Writing Contest Prompt for T 6/30: Payment

Aloha #WriterTuesday. Today’s #WritingPrompt is

payment

Use it to inspire a piece of writing, and then post that piece either as a contest entry below — today is the last day for all June contest entries — or as a non-contest entry on the Shoot da Breeze page: https://www.bambooridge.org/bambooshoots/shoot-da-breeze/

 

Here’s today’s draft.

Payment (Part Eleven)

Raising his head, Chan called out, “Police.  Drop the gun.”

Startled, both men looked in Chan’s direction.  Chan, his revolver out of site, moved his index finger to the trigger.

“What?” the man with the gun yelled.  “Who are you?”

“Police.  Drop your weapon.”

The man snugged up to Stenton and pointed the gun at his head.  “No way!  This fucker’s gonna pay!”

Chan took a few beats, making sure he had the kill shot.  Then, “Sir, if you don’t drop the gun, things are going to get bad here real fast.”

“But he has to pay for what he did.”

“Pay for what, sir?”

“For what he did to my mother.”

“Sir, what did he do to her?”

“He killed her.  Last month.”

Chan ran recent cases through his mind.  Nothing clicked.

“Sir, you say he killed her just last month?”

“Yes, yes!”

“I’m sorry to hear this, sir.”  Chan knew he could make the shot, but would the man reflexively pull the trigger too, killing Stenton.”

Hearing nothing from Chan, the man went on.  “She died last month because of what Stenton did ten years ago.”

Chan took his finger off the trigger and let him keep talking.

By participating in the Bamboo Shoots community, you agree to the following rules:

1. We reserve the right to remove content that promotes hate or gratuitous violence. Be respectful and courteous to others.
2. All contest challenge entries must be submitted by the designated
3. Enter as many times as you like using a trigger/prompt (this page).
4. Contest Challenge entries can be prose (including short stories, nonfiction essays, or whatever you write), poetry, or plays -- or any type of hybrid writing you dream up.
5. Every entry must have a title -- unless you choose to enter a haiku, in which case you can simply enter the word haiku in the title section.
6. All content/entries should be original work. You retain ownership of your entries; however, we may ask to use them elsewhere on the site or on social media to help promote Bamboo Ridge and/or the Bamboo Shoots online writing community.
7. Winners will be announced with all possible speed after the end of each month. Winners receive 10 Bamboo Bucks credit to spend in the BRP online bookstore. Bamboo Bucks have no monetary value outside of the online store.
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