Charli Mills at https://carrotranch.com issues a weekly challenge to write a story in 99 words based on a prompt. This week’s prompt word is ice.

 

A High-Kick Beyond

A story of ice told in 99 words

Written by Kerry E.B. Black

 

Huge cubes clinked in Aniya’s glass, dazzling as diamonds. She ran one over enflamed pulse-points. Better swelter than shovel.

 

Back home her family complained of freezing temperatures.

 

Not here in Nevada.

 

Not in her line of work. She’d rehearsed and auditioned until tenacity paid off. Headdresses and costumes made her alluring, but a showgirl’s career only lasted as long as her legs, and not a high-kick beyond.

 

She squirreled away money, lived in a hovel knowing the gig mightn’t last. So, ice cubes were her diamonds, but at least she didn’t have to shovel them to get to work.