Question

a 150 word short story with a moral

Answer 1

“She’s a striking beauty,” someone blurted. “Out surfing every day,”
another added. “Can’t miss.”

Ken placed lunch servings before the patrons, imagining running into
someone like that.

When work ended, he headed for the beach. Between relationships,
feeling low, he sought peace by the sea. Surfers dotted distant
sparkling waters. Their faces couldn’t be distinguished.

Next day, Ken served the same group of diners who had talked so
passionately about the mystery woman.

“She’s walking ashore holding a surfboard,” someone shouted.

Everyone, including Ken, turned to look out the window.

It was his sister.

From Guest Contributor Krystyna Fedosejevs

Krystyna writes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

21
AUG
A Genetic Predisposition To Solving Mysteries
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words0 Comments Comments
I found the broken glass of the window scattered over the shag carpet. Across the room, beneath the armchair, there was a dead sparrow. We had ourselves a mystery.

Ryan’s first conjecture, not unwarranted, was that the bird struggled before it died, coming to its final resting place several feet from the window. But he ignored the bullet hole in the far wall.

Ryan was always attracted to the easiest solution. And after discovering that our parents had once been international assassins and were now in quiet retirement, I wished that I had listened to him and ignored my curiosity.

17
JAN
A Mystery Unraveled
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words0 Comments Comments
Gordon Seckenheim dedicated his post-doctoral research to insect behavior. Specifically, he wanted to learn why moths are attracted to a flame.

His work determined that the moths killed in this way are suicidal. As corroborating evidence, he cited the global human suicide rate of .0074 percent. When you figure there are an estimated 200 trillion moths and butterflies, it makes sense that millions would kill themselves every night. It’s simple mathematics.

It was accounted a strange coincidence when Dr. Seckenheim himself committed suicide after his marriage ended.

Or it may have been that his emotional state somehow clouded his analysis.

14
SEP
No Explanation Necessary For Looking Good
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words0 Comments Comments
Detective Stephens surveyed the scene, trying to make sense of it. He could be certain of only one thing. The man was dead.

Stephens could find no explanation for the manner of death. The victim was fully dressed in a suit and tie, but had died from several bullet wounds to his heart. His clothes did not have any holes or blood on them. No one reported hearing any gunshots. A note read that despite his death, he refused to leave the neighborhood.

The mystery was never explained, but the man’s ghost never did leave. At least it was well-dressed.

8
JUN
Echoless Well
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words0 Comments Comments
The town of Bottomless Well was famous for one reason only.

No one could ever remember any water being drawn from the well. Yet, thanks to its purported wish granting properties, people still visited from miles around.

The well was meant to be a mystery, like God or a woman’s heart; it was better not knowing where the bottom lay.

When scientists discovered that the floor reached exactly 36 feet and 7 inches underground, and that the peculiar convex shape and absorptive qualities of the rock prevented any sound from escaping, the villagers pragmatically changed the name. Life carried on as before.

21
MAY
Scooby Doo, Where Art Thou!
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words0 Comments Comments
Fred: Forsooth, the mystery’s unveiled
and the truth may be inveighed
that which proclaims your guilt
is the spot of blood on your hilt

Old Man: The fault, dear kids, lies not with my stars
nor with any lack of resolve in my felonious arts,
but in your mysterious machine you came peddling
and in solving this crime have proven sorely meddling

Exuent Old Man

Shaggy: The mystery’s resolved
and all danger dissolved
after so much hue and cry
it’s time the Great Dane and I
despite being two such mindless ‘tards
at last receive our just and due rewards.

16
DEC
The Great Detective
by thegooddoctor in Uncategorized0 Comments Comments
It was the case that made him. No motives. No suspects. The victim was by all accounts universally beloved.

When Detective Byrne linked the brand of cigarette ash, the stray button made of gold-lip oyster pearl, and the Stratford Street haberdasher, he was hailed as the living embodiment of Sherlock Holmes.

Within the decade, Byrne was supervising the entire London department. The Haberdasher was eventually executed.

So when the poor widow received an unsigned letter–explaining how her late husband hired an ex-soldier to murder him before Sarcoidosis left him completely debilitated–it was twenty years too late to matter.