“Dammit!” Karen threw her bag on the kitchen counter.
“What’s wrong?” Justin rushed in carrying glasses and an empty plate.
“I meant to get a spare set of keys made for my dad. He’s coming to visit, and I screwed up.”
“Honey, he’s been here since three.”
“But he just got out of prison. I wanted to make sure he feels welcome.” She stomped the small kitchen in frustration.
“He went to prison for being a cat burglar. I don’t think he needs keys.”
She paused mid-step and faced her husband.
“Well, I guess now we don’t need to ask him whether or not he really did it.”

(I hope you enjoyed this morning’s story. I write these micro-stories from a prompt word in one minute. I can edit as much as I want after the one minute, but the bones have to be there before the alarm rings. I admit it. This one took a wee bit longer than a minute. While I got the concept of the story immediately, it took a bit to figure out the perspective each character would take.

I did this same, “micro-story a day” skill-building project in 2010. It revolutionized my writing and prompted the development of my “Flash Your Fiction” workshop for writers. To see the stories from that project, go here.”)