Vignettes by Me, on Themes Picked Randomly: Day One

Theme 21: Weather outside the Window

Lazy lariats of slime slide down the elliptical outer portals after sputtering against the domed eaves, blotting out the dayshine.

“It’s clear to me,” Hilbert says, pointing to an unseen expanse beyond the clogged portals. “The weather regulators are tapping into the recycling vats again. They thought they could siphon off resources and give us a rainbow show. Instead, look what happens: the system overcorrects, and we get this again!”

Water beads inside the portals from the humidity caused by the overheated slime as it streaks away on the other side.

“Doesn’t bother me,” Hilda says, shrugging vaguely in her husband’s direction. She shifts position on the sofa pillows and reaches to open a transparent cubical enclosure. Now she can return to her latest passion, one she has neglected for her colonial duties: imprinting an uplifted micro-oraristrix with linguistic engrams.



Explanatory Postscript: When I say “picked randomly,” I mean picked from a Master List that I’ve compiled of 999 themes intended to serve as creative writing prompts (from the following sources: 501 Writing Prompts; 25 Creative Writing Prompts; Examples of Themes; List of Themes; 365 Creative Writing Prompts; 100 Themes Challenge Writing Prompts; List of Journal Ideas; and Top 10 Types of Story Themes). To pick a theme at random, I roll three ten-sided dice (the first for the hundreds place digit, the second for the tens, and the third for the singles) and find the theme under the number I have rolled. If I hit a theme I have already written on, I roll again. If I ever roll 000, I make up a theme. The Master List is a secret, so don’t ask for it.