Indy,

You asked about a short story less than 300 words. I created this one 2+ decades ago for a laugh among friends. It’s four words with no personal transformation in the narrative. However there is something that might be interesting to consider. Here’s my story:

Punch.
Bleed.
Sue.
Caymans.

On the surface this is just nonsense. The reality is that there is an inside joke nested in an inside joke. However there’s the bare minimum which just might a cause a reaction.

Who threw the punch and who received it? What is their background? What led to that escalation (why was there a blow to begin with?) How was it resolved? How did it change their lives? Was there really true resolution or some financial re-balancing between parties?

I submit it for consideration, not because its good writing. It’s not that. I submit it for the basic idea of questioning what constitutes a story. What are the necessary elements to convey an series of events that leads to some kind of resolution? At what point does writing go from unreachable to intriguing to expected?

No doubt that Wizard and/or Jeff Sexton will have the intelligent response. Should this land on their desk as “worthy”, it might shore up some questions I’ve had on the basic anatomical features of a story.

With respect….
–Ant