Short Story, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

Going Nowhere

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for “It’s Story Time” where Jolene
has given us four prompts to work with.
They are shown below; here’s where they took me.

Image by Me & Copilot

Walter Peabody had driven the same ice cream route for eleven years, and he knew one unbreakable rule: never cross the tracks.

The east side of Mulberry Hill was respectable. The west side …. the wrong side …. was where the Zamboni garage sat, where stray cats outnumbered people, and where, every August, the International Competitive Eating Championship was held in the parking lot behind a defunct Thom McAn shoe store.

Walter had no intention of attending.

But on a Tuesday that smelled of waffle cones and really poor planning, his truck’s brakes failed on Rushmore Avenue, and he coasted helplessly, the tinny melody of Turkey in the Straw announcing his arrival …. straight across the tracks and into the championship tent.

The crowd went wild.

“We have a new challenger!” the emcee bellowed.

“I’m not a….” Walter began.

Someone placed a number bib over his uniform. Someone else stacked three dozen ice cream sandwiches in front of him.

Walter looked at the sandwiches. He looked at his truck, wedged between the judges’ table and a folding stair unit that someone had inexplicably erected in the middle of the tent, going nowhere.

He thought about eleven years of the same route, day in and day out.

Shrugging his shoulders in a tacit “why not?”, he sat down.

Forty-seven minutes later, Walter stood atop those purposeless stairs, trophy raised, chocolate smeared from ear to ear, a man finally, gloriously, on the right side of the tracks.

NAR©2026

Nancy’s Notes: These are the four prompts: 1) driver of an ice cream truck; 2) competitive eater; 3) wrong side of the tracks; 4) stairs

This is “The Top 10 Best Ice Cream Truck Songs” video

It’s story time!

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

19 thoughts on “Going Nowhere”

  3. This was fun. I don’t know about you- but I really had to bridle myself not to be influenced by anything from Steven Kings Stand by Me competitive eating story! heheheh Mine posts tomorrow.

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  4. Growing up, Sam the Good Humor Man was our neighborhood staple. He just rang bells from the truck and would let us kids climb in and ring them, too. Then Mr Softee came along with his huge truck and prerecorded music. Sam became a wonderful memory.

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