The challenge was to write a short story of no more than 100 words.

It had to include:

· a broken computer/laptop/tablet.
· someone who claims to be the friend of an important figure (e.g. the Queen, Jacinda Ardern, Vladimir Putin …).
· A newspaper with something missing or cut out.
· A building under construction.
· A dog.
· At least one line of dialogue.

I was walking through Central Park when the wind blew a newspaper clipping under my foot. The bulletin read “The Queen’s best friend works at a Macdonald’s drive-through.” I was confused.

As I looked up a hammer fell from a construction site in an Apple store across from the park, narrowly missing a woman walking her dog. She jumped and screamed in surprise dropping her bag with her new iPad down a drain.

Thomas Newman