{"id":1507,"date":"2017-09-12T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.interestingauthors.com\/blog\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2017-08-02T16:08:25","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T22:08:25","slug":"tuesdays-five-minute-flash-fiction-8-prompt-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/finance\/tuesdays-five-minute-flash-fiction-8-prompt-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday’s Five Minute Flash Fiction #8: Prompt “Giving”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This piece\/challenge is the last installment of the 8 pieces of Five Minute Flash Fiction planned for the Summer season. \u00a0If you’re a writer\/participant and wish for the team of writers at I.A. to continue the weekly Flash Fiction initiative, please leave a comment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Giving<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael and Heather Stone had a monthly routine for paying their household bills. This usually meant on second Thursday evenings, the two of them would convene around the dining room table with a pizza, a couple of cans of beer, and Heather\u2019s laptop.\u00a0 Neither of them enjoyed the monthly ritual, but in recent years after becoming \u201cempty nesters\u201d they\u2019d made the best of the chore.<\/p>\n

Heather logged into their on-line account using their bank\u2019s secure Internet server.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoney, could you come over here and take a look at something?\u00a0 I don\u2019t understand this,\u201d she said to Michael who was opening the checkbook in preparation for writing the few checks they\u2019d need to cover the bills they weren\u2019t able to pay on line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was that you needed?\u201d he finally asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome here, just look at this and tell me what you think this means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael peeked over at Heather\u2019s laptop screen and noticed she had the monthly statement of their checking account opened.\u00a0 \u201cThis has to be some kind of a joke,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cSomebody hacked in and must have thought showing a deposit of $999,999.00 into our account would be amusing.\u00a0 Look, it even shows the source as ANNOYMOUS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what do we do about it?\u201d Heather asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go to the bank first thing tomorrow morning and sort it out.\u00a0 In the mean time, just subtract the $999K from the balance and we\u2019ll pay our bills the same as always.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heather tapped away and said, \u201cThe gas was $23 and you can also write a check for $22 to cover the trash and water.\u00a0 That should do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are we looking with the mortgage?\u201d asked Michael as he tore off a completed check and stuffed it into its preprinted envelope.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust under ten years and it is ours.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be able to finally take that cruise we\u2019ve been dreaming about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following day the older couple was stunned to discover they really were cash rich after the bank verified the contents of their account.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t keep all that,\u201d Heather stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgreed.\u00a0 It makes me uncomfortable too.\u00a0 Let\u2019s do something really good with it,\u201d said Michael.<\/p>\n

They spent the next four days with a tax accountant and managed to donate everything to a raft of domestic and international charities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it was all over, Heather hugged Michael and said, \u201cI like things the way they are and I\u2019m glad we were able to do what we did.\u00a0 It makes me feel so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe too,\u201d Michael said before kissing his wife on the forehead.<\/p>\n

Weekly Prompts to be continued depending on popular demand<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This piece\/challenge is the last installment of the 8 pieces of Five Minute Flash Fiction planned for the Summer season. \u00a0If you’re a writer\/participant and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10,1301,43],"tags":[1346,92,1341,1343,1344,1345,1342],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-finance","category-flash-fiction","category-stories","tag-anonymous-gift","tag-author-gregory-s-lamb","tag-five-minute-flash-fiction","tag-giving","tag-home-loan","tag-mortgage","tag-writing-challenge"],"yoast_head":"\nTuesday's Five Minute Flash Fiction #8: Prompt "Giving" – Interesting Authors Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/finance\/tuesdays-five-minute-flash-fiction-8-prompt-giving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tuesday's Five Minute Flash Fiction #8: Prompt "Giving" – Interesting Authors Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This piece\/challenge is the last installment of the 8 pieces of Five Minute Flash Fiction planned for the Summer season. \u00a0If you’re a writer\/participant and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/finance\/tuesdays-five-minute-flash-fiction-8-prompt-giving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Interesting Authors Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/interestingauthors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-12T13:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gregory Lamb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@i_authors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@i_authors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gregory Lamb\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/finance\\\/tuesdays-five-minute-flash-fiction-8-prompt-giving\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/finance\\\/tuesdays-five-minute-flash-fiction-8-prompt-giving\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gregory Lamb\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec661ef199ee42ffd6c538a79a001ca4\"},\"headline\":\"Tuesday’s Five Minute Flash Fiction #8: Prompt “Giving”\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-12T13:00:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/finance\\\/tuesdays-five-minute-flash-fiction-8-prompt-giving\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":503,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Anonymous Gift\",\"author Gregory S. 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