More Microfiction
Three more 55-word stories, published in Notes from the Underground:
The system of status-related hats was a great success. No more wasting time at parties talking to someone, only to discover they were a junior executive's girlfriend or a waiter. James was delighted to finally make it to the level of trilby, although he noticed that anyone above a pith helmet now ignored him completely.
Arnold was reluctant to leave the craft, for fear his companions would talk about him while he was gone. If the two of them ganged up, the six-month journey back would be a misery. Again. So he pretended to be uninterested in visiting Titan, and always ate his lunch at his desk, watching them carefully.
Horror at the Table
Little did Claudia realise when she started to research her family history, that a year later she would be sitting in an expensive restaurant opposite the ghost of her great-grandmother. Now she slumped, worn out by months of making small talk with the disappointed old lady, not to mention the endless storm of broken crockery.