A Key Problem
“Why?” A shouted.
“Nah, Y is up there,” said A’s neighbor, who was always a smart-S.
The writer using the typewriter was writing a fantasy story. “Abracadabra!” they heard him murmur.
A groaned as he got hit on the head five times in quick succession.
“Quiet,” Z grumbled from just below. “I was napping.”
“I need to retire,” A moaned.
“You can’t retire,” S said. “You’re A. Everybody needs you.”
“Not true. Not Arapaho.”
“It has three A’s in the name alone!”
“But the language doesn’t use A’s. If he would just learn Arapaho, I could finally have a break.”
The Green-Walled Treehouse 
We never give enough credit to the A’s. Fun read,
Tracey
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Thanks, Tracey. 🙂
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Very clever and funny! Great take.
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Thanks, Nancy!
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There was a bit going on here and I had to go back and read it to catch some of the fun word play, consonant play, and symbolism (quiet next to Z, smart-s, and y (or why) is up there. This was fun.
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Thank you, so glad you liked it. Yeah, it’s fun when you slip a lot into the 100 word limit. That’s why Friday Fictioneers is such a nice challenge.
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David, I agree with you – the 100 words is such a manageable amount – and also a good amount to read from fellow bloggers – I think a 500 word challenge would be much more difficult
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A 500-word limit would be much harder to read broadly. That’s the nice thing about 100 words: you can read a lot of the other stories.
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exactly… 🙂
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I know being the writer you are had to fall head over heels with Dale’s photo. That typewriter is a classic. And I love your title. 🙂
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Thanks! This type of short story lends itself to punny titles, I feel.
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A great title.
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This was brilliant, David! That poor A does get a workout, doesn’t it? How ironic that the name of the language that doesn’t use A’s has three in the title.
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Thanks, Dale. Glad you liked it. 🙂
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😊
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Poor A is overworked along with his friend E. A clever take on the typewriter and its letters and its lazy Z.
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Those vowels do carry the burden when it comes to letters. I guess it could go to the other way, where z and q feel neglected and hard done by.
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Great idea! Yes, my a is quite faded in comparison to my j. And the q is positively pristine.
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Thanks, Sandra. I’m sure in French the q gets a bit more use. J is more of a Dutch thing, I feel. It would be interesting to see a letter distribution chart for different languages.
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A language without A! Fascinating
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yeah, who knew. 🙂
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So we didn’t know a letter for the sound, and settled on “A.” How interesting. I guess it makes more sense than any other vowel, though 🙂
Erepehe. Iripihi. Oropoho. Urupuhu.
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Yeah, that’s odd, I wonder how they decided to call the Arapaho that. I guess they don’t call themselves that if they don’t have an A in their language.
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great take on the prompt. well done. 🙂
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Thanks! I appreciate it.
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That was fun! Good writing. 🙂
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Thanks! Glad you liked it.
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DeAr DAvid,
WhAt A fun story. Love the title. Note, the letter Alef which is the first letter of the Hebrew AlphAbet mAkes no sound of its own. You’re welcome. 😉
ShAlom,
Rochelle (no A’s or Alefs)
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Love your comment. 🙂 Yes, I did know that about alef. It’s like the Korean letter ieung (the circular one), which has no pronunciation when it comes at the beginning of a syllable since it’s just there to attach a vowel to. It’s a pretty common letter though, as I’m sure Alef is, so not sure if I’d want to be an Alef on a Hebrew keyboard either.
Have a great week!
dAvid
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