A to Z Challenge in a Day

I haven’t participated in the blogging A to Z Challenge in a number of years, and probably never at this blog. Today’s the last day (in the off chance anyone visiting here doesn’t know about the challenge, every April participants write about a topic based on the alphabet), so let’s go ahead and speed round it! Every letter, telling a story in flash fiction form…

A

Abraham Lincoln sat watching. The war was on. At the start it was treated as a spectator sport. He didn’t watch the fighting. He didn’t go to the field at all. He watched instead his cabinet members as their eyes averted his. They were full of doubt. He remained silent.

B

Batman watched from the shadows. In his intermittent life as Bruce Wayne, he’d seen the man he was watching play by very different rules. Here, the man abandoned all pretext of civilization. Batman wondered if he could exact greater justice in the alley or the boardroom. He waited patiently as he decided. The cops were already there. Sometimes he intervened anyway. 

C

The cat watched as the human walked past. The cat was a stray, and this was a human it recognized, but was not part of its circle of trust. The cat wondered if it was worth the risk of extending an invitation, even a temporary one. It was never easy making such decisions.

D

The dog barked out the window, perching its paws on the windowsill. Its human told the dog to stop. The dog was uncertain the danger had passed. The dog valued certainty.

E

The elephant in the room was a footstool of questionable design. Few visitors brought it up. 

F

The fish had no idea what happened. One minute it was swimming and the next something got lodged in its mouth, and it was gliding out of the water, and then something was pulled out of its mouth, and then it sailed back into the water with a splash. Then it swam on.

G

James Garfield lay dying. He wondered what kind of legacy he might possibly have. The bullet itched, he found. 

H

High above the treetops a hot air balloon soared. Aboard someone tried to steer it, but if they were having any luck, the boy watching the efforts couldn’t see it.

I

I sat beneath a tree. I wished I had a book.

J

Just then an eagle came into view, and from its jaws the remnant of some meal dropped below.

K

King James wondered if Shakespeare would’ve agreed to just write the whole thing. He wondered what his mom would’ve thought. He wondered about his grandfather. 

L

Larry Bird watched the game and wondered if in his prime he might have been good enough to keep up, excel as he once had.

M

Queen Mary sat in her cell and considered whether she might have been able to avoid such a fate.

N

No. She decided. No.

O

O Captain, my captain. Someone wrote this out in a notebook, and I found it, and I remembered that it had originally been written about Lincoln.

P

Peter picked a peck of pickled…No, he was supposed to, but he ended up goofing off instead.

Q

Picard stared at Q, exasperated. Q scoffed and then laughed.

R

Robin sat off behind Batman. Batman didn’t always share his thought process. He was impatient.

S

Superman wouldn’t have thought the same way Batman did. But then he was also Clark Kent, and might have already written about the man in the paper

T

Mister T stood across from Piper in the ring, ready to box him. A part of him wanted badly to go off-script.

U

Under other circumstances, if he wasn’t being paid so well, and if he wasn’t so keen on his reputation, keeping his day job, he would’ve been tempted indeed…

V

The villain was oblivious to the crime fighters watching him.

W

Walt looked at the sketch of the little mouse, and for a moment heard a voice inside his head. Then he started to whistle. He’d figure it out. 

X

The social media page continued to hum along, the reports of its demise being, as usual, greatly exaggerated…

Y

The yellow bird watched the remains of the fish drop. Its differing diet made the finch wonder if the eagle was perhaps insane.

Z

The zebra watched the humans riding the horse, and ran off on its own, baffled.