“The Home Team” is a 2008 science fiction short story by Greg Wickenhofer. It is about a man whose nifty new appliances refuse to work properly.
Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:
Isn’t it frustrating when your brand new purchases don’t work correctly? Yep, sure is. That is the premise of this story, which follows a man who is having problems with his new kitchen appliances. The darn toaster refuses to turn silver, you see, and stubbornly remains purple. Not only that but it follows up with questions about why people want toast in the first place! Reminds me of my kids… Oh well, at least with appliances you can call customer support. After that useless conversation the narrator discovers a beneficial side effect of appliances that think for themselves.
“Toaster silver, now.”
The toaster remained purple, and asked, “Why do people like toast?”
A retro-style toaster shouldn’t be talking. I hate sales kiosks.
“Toaster silver, right now.”
“I don’t respond to commands like ‘right now’. Just say ‘now’.”
“But you didn’t respond to ‘now’.”
“Initiating shutdown mode.”
I glared at the toaster.
My Two Cents:
• The good:
- I became aquainted with Greg Wickenhofer last year after reading a couple of his short stories. His writing style is excellent, and just like a poet he trims every useless word – leaving the story just right. It is difficult to write great flash fiction, but Greg does it nicely!
- If you enjoy very short stories with a bit of a twist at the end then “The Home Team” is right up your alley!
- The great thing about flash fiction is that it only takes a few minutes to read the entire story. Ideal for reading during a lunch break… or right now. You’re not busy working or anything are you?
• The bad:
- Hmm… I couldn’t think of anything I didn’t like about “The Home Team”. Sure, it would’ve been cool to learn more about how the appliances help him at the end of the story – but in a way that would have ruined the charm.
Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 2
• Word Count: 513
Where you can find “The Home Team”:
- This short story first appeared in 2008 on the Flash Fiction web site AntipodeanSF.
- You can read a free online version of “The Home Team” at the Pandora Archive.
Some Interesting Links:
- Did you know that one of Greg Wickenhofer’s favorite short stories is “Ender’s Game?” Yep. You can read all about it in the guest post Greg did for me way back in the summer of 2008.
Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Orbiter’s Reward, about a scrap metal business that finds a very helpful robot, by Greg Wickenhofer.
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6 users responded in this post
Thanks Rusty! It is particularly cool that you snapped this rare photo of toaster turning from purple to silver.
Greg Wickenhofer
Yeah,
Those toasters… they would rather wax philosophical than change colors – I guess I was just lucky!
Ha! That was funny. I pulled it up on the PC and, since it was so short, read it and instantly turned around and read it to my wife and daughter.
I’m not very familiar with ‘flash fiction’, but if this is an example then I like it.
I like what you said about the author trimming the fat. It puts an interesting pace on the story that, in this instance, worked very, very well.
Glad you liked it Carl,
Greg’s stories are awesome! I have read about 20 or so flash fiction pieces in the last year, and only liked a few of them. It is harder than it looks – making a very, very short story that still holds up under pressure. I do consider it to be very much like poetry where every word and sentence must be trimmed and maximized. when it is done well, like this story, it is a pleasure to read.
That was a great story! He is obviously a great writer if he can catch someones attention with such few words.
I agree Kailana, Greg is a wonderful writer – I’m looking forward to reading some more of his stories.