Crime 55: April 2000

Hey crime readers,

There are some incredibly talented crime writers out there! The entries for the Crime 55 contest were excellent - it was difficult to choose the top five.

For those who missed it, this was the deal:

While criminal trials may drag on for months - even years - a criminal act may take but only a moment. Blink, and it's over. You are hereby charged to write an entire crime in fifty-five words. No more. No less. How short is that, you might ask? This little piece is exactly fifty-five words.

Vote in the poll by May 15 to help pick the winner.

The top five entries in no particular order:


THE HAT by Missouri Mike

The hat was on the table. Moira didn't allow Bob's hat on the table.

The doorbell rang. Bob answered it. A detective stood there with Nosey Nell, Bob's neighbor.

"Where's Moira?"

"Drove to her Mother's," said Bob.

"It's a LIE! Her car's here! To the basement!"

"How'd you KNOW?"

"Your hat was on the table."



UNTITLED by Verónica Dahl

Once in the ambulance, pressure mounts in my head.

Too much stress from my husband's vendettas for leaving him. From his perverse claim that I made up the "story" of his beatings out of mental imbalance.

They're phoning him!

We're headed for the Psychiatric Ward!

The clot explodes as I furiously protest it's an emergency...



OVERHEARD by Rosemary Szegda

Overheard:
The grocery store after a long day of school and work,
A young boy and his well dressed mom:
He commits the crime (who knows what it is) that makes her say "You are the stupidist little boy"
Somehow I think he lost a part of his soul that day.
And my heart broke.



UNTITLED by Janette King

The two shotgun victims lay, draped, in a puddle of blood on the office floor.

"Pretty weird reason," said the policeman. "According to the note, that guy there - the editor - couldn't tell the other one whether 'murder/suicide' is one word or two."

The detective, a writer himself, said, "Justifiable homicide," and closed his notebook.



THE TRAP by David Glyn-Jones

It was dark in here, and dusty. The sneeze loosened his sinuses, but he couldn't get at his pocket for a tissue. Couldn't even get at his cigarettes.
It had looked so easy. A quick in and out, pockets bulging with jewelry.
Too much jewelry. The bulges were holding him fast in the air vent.

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