response had me hooked from the start! The journey from righteous indignation to a lighthearted realization is both entertaining and relatable. Loved the unexpected twist and your knack for storytelling. 😄🚬

    ~David

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    1. Thank you so much, David!
      There’s a fine line where humor is concerned; people either get it or they don’t.
      Thanks for reassuring me that my story had just the right ingredients to make it ‘entertaining and relatable’.
      I appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed review/comment. You are most kind!

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  7. Ooh, I have such a desire to slap that self-righteous, hypocritical Main Character hard, but being a peace-loving person, I’ll desist.
    Their character really well drawn in the story, Nancy.

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    1. Whew! I’d hate to be on your bad side, Jenne! 😂 😂
      The one thing I have in common with the MC is I simply can’t abide littering. When I see a person deliberately tossing something on the ground, I say “Excuse me, you dropped something”. You’d be surprised how well that one line works. Most people feel embarrassed and pick up whatever they tossed. Good! They should feel embarrassed!

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    1. So true! People are the biggest hypocrites. They choose to lie, steal, cheat, harm and kill. Operative words: choose to. Animals do what comes naturally and (unless wild, hurt or rabid) mean no harm. Something is wrong with this scenario.
      All that aside, I’m glad you liked the ending. Hypocrisy, indeed!

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    1. Yes, we should know better, CE. People litter because they are lazy slobs; animals scavenge in trash bins because they are hungry or searching for something to help build a home. People will deliberately spit, spew and shoot snot …. no doubt the most primitive and disgusting form of littering. And we have the nerve to call ourselves superior and evolved! It would be laughable if it wasn’t so depressing and offensive.
      I appreciate you catching my Sicilian Curveball pitch at the end.

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    1. I would not put cats in the same category as pigeons and raccoons. In fact, stray dogs (who have likely been abandoned by people) are more inclined than cats to knock over a trash can while searching for food.
      But the worst offenders are people.

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