By Eilene Lyon
I’ve lately been reading a slim volume published in 2001 by the Quality Paperback Book Club, of which I was a member for many years. It’s called The World’s Best Shortest Stories (of all time) and features clever 55-word (or less) stories. Most have surprise twists at the end, some subtle, some astounding.
Fiction is not my genre, but I decided to try my hand at it, basing this one on a historic event. What do you think?
In Flight
“Sir, that bag needs to fit under the seat in front of you, or in an overhead bin.”
The pack’s oblong metal handle clanked as he stuffed it at his feet.
“I also need to know if you’re comfortable with the duties of being in an emergency exit row.”
He assented.
“Thank you, Mr. Cooper.”
Feature image: by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Myricopia 
OK, excuse my ignorance, but what is the historic event? Who is Mr. Cooper?
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Oh well. D.B. Cooper jumped out of a plane over the Pacific Northwest after a big heist. He’s never been found, nor the money. That wasn’t his real name, either.
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Oops—it went right over my head!
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It was a long time ago. I suspected it was not currently widespread knowledge.
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It went over my head too…
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A very old cultural reference!
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Still, as a historian, I should have clued…but it’s early on a Sunday morning and I had only had one cup of coffee! 🤣🤣
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I’ve been there!
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I like the idea of stories that are 55 words or less! Yours was excellent (once I read who Mr. Cooper was.) On the other end of the spectrum, I have read a few single sentences recently that are 500 words or more long…
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The ones in the book are excellent, though I didn’t get a couple of them. Run-on sentences drive me nuts, too.
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Haha. I love it!!!
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Thanks, Brandi.
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Perfect Eilene! Our very own infamous DB 🙂
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I thought it might ring a bell with you. Glad you liked it.🙂
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Good one!!
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Thanks, Marie!
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Good story!
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Thank you, Ally.
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I didn’t know who Mr Cooper was either – but I like the concept!
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He pops up in the western media from time to time, since his bones and the (marked) bills have never turned up. I suspect the money has probably composted, but maybe not!!
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I love it!
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Thanks, E.A.!
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I didn’t know who Mr Cooper was either. Though I did like the story and I can imagine I will be reading more from you, Eilene.
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I’m not certain why this idea popped into my head while I was reading these short stories, but what the heck!😀 If anything else occurs to me, I might make this a regular item.
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A wee challenge for you 😉 I go through phases of what I enjoy writing. Many times there’s nothing at all that enters the grey matter to write about. Love having those “what the heck” moments.
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I’ve been going back to some things I wrote many years ago and finding that I wrote a few decent bits. I surprise myself at times!
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Yes, it is interesting looking back at what we write and thought at the time. Not too many times in life we receive fun surprises 🙂
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The beauty of being writers!
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Oh, I remember the D.B. Cooper story very well!!
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I figured I wouldn’t be the only one!
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It was a cultural phenomenon back in the day!
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Kind of like looking for that treasure in New Mexico hidden by the rich guy (can’t recall his name Forest something?)
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I think I know of the rich guy, but his name escapes me.
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Haha! Excellent!
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Thank you, Janis!
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That was fun Eilene! Every so often the media conjures up a story on D.B. Cooper. Imagine if social media would have been around at the time with people trying to outguess one another as to his whereabouts. We saw the hoopla over Brian Thompson’s killer play out on social media, people speculating over each scrap of info and then people said “no way is it Luigi Mangione!”
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Thanks, Linda. I don’t have a clue what brought him to mind and that little scene. I wish social media didn’t exist now!
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Social media is not pretty sometimes, that is for sure!
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I know it has its uses, but the bad outweighs the good in my estimation.
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Yes that is very true! I am mostly a “lurker” on social media for news and nature sites I frequent and I rarely, if ever, comment, let alone post.
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Genealogists have a lot of useful sites, but so far I haven’t felt a need for them.
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You are a pro at researching all on your own.
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😊
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Nice punch line … I chuckled. Well done!
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Thank you, Frank!
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Alas, it went right over my head…but now I know, very clever!!
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Thanks!
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