2024 Half-Price Books and the Fremont Cultural Arts Council September Flash Fiction Contest Winners

September 2024 Flash Fiction Contest

The September 2024 Flash Fiction Contest, co-sponsored by the Fremont Cultural Arts Council and Half Price Books, was held on September 28, 2024 at Half Price Books, 39152 Fremont Hub, Fremont, CA. Cash and Half Price Books gift cards were awarded to the 1st – 5th place winners. Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to all who entered!

• First Place “Finn: the Frog Detective” by Elizabeth Kimmel won $50 cash plus a $25 Half Price Books gift card.
• Tied for Second Place, “Dear Burglar” by Alina Nazareth won $35 cash plus a $25 Half Price Books gift card.
• Tied for Second Place, “Some Enchanted Evening” by Patricia Doyne won $35 cash plus a $25 Half Price Books gift card.
• Fourth Place, “A Boy Named Frog” by Edward SooHoo won $20 cash plus a $25 Half Price Books gift card.
• Fifth Place, “Escape to the Frogs” by Thomas Staaden won $10 cash plus a $25 Half Price Books gift card.
• Past President’s Award, “The Frog” by Elena Climent won a Nothing Bundt Cakes Trio.

A big THANKS to:

• Fremont Cultural Arts Council who donated $150 in cash for this contest, Half Price Books who donated $125 in Gift Cards for this contest and coffee.
• Jack’s Brewery at the Hub who donated money to the Fremont Cultural Arts Council for those people who turned in a Flash Fiction donor stub and Nothing Bundt Cakes who donated a Trio of cakes.
• Infinity Care for donating Pistachio Cookies and staff to hand out ballots.
• The Fremont Cultural Arts Council who helped staff the table, hand out ballots, count the ballots, and make certificates for the winners, which includes: Margaret Thornberry, Julie Gilson, Connie Chew, Paul K. Davis, and Knuti VanHoven, A special thanks to Arathi Satish for writing the nice articles for the Tri-City Voice Newspaper and the Tri-City Voice Newspaper for publishing our articles on this contest and we will send the winning stories to the Tri-City Voice Newspaper for publication.

We are planning on holding another Flash Fiction Writing Contest in April during the “Fremont Creates” event. Please read the Tri-City Voice Newspaper for subject and date. We expect to hold the contest in Half-Price Books again. We plan on having the same rules as this contest.

1st Place: “Finn: the Frog Detective” by Elizabeth Kimmel

In a pond so clear, where cattails sway,
Lived a clever frog, who saved the day.
Finn the Detective, sharp and bright,
Solved mysteries with all his might.

One morning, Lily hopped in despair,
Her golden lily pad wasn’t there.
A treasure rare, with spots of gold,
Gone from the pond, the tale unfolds.

The creatures gathered, hearts in fear,
But Finn the Frog was calm and near.
With steady voice, he soothed the crowd,
“I’ll find the pad,” he said aloud.

No broken stems, no leaves were torn,
The pad was missing, and they all mourned.
He questioned turtles, fish, and flies,
But none had seen the lily’s prize.

Then Finn saw a trail, so faint and thin,
He followed it through the grass and wind.
There sat Toby, guilty-eyed,
Beside the lily pad he tried to hide.

“My lily pad had sunk,” Toby confessed,
“I borrowed Lily’s for a rest.”
With kindness, Finn replied with grace,
“Next time, just ask, don’t hide your face.”

Together they returned Lily’s prize,
And Lily’s joy lit up the skies.
The pond was peaceful, the mystery solved,
Thanks to Finn, who was always involved.

So in the pond, where cattails sway,
The Frog Detective saved the day.

2nd Place (tie): “Dear Burglar” by Alina Nazareth

Dear Burglar,

You emptied my house of the memorabilia that took me four decades to build. I am so angry but, I was raised Catholic and I never swear. So I’ll rely on a different F word to get me through this letter. I hope you read it someday, somewhere.

FROG. You took the ring designed by the grandfather-I-never-met. The gold is inferior but someone will pay a lot for a ring that symbolizes three generations of family*.

FROG. My engagement ring! The one that my best friend* gave me when he asked me to marry him. It was a quiet night spent in each other’s arms. It’s the ring with the smallest diamond that made the biggest promise.

FROG. My pink diamond! The one my parents splurged on to commemorate our first international trip together. Now that I am a parent*, I know the pink was really a deep red love*.

You know, my daughter* stood by me as I entered that pitch-dark home. Her eyes widened with panic at the missing motion sensors and her tiny body bruised when I pushed her out of our home* to safety. She listened quietly while I dialed 911 – a number she just learned in preschool! You must have thought of her as a liability but the next time you come this close, you will feel how strong she has made me.

I tell myself that harder criminals than you will deliver karmic justice when you land in prison. But the truth is you don’t matter. You couldn’t even get me to swear. So, keep my scrap metal, dear burglar, but you will never have the beautiful memories that turn them to gold.

p.s. *Family, friend, parent, love, daughter, and home hold immense universal value far beyond material things.

2nd Place (tie): “Some Enchanted Evening” by Patricia Doyne

I’m King, and my word is law—except to my daughter. When you think “princess,” you think ball gowns, jewels, tiaras, right? But my daughter Lucinda romps around in jeans and sneakers, with her pockets full of beetles. Pond scum under her fingernails. Feeds baby mice to her snakes.

Lucinda says she’s a biologist. Hangs around the moat collecting mayfly larva and tadpoles. Next to her four-poster bed, she’s installed an aquarium complete with water plants, snails, and newts. She picks this stuff up with her bare hands! Does this sound like a princess?

Lucinda developed a special fondness for a tiny bullfrog she named Froggy-Boy. When she caught him as a tadpole, she carried him around in a glass jar. As he changed, she kept the jar in a backpack. When full grown, Froggy Boy rode on her shoulder. She trapped flies for him, and sometimes robbed spider webs for delicacies. “Here, have something scrumptious, Froggy-Boy,” she’d say.

Her sisters thought this was hilarious. “Kiss your little green friend,” they teased. “Maybe he’ll turn into a prince.” Lucinda would just laugh, and feed Froggy-Boy another horsefly.

But one morning, one of Lucinda’s sisters spotted a young man peeking out from the curtains of Lucinda’s four-poster bed. As his foot hit the floor, it was clear he wore nothing but his smile. The sister screamed.

“It’s just Froggy-Boy,” said Lucinda. “A prince, actually. He was enchanted, and I reversed the spell.”

I was so proud of Lucinda. Finally she was acting like a real princess– battling sorcery, helping fellow royals, even seeking my opinion now and then. So I didn’t ask too many questions. Froggy-boy was a simple man– good looking, eager to please.

But the Queen and Lucinda’s sisters never did buy her enchanted-frog story.

4th Place: “A Boy Named Frog” by Edward SooHoo

James was born with a face only a mother could love. His head was huge, with two buggy eyes sitting atop a tiny nose but broad mouth. His tongue, even as an infant, was gigantic. While other babies sucked their thumbs, James would extend his tongue and lick his own forehead.

As James grew he was quickly labeled an oddity within the tiny mountain town. Not only because of his unconventional appearance – but also due to the strange way he walked. You see, James found it hard to take steps – left, right, left, right – like a normal person. He much preferred to leap from place to place, crouching and then propelling himself forward.

After a few years, James was gone – having been replaced by A Boy Named Frog. The other children, his school teachers, even the pastor at church used this name. The teasing was horrible, exacerbated by Frog’s tendency to have his overalls covered in mud from the nearby woods.

Frog did have one thing going for him in his life – he was a fantastic swimmer. The water was his natural element. No one could out-swim Frog. Not the other children, nor adults. One time an Olympic hopeful, a competitive swimmer from the nearby university, passed through the small town. Frog easily beat him by 10 lengths and made the young man cry.

As fate would have it the tiny mountain town was slated for development. A massive hotel and water park was planned, taking advantage of the area’s natural beauty. James successfully interviewed for a lifeguard position, baseball cap and sunglasses on his head to hide his shame.

A Boy Named Frog went onto a 30 year life guard career at the water park, retiring after saving hundreds of guests from drowning.

5th Place: “Escape to the Frogs” by Thomas Staaden

Steve was outside yet again. He snuck out after hearing his parents argue yet again, almost screaming in fact. He could almost cry, but Steve had to go to his happy place. That was the creek next to the house. He wandered down the hill to the nearby creek, where his closest friends lived.

He got to the creek and found his little friends. Freddy, Rocky and Hoppy. He spotted them sitting by water, making the constant ribbit sounds that they always made. Steve crouched down into the weeds, and smiled.

There was a time they would hide under the water, like he would try to do at his third grade class. But eventually, this frog family had warmed up to him, and would tolerate his presence, the only ones who would. Steve watched them as some of them swam and tried to catch flies. He could even see one hopping toward him.

It was Rocky, who knew Steve would have a fresh worm for him. Steve pulled out one of the worms in his jacket that were collected just to feed to Rocky. He pulled out the worm, and barely held it up before…

Rocky jumped, and caught the worm in his mouth. He ate it all in one gulp, ‘Ewww’, Steve said, quietly smiling.

The frog sat there for a second. Steve wanted to watch them all night. But what he really wanted to do was join the family of frogs…

Then Steve heard the sirens, he knew it was for his human family. One of the neighbors must have been upset at their shouting again. Steve turned toward the Frogs, and waved goodnight. He needed to get back, he couldn’t get in trouble.

Past President’s Award: “The Frog” by Elena Climent

It was about midmorning when the group of friends met at the golf course over Pine Mountain Lake, it was a dream made real for the retired men living up there.

The seniors take their sense of humor along with the heavy golf clubs hanging on their backs, they had a great time joking and teasing each other, they knew the curative power of “laughter,” they used it as a therapy.

Greg was one of the golfers but because of his resemblance to a frog, his dear friends called him Kermit for the Sesame Street puppet frog. “Kermit” and my in- law John had been very close friends for years.

On one of those mornings when the group of happy friends was about to strike the first ball, something dramatic changed their mood forever; the witty and funny Kermit collapsed on the green, just in front of his friends.

A massive heart attack, he died on the way to the Hospital. John was destroyed; he was not able to come back to the golf course for a long time, with depression.

A few weeks after the incident, was John Baker’s birthday. Resting on his back porch, in front of the golf course playing with his memories when a green tiny little frog jumped over the porch’s hand rail in front of him. They never had a visit of this kind of amphibious on the porch before! How could this frog jump up there? John and wife Jaquie tried to push it down several times, but the stubborn jumper was coming back to the spot.

John was perplexed; he became quiet and serious and in a soft voice he started talking to the frog. What was he doing? Could Jhon accept and recognize his dear friend Kermit’s “spirit” inside of that shiny little frog? The words of affection from the friend seemed to work in controlling the jumper. He carefully put it down that time, the strange frog went away and disappeared under the bushes.

When Jaquie came out to offer him a drink she looked for the frog wondering, john did not answer, sipped his drink smiling.

No “magic” was involved in the story but, whatever kind of communication happened between the man and the frog nobody knows; but after the frog episode John was a new man, he was relaxed, and free of anxiety.
I wonder; Do we have our own frog hiding somewhere? Could it be around us, but we don’t recognize it? Let us think about that…