John Clark offering his maybe, almost, annual story prompts for your edification and pillaging. Feel free to choose one or more and create a story. In the past, I’ve turned a couple into books, and another into a long story. Who knows what might happen this time around. A few of these actually happened. Can you guess which ones?

1-Millie Folsom peeled a hard boiled egg, part of her usual morning routine, while gazing abstractedly out her kitchen window. Something had disturbed her sleep, but she couldn’t remember anything in her dreams that might have triggered her tired and uneasy state. She nearly dropped the egg when she spotted a large jagged home in the ice covering Simonton Pond. It was surrounded by an irregular swath of what looked like soot.

2-Precise was a word that fitted Eldora Millington perfectly. No one dared refer to her prized instrument as a fiddle. When someone foolishly did so, she corrected then in a voice that could terrify even the meanest schoolyard bully. It was a violin, thankyouverymuch, and she played it flawlessly, just like she disposed of the bodies her secret and extremely lucrative contract bound her to.

3-At the book sale a dark green volume had a yellowed slip of paper sticking out. “Go to page 76.” On it was an image that looked like a cross between a garden gnome and a leprechaun When it spoke, life changed in a heartbeat.

4-Al fumbled for his phone, eyes closed, head throbbing. Six months of sobriety gone. He hit his sponsor’s number. The call failed to go through, as did several more to friends. He tried them again, same result. The operator’s response chilled him. “Sir, you’re trying to call people in San Diego, California. Please add the correct area code.” Al braved the terrible wave of nausea as he stood and staggered to the window to see derelict trailers surrounded by dirty snow. Where the hell was he?

5-A voice in the darkness rang out, singing “Cockles and Mussels, Alive, Alive O.” Things got worse quickly.

6-Still, I remember it well, the year of abundant broccoli and unfettered foolishness

7-It was shortly after the first strange tree appeared that I noticed my early morning regulars weren’t showing up for coffee at the diner.

8-It was the day I realized why they were called sweat socks.

9-Gram tensed and looked at my grandfather before throwing the bubbling coffee pot through the kitchen window. “That’s the last I want to hear of it.”

10-”Political correctness in soda flavors, what the hell does that mean?” I asked. Maura raised one perfect eyebrow before saying, “You’ll soon see for yourself.