The Longest Story Ever by Andrew Wooding - Day #15

(You can join this epic story at any time, but have fun browsing the archives if you want to dip into past instalments or even start from the beginning. Feel free to leave your comments as well. Cartoons by Mychailo Kazybrid.)


'Fantastic! A battery-operated hairdryer!'

The person enthusing about this commonplace hair-care appliance was Charlie the Dog, the world-famous poodle detective. He didn't normally get worked up about commonplace hair-care appliances, but today was a massive exception. He was desperate for one.

'Why is that?' asked the one and only reader of this story.

'Patience, dear reader,' said the one and only writer of this story. 'The answer will come soon.'

Charlie the Dog and his maid, Ethel, were currently visiting their local tree centre to buy a tree (what else?). Instead (as usual), Charlie found himself involved in a mystery. He had discovered that a dangerous international spy – cleverly disguised as a tree – was in the tree centre with them and possibly out to kill them.

Ethel panicked and started bashing Charlie about the head with her handbag (as you do). Out of the handbag slipped Ethel's battery operated hairdryer which Charlie happily picked up off the ground.

'Just what I need,' said Charlie.

'It is?' said Ethel. 'Your fur isn't wet, sir. What do you need it for?'

'Look and see,' said Charlie.

Ethel's hairdryer was small (it had to be to slot inside her handbag between her treasured pairs of false teeth), but it happened to be the most powerful hairdryer ever. It was so powerful that it could dry someone's hair from ten miles away … but if they wanted to do this, someone else would have to operate the hairdryer for them (unless they had arms that were ten miles long).

Charlie switched on the hairdryer.

'At last!' snapped the one and only reader of this story. 'Most of today's instalment has been a recap of the story so far. Only in the last few sentences did we get to the new stuff.'

'I agree,' sighed the one and only writer of this story, 'but what can I do? I want each instalment to stand on its own, and to do that I have to set up the story each day.'

The writer continued: 'Oh, and by the way, your interruption has bumped up the word count, which means we now have to finish for the day.'

'Oh, poo,' said the reader. 'That'll teach me to open my mouth.'

Come back tomorrow for another exciting recap with a little bit of new stuff at the end.


Today’s total: 390 words (Total so far: 5,007 words)