Fortnightly Writing Competition: 144-WORD-STORIES (CLOSED. WINNER DECIDED.)

[Sinitrena]

Mandle:
The Lurker: Well, luckily, that one didn't in the sinister direction it seemed to in the beginning. I'm sure that was intentional. But if the man has such a child-like mindset, I'm not sure he should be alone on the playground, simply because adults might misinterpret his intentions.

[Mandle]

Thanks to all who competed. We actually got one outsider, separate from our little crew, but a regular AGSer, sending in some votes this time!

Without further ado, brevity being beautiful, here is the final tally of votes:

The Slope - Baron.................... 102
The Boat - Sinitrena................. 63
Faceplant - Stupot................... 61
Dragonfight - Sinitrena.............. 47
You Think That's Messed? - Baron..... 35
Earth - Sinitrena.................... 35
Horsefight - Sinitrena............... 29
Knightfight - Sinitrena.............. 20
One Two Three - Sinitrena............ 8

Baron wins with his briefly excellent and wise entry of: The Slope.

Over to you, most excellent one.

(And, yes, the wordcount of this post does add up to 144 including this comment I'm leaving here in brackets. By the way, did I mention that my sister was once bitten by a moose? Aw, fuck, still not enough words to end the contest on a cool note? I'll go just one over then...)

[Stupot]

Congratulations, Bazza.
I look forward to your next theme.

[Baron]

Wow, thanks guys!  This was an unexpected win.  There've been several poetic entry wins over the years, so I suspect some of our regular voters might have a soft spot for rhyme-slinging.  Or Sinitrena might be right about the tyranny of mathematics and the propensity to split votes.  Or the real lesson here might be to procrastinate so that your entry is the freshest in readers' minds when they vote.... :p

I'll try to have the next contest up and running by tomorrow.  My son broke my computer keyboard by gaming too hard, so it might take me that long to type out a theme on my phone!