Recently, I wrote three stories for the Cascadia Weekly Fiction 101 contest. The stories were supposed to be 101 or few words. Fortuitous circumstances was the first story I wrote. 

Happenstance wasn’t part of Edith’s vernacular. Her life had narrowed to a claustrophobic tedium in a one-bedroom apartment on the seventh-floor of a non-descript, concrete complex.

Her cramped existence suited her. Weighing over 300 pounds, it was increasingly exhausting to move.

• 

Food was Edith’s passion. Once a week, she’d waddle to the grocery store, rewarding herself afterwards with Coney dogs, fries, and pop.

Uncomfortably full, and dreading the walk back, she wasn’t looking as she shuffled, plowing into the hooligan, rushing through the door, gun cocked, adrenaline pumping.

By happenstance, the miscreant tumbled to the floor, turning Edith into a heroine.

Thank you to Madelon 🇫🇷 for her photo on Unsplash