Mysterious Photograph
Each issue features a Mysterious Photograph. Readers are invited to submit a 250-word (or less) flash fiction story based on the photo. The person who invents the best mystery story receives a prize of $25, and the story is published in a future issue.
The Story That Won the January/February 2024 contest:
FELLOW NES FELINE
by Reida Roberts
The story you are about to read is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. It was Saturday in Kitty Town. I was working the morning watch out of homicide detail. My partner is Tommy K. Cat. My name’s Detective Fellow Nes Feline. It was nine a.m. when we got to our undercover assignments at the Five and Dime. I was hungry and would have given a nickel for a dime’s worth of kitty chow.
When a cat with a badge starts casing the cereal aisle, people notice. I was there to do a job. There were three million suspects in this town (please spay and neuter your pets), but we had a lead. Word around the litter box was that a couple of schnauzers had taken to robbing unsuspecting patrons of their deli purchases. They were small-time thieves with big-time bones to pick. It was a stakeout that would require the deli boys to put the steak up, that is until the perimeter was safe. All was quiet, until our perp rounded the corner with a ham hock that didn’t belong to her.
“Detective Feline?”
“Who wants to know?” I replied. It was no time for blatant disregard of departmental procedure.
“It’s not what you think.”
“I think it’s a twelve-pound half spiral honey ham.”
“No, it’s just the fats.”
She had a point, but she also had some pork renderings that she’d be using for incarceration stew.
“Ma’am you’re under arrest.”