March of Fools 2010 Challenge

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Here's a link to all the March of Fools stories:

http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/contests/march-fools-2010

Please read them and leave a comment for the authors who rose to the challenge!


Original challenge post below:

Time for another writer's challenge.

Write a story and post it here or post a storylink to where it is posted on the theme of "Foolish Actions Have Consequences" or "Fooled, Tricked or Deceived".

It should be an original story, not previously posted here or elsewhere but see below. It can be a segment of an ongoing series or serial or the sequel to a previous story.

There are no prizes. I can't really offer enough to make prizes anything more than just encouragement, so, I've decided not to offer them since just getting responses from the audience is a pretty good level of encouragement. Votes, comments and reads are the authors' only rewards. This is amateur fiction and if I could pay all of you who post here a decent amount, I would.

Now, for previously posted stories that fit this theme, there are lots, they can be entered into the challenge by listing them in a blog or in a comment on this post by anyone, not just the author. If they are on another website, they can be reposted here or storylinked by the author but don't use the contest header, after they are here or linked, you can mention them in a blog or a comment attached to this thread.

This challenge will run throughout March, 2010 and ends at midnight, April 1, West Coast USA local time.

Thanks to all and have fun. :)

Hugs,
Erin

Comments

Please Insert 25¢

laika's picture

To get things started, and possibly inspire someone, but not in any way an official entry (being abysmally non-t.g and posted elsewhere initially...) here’s a quick little tale of mechanical dupage:

PLEASE INSERT 25¢
A SHORT CON
by Laika Pupkino

,

The Gullibility Tester hangs on the wall at Epstein's Bar, my favorite watering hole. Unlike a lot of novelty machines that claim to test people for intangible qualities, this one actually works. I know because I designed it.

Well actually, I just rewired an old "love tester" machine I'd bought at the swap meet, and using my sign painting skills (those are my drunken Santas you'll see carousing on the front windows there every winter...) I put new wording on the front of it:
.

JUST HOW GULLIBLE ARE YOU? it asks.

FIND OUT! GUARANTEED ACCURATE!!!
.

The mark drops in his quarter, grips the brass handle, and then the vertical row of clear 11w bulbs that will supposedly guage his capacity for discernment (from ABSOLUTE IDIOT up through SIMPLE SIMON all the way to GENIUS! NOTHING GETS PAST YOU!!!) starts to blink at random.

He (and it's usually a he for some reason) watches expectantly as one rating after another lights up, and with how the bells inside are chiming and the blinking of the lights becomes more and more frantic it really does appear that it's about to reach some decision...

And then it dies. Grows dark and silent, with only one red plastic disc of an indicator light still glowing, down there in the corner, the words next to it announcing:

READING INCONCLUSIVE. PLEASE TRY AGAIN.

This is all my machine does. All it will ever do, no matter how many times a person tries it. And thus his gullibility is tested quite accurately, by how many times he falls for this, the number of coins he drops into the slot.

And as the regulars all bust up laughing it also measures how well he can take a joke…

Reminds me of this...

A small sheet of card, say the size of a business card. On both sides of the card is written the same legend:

How to keep a fool happy...
(P.T.O.)

 


There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...

As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

Good One!

I love it! Just really shows that your weird sense of humor is always present. *chuckle*

It Makes me think…

…they might just be having a MAD HARE DAY!

Boom-boom.

Gabi.


“It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Thomas Hardy—Far from the Madding Crowd.

Gabi.


“It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Thomas Hardy—Far from the Madding Crowd.

Oh, yes.

I think 'Dead Girls Don't Cry' would qualify for this one. But I'll try and write something new for it, too.

March of Fools?

Is it like - Parade of Dimwits - or like - month of Gullible? :)

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Yes

erin's picture

:)

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Aargh!

Walked right into this one! ^_^

Okay, one more time. And this time please answer the questions correspondingly.
1)Is it like - Parade of Dimwits?
2)Is it like - month of Gullible?

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

In particular

erin's picture

Is it a floor wax? Is it a dessert topping? Ha. Ha. Ha. It's both!

Honest, I picked the name BECAUSE of both meanings. :)

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

No waxy yellow buildup

Andrea Lena's picture

...I haven't even reached the pie...and I'm ready for more!
 

She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Dio benedica la mia bella amici

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

I knew it! ^_^

And I like it!

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!