Concocted by Brad Foster
A very short, experimental interactive story for use on Medium
If this works, more interesting ones to come :) This one has only 3 endings — THREE! Ah-hah-hah-hah!
If it doesn’t work, sorry, and thanks for trying!
*** A Lovely Day for a Grill-Out ***
The last day of summer and it’s a perfect day for the cook-out. Your friends and neighbors are coming over soon, and you need to start your trusty charcoal grill!
The premium charcoal is laid out and you need only light it to begin the process.
Do you:
- Deploy the lighter fluid
- Wad up newspaper around the briquettes
- Find the electric charcoal lighter, that a relative gave you three years ago
*** Deploy the Lighter Fluid! ***
Fresh lighter fluid splatters onto the briquettes. A flick of the cherry red grill lighter and you’re greeted by the roar of a large fire.
For two seconds.
Then you’re staring at cold, uncaring briquettes — as if they are mocking you…
What do you do?:
*** Wad up the newspaper ***
Fortunately, you have plenty of old and yellowed newspapers just for this occasion. Tearing them into strips and wadding them up, you stuff them in between the charcoal.
Unfortunately, the newspaper disintegrates upon contact with the lighter and the weak licks of flame completely fail to even warm the briquettes.
Time for other measures:
*** Where, oh where did that charcoal lighter go? ***
There are only two places you can think of to search, and you only have time for one before the guests arrive.
Where do you search?: