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Barking Hairball, by David Margolin

24/2/2023

5 Comments

 
Hairball went to bed a cat and woke up a dog.

His first clue was the horrible smell.

His next clue was a mouthful of foreign-tasting hair that accompanied his first morning-grooming lick.

Instead of the familiar arched-back, hair-on-end reaction to danger, he felt his snout curling menacingly and heard a threatening growl roiling up from within.

Hairball, always the optimist, hoped that he was suffering some type of delusion or hallucination. After all, that rat that he finished off the night before had tasted a little odd.

His next reaction was to attempt to retreat to his favorite hiding place—under the bed, but his retreat was blocked by his now-too-large rear end, which lodged firmly under the bed frame. He escaped only thanks to a forceful sneeze, induced by a large ball of cat hair (his own), that he was now extremely allergic to.

As Hairball catalogued all of his former sins, searching for an explanation for his predicament, it occurred to him that he had become, in very literal terms, his own worst enemy.
​
5 Comments
Jenna Hanan Moore
25/2/2023 12:21:38 pm

Hahaha, this is great! Hope Hairball grows to enjoy being a dog, though.

Reply
David Margolin
25/2/2023 04:04:35 pm

Thanks Jenna--could be.

Reply
Mimi Grouse
25/2/2023 05:41:53 pm

Oh dear.
Great story, David, which raised a much-needed chuckle. Thanks.

Reply
David Margolin
25/2/2023 05:47:55 pm

That makes me happy. Thanks Mimi.

Reply
Dee Lorraine
26/2/2023 01:18:45 am

Whoa! Bummer, Hairball! Thanks for the smile, David.

Reply



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    Friday Flash Fiction is primarily a site for stories of 100 words or fewer, and our authors are expected to take on that challenge if they possibly can. Most stories of under 150 words can be trimmed and we do not accept submissions of 101-150 words.


    However, in response to demand, the FFF team constructed this forum for significantly longer stories of 151-500 words. Please send submissions for these using the Submissions Page.

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    One little further note. Posting and publishing 500-word stories takes a little time if they need to be formatted, too.
    ​Please note that we tend to post longer flash fiction exactly as we find it – wrong spacing, everything.

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