How to Start & Finish a Story | Today's Prompt: "57"

The Prompt: "57" The Story: The micro story is a science-fiction tale about a character named Cece, set in a future after the "human robot wars". In this future society, human-driven, gasoline-powered cars are a thing of the past and only referenced in historical texts. Cece visits her family's old country home to search for a specific vintage car marked "**57**," which is highly valuable to collectors who miniaturize them into antiques. She breaks the window of an old barn and discovers a real, unlocked '57 car inside. As she sits behind the steering wheel, she imagines what it must have been like in the past to drive freely, listen to music, and go on vacations with friends. Suddenly, she accidentally touches a button on the car's radio, causing the garage door to fly open and the car to roll out on its own. Unable to stop the vehicle, Cece later wakes up in a mysterious new place surrounded by people who are all driving cars just like her '57. Did the "57" somehow transport her to the year 1957? Four Story Ideas The four story ideas generated from the prompt "57" are: *Alice's Reading Challenge:* A character named Alice is participating in a challenge to read one book for every year she has been alive. She has just turned 57 and is unsure if she should add one more book to her list, but that night she dreams of a specific title. *Benji's Broken Bottle:* Benji is making a new recipe that requires a specific condiment called "irons 57". He cannot find it locally, so he orders it from Amazon. When it arrives, the bottle is broken in the box, but he desperately needs it and decides to scoop a tablespoon of the condiment out of the broken glass. *Cece's Vintage Car:* Set in a time after all cars were destroyed, Cece walks down a country road where her parents used to live. Knowing her parents once owned a "57," she secretly wonders if the car is still hidden away in an old barn. *Dane's Psychological Test:* Dane is running a series of anonymous psychological tests, but secretly slips his own test into the sample group. When the preliminary results come back, he gasps to see that he is the outlier—test subject number 57.