There appeared to have been two prompts today, so I picked the one that I like best. This one asked us to include elements and make a story of up to 1000 words.

Here is the prompt:

The Prompt

Write a story that includes the following elements: a black-and-white cat, a pot of gold, hair curlers, a terrible storm, a chess game, and a cow.

Can’t wait to see what you do with that!

here is my story, enjoy!

The black and white cat curiously sniffed at the air before she stretched and decided to wonder indoors. There was a storm coming and she did not want to be locked outside when it started to rain. She sat near the window and mewed in what she hoped was a pitiful manner. Of course, it contained the usual element of command that is associated with cats.

Inside the woman jumped to attention, knocking over her game of chess that she had been playing with her eldest son. She bit back a curse as she did not want him to her any bad language from her. Cassandra would be leaving that to his father, Alfred. Instead, she merely said, “I am sorry about that, Charlie, why don’t you pick that up we can start over again? I heard the cat…”

Charlie rolled his eyes and bent down to pick up all of the various pieces that were scattered over the kitchen floor. “The cat can easily wait the extra few seconds that it would have taken you to move backwards from the table before knocking it over.”

“Don’t you dare get smart with me!” Cassandra was smiling as she opened the door and called for the cat to come inside. She knew that Charlie did not mean anything by what he said because he was nothing but a good boy. Unlike his brother.

When she glanced out the door she turned towards Charlie. “It looks like there is a storm on the way, so you should probably find your brother. We will have to finish the game later. He went into the fields to play.”

“Yes mother.” Charlie straightened and wiped the dust from his trousers before he donned the blue coat that he loved. He already knew where his brother was going to be, so this was going to be easier than his mother actually believed. He skipped from the house and went in the direction of the field. When he got there he was surveying the grass for the local cow, Daisy. Andrew was normally found in deep conversation with this animal as if he expected it to answer him back. His brother was nothing but weird.

However, the field was completely empty of both cow and his brother. Slightly perturbed he scuffed his feet against the dry dirt that seemed common amongst the fields of Tornado Valley. Charlie glanced towards the sky and saw the same site that greeted his mother.

As if on cue, the sirens began to wail proclaiming that a storm was fast approaching and everybody should get undercover. Andrew was still nowhere to be seen, but he knew that his brother was not stupid, and neither was he deaf. He would find cover wherever he was.

Charlie began to run as the first spots of rain began to fall. He could see the clouds twisting so he quickened his pace in order to make it inside before the twister struck the earth. He reached his house and ran towards their storm cellar. He lifted the heavy doorway and dropped inside the cavity below.

“Where is Andrew?”

He gave a shrug. “I couldn’t find him before the sirens went off, but you know as well as I do that Andrew is not about to let anything happen to him.”

Cassandra bit her lip. She knew that what Charlie said was true, but, at the end of the day, she was still his mother. Worrying about him was going to be second nature for as long as it took for that storm to pass over. She sat fiddling with the box that had been resting on a shelf for long enough to gather dust. Curiosity got the better of her and she found herself investigating what the contents of what the box might be.

Charlie walked over towards her to see what was inside. Living in Tornado Alley they were used to the storms passing over quite regularly, and so they were not really shaken when everything began to rattle in the strength of the wind. Instead, they were turning their attention to absolutely anything else. Today it just happened to be this dusty little box that had been lying forgotten in the storm cellar.

Cassandra ripped it open, and gave a noise of just about disappointment when she discovered that they contained hair curlers. She had been hoping to find some long forgotten treasure such as photos from when the children were babies. No such luck.

“We should have brought to our game of chess down here.”

“Yes,” Cassandra was quick to agree with her son. That certainly would have relieved the boredom that they were suffering now while they were waiting for the storm to dissipate.

It was over quickly enough, and they return to their house to find that no damage had been done. Of course, Cassandra had not forgotten to take her cat down to the cellar, and now it just walked off to sit and sunbathe in their little porch area. While they were celebrating the fact that no damage had been done to their property they began to realise the devastation around them.

The tornado had cut a path directly through the field where Charlie had been looking for Andrew. This made Cassandra run screaming is it in the direction of the field. However, right at that moment Andrew appeared on the horizon carrying a large pot.

“They are real, mummy.”

“What are?”

“Leprechauns. Look what I found at the end of the rainbow,” he told them as he took the lid off the pot to reveal the mythological pot of gold. “The tornado knocked me straight into it!”

“What do you mean knocked you in?”

“I was trying to help Daisy the cow get out of the way of the twister, and I ended up inside it. When it dropped me outside I was at the end of a rainbow where I found this!” Andrew proudly displayed his prize.