Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by my old friend Al Forbes.
The idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in the picture (below).
This week’s prompt comes from J Hardy Carroll.
Click on this link to enter your tale, and to see what others have written.
© J Hardy Carroll
Click here to hear the author read his words:
Hotel Room
The problem with hotel rooms is that you never know who is next door.
Especially when you are in a casino hotel on an Indian Reservation.
The music thunders through the wall.
I groan, check the time.
3.17 a.m.
‘Stay there, sweetie,’ my wife says, ‘I’ll call reception.’
She slams the phone down abruptly.
I look at her in amazement.
‘High rollers,’ she snaps, ‘Reception say they can’t do anything until the manager gets here in the morning.’
The room is still vibrating.
I groan again, roll out of bed.
I dress, knock on next door.
I see a music device, surprisingly small for the din it creates.
The guy laughs in my face.
I show him my badge.
‘Get lost, detective, you have no authority here on the Res.’
His friends gather round, hurling insults.
I take out my gun, shoot the speaker.
Not the guy doing the talking, the thing making the noise.
‘Do I need to shoot anything else?’ I ask the stunned faces.
The speaker shakes his head.
The guy doing the talking, not the thing making much less noise.
I go back to bed in blissful silence.
The problem with hotel rooms is that you never know who is next door.