Round Robin Blog Fest December 16 2023

Happy Holidays!

This time around, we were asked to take a shot at Flash fiction.  Flash fiction is anything between 500 words and 1500 words.  We were limited to holiday themes - not just Christmas, but any holiday we all might be celebrating at this time of the year. Variety is definitely the spice of the season!

My piece comes in around 800 words and I cheated a little! I've just released a short story in an anthology called A Prob-llama of a Holiday. The story is called Visions of Gumdrop and features a PI named Dash Allman who teams up with a drama llama named Gumdrop. Rather than create a whole new piece - here's the cheat part - I've dropped in the first part of the story. Where Dash meets Gumdrop. 

Visions of Gumdrop

By Diane Bator 

Jimmy Buffett had just started crooning about Christmas in Hawaii when I got a text urging me to “Stay indoors until further notice. Escaped animal on the loose.”

My stomach lurched and I shot a quick reply to the sender, my on-again off-again boyfriend, Rob Gwynn who was a local police officer. “What kind of animal?”

I didn’t wait for a reply. It was the last Saturday morning before Christmas and the local market would be in full swing in fifteen minutes. No way was I missing it. I had shopping to do. Besides, no one would be dumb enough to transport a dangerous creature this close to a populated beach, would they?

I opened my front door anyway. After looking both ways for large, furry beasts and witches on rollerblades, then stepped into the sunshine and locked the front door of my beach cottage-slash-office. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a curious cat, which made me an ideal detective. Not the best one money could buy, but definitely in the top one hundred on the coast.

Definitely, the only one with the oddball name of Dash.

The joke in my family was that my mom fell in love with Dashiell Hammett at first sight, which made child hood rough for the little girl she named Dashiell Allman. Not funny. Although, the nickname Dash did make me feel faster when I ran. People tended to call me out of curiosity since my name made me sound like a strong, male detective.

Once they met me in person — a short, blonde, beach bum usually sporting a cast of some sort — some ran. Most laughed. A few took pity on me.

Crossing the beach, I aimed for the wet sand where the waves could caress my toes on my way to Ricardo’s food truck. I woke up craving a Breakfast Dog. My growling stomach finally got the best of me as I’d finished the paperwork from my last case. Visions of cheese, a hot dog, a hashbrown, tomato, bacon, and a fried egg, over easy had danced through my head for the past hour.

The air was a bit cooler than earlier in December. A reminder that I still needed to pick up gifts for my two favorite police officers.

Rob Gwynn, aka Officer Athletic and my current boyfriend, was big into action movies, working out, and muscle cars. I still wasn’t sure what to get him.

Alex Carson, his partner and the man I’d called Officer Pasty for years, was easier. He was a foodie who loved to cook. A couple of weeks ago, I’d discovered a great booth at the market that sold homemade spices and rubs. I’d finally decided which ones to get him and planned to hit the market. Right after breakfast.

Something wet brushed against the back of my right shoulder. I brushed it off like a bug. Then it tapped me again.

“Very funny, Rob,” I said as I stopped to turn around. “What the…?”

My jaw dropped and my eyes grew wide as I came face to face with an elongated nose attached to a furry creature that looked like a cross between a horse and a tall sheep.

Its nostrils flared before phlegm hit me square in the chest. Then it yelled “Mwah!” and collapsed into the sand.

“What the flying fig just happened?” I took a couple steps back.

“What did you do to it?” a familiar voice asked.

On cue, Rob and Alex loped across the beach, more concerned about the creature than the fact I’d been accosted.

I held up my hands in protest. “Nothing. It just fell over. I don’t even know what it is.”

“It’s a llama, Dash,” Alex told me with a chuckle. “Didn’t you learn anything in school?”

Scowling at the two-hundred and fifty pound officer, I shook my head. “I’ve seen pictures of them, but I’ve never looked one in the nostrils before. What’s it doing on the beach?”

Rob looped a rope around its neck, flinching when the llama rolled away from him to sit in the sand. “It’s part of the petting zoo at the market today. While the farmer was unloading the animals, this little guy escaped.”

“Little? That thing’s a full head taller than you and smells like a barnyard.”

He grinned, petting the creature like an overgrown dog. “Aww, did the grumpy detective scare you, Gumdrop?”

“Ha. The grumpy detective nearly peed her pants.” I took one last look at the llama. If I were a social media-type person, I would’ve taken pictures. No one in my family would believe I came face to face with a llama, let alone one that fainted on the spot.

For everyone else who knew me, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Like what you read? You can find Visions of Gumdrop in A Prob-llama of a Holiday by Aconite Press at:   Amazon.com       Amazon.ca

Drop by to read what the rest of the talented Blog Fest Gang wrote! 

Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-35i

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Diane Bator https://dbator.blogspot.com/

Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/

Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea