Here’s a quick story I wrote using a story prompt shared on our Cypress Knee MUSH forums:
Etto Wentz hunched in the seat of his tractor, beer in hand and smartphone in the other, beneath a dimming midday sun. The corn crop hadn’t been robust for three years. Now, the stalks withered. Time to grind them under for the next season.
“If there’s a next season,” the farmer mused. Took a sip of the bitter home-brewed lager. Set the glass jar on the tractor console.
He scrolled Tinder. Still nothing.
“Everyone keeps ignoring me,” he said.
A crow fluttered its wings after landing on the nose of Etto’s tractor.
“Except you,” the farmer allowed. “You won’t leave me alone.”
The bird cawed.
Etto shrugged. “I can’t afford the new batteries.”
The bird scratched at the metal with its talons.
“Whatever,” the farmer replied, frowning. “No one cares about the paint job.”
The crow launched itself at Etto, snatched the phone from his hand – deeply scratching the flesh of the farmer’s thumb, and swooped away.
“Hope you have better luck than me.”
