This story is written as a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt for July 14, 2025: Write a story about coffee or tea or another hot drink. Tea Minutes Left How long did a cup of tea last? Mike had never considered it before. In truth, he almost never remembered the actual drinking of the…
Tag: short story
Bringing a Knife to a Laser Fight
This story is written as a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt for July 7, 2025: Write a story about an anachronism. Bringing a Knife to a Laser Fight They told us we could pick any weapon we wanted for the semi-annual battle royale. It was all in virtual reality, so no one…
Cookipocalypse
This is a response to the January 27, 2025 Muse on Monday writing prompt. Cookipocalypse Dude, there’s only one cookie left, Grant texted me. No. No no no no no. These weren’t just any cookies, these were Brenda’s chocolate chip supreme cookies. They weighed half a pound each and she only made them a few…
Down the AI Rabbit Hole
Down the AI Rabbit Hole It started on a Friday. I only remember that since I was planning on a relaxing weekend as I walked out of my graduate archeology seminar. “I loved your essay on the new dating system for bronze age sites,” Dr. Acharya said as I passed her desk. “You made some…
The Universe and I
This story is a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt from January 6, 2025. The Universe and I It was January 1, 2025, and I decided I was going to make a New Years resolution. I hadn’t done that in a while but here it was a new year, and I wanted to…
The Day the Aliens Arrived
The Day the Aliens Arrived The Day the Aliens Arrived When the aliens arrived, it wasn’t what anyone expected. It was just a single spaceship, and they didn’t ask to see any leaders. They tried, rather frustratedly to talk to the first people they met and when they couldn’t, they just settled in to learn…
Muse on Monday – May 6, 2024
Have you ever read the book Dracula? That was the first story I ever read that was told completely through secondhand sources, like letters and diary entries. In some ways, this kind of writing can seem more distant since you are not there in the moment: you are reading what they wrote after the fact….
Muse on Monday – April 29, 2024
It’s almost May, which means it’s almost summer. Where did the spring go, right? As the students start to finish up the school year and go on summer vacation, it is a time of relaxation. The Green-Walled Treehouse will still be here and this is a good chance to do some summer writing. Story Prompt:…
Muse on Monday – April 15, 2024
When we think of a war story, we usually think of fighting. However, there are a lot of stories that take place in a time of war that are far away from any battlefield. Here are some ways: How much the war overshadows the story depends on how much the characters or the people they…
Muse on Monday – April 8, 2024
If you were in certain parts of North America today, you could have seen a total eclipse. I am lucky enough to be in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is right in the path of totality, so we got a good view of it here. We all knew long in advance the exact minute that it was…
The Green-Walled Treehouse 