Through the Puddle
MOTE Week 17, 2026
This week on MOTE, I was prompted by Leigh Kimmel: And he fell through, right into a secret world beneath the surface world
—
It was raining, and Ernie had his umbrella out. There was no-one around as he walked down the street, no traffic, so he on the spur of the moment started to sing the classic ‘singing in the rain’.
As he was singing away, not a care in the world and not looking where he was going or stepping, he stepped off the pavement, and into a puddle.
The puddle had no bottom. Before Ernie knew it, he had fallen into another world.
He landed on his feet, under a red sky. Rain was falling from above.
“Welcome. Welcome. It’s not often we get visitors from the realm above.”
The words had been spoken by a jolly policeman in a sopping wet uniform who was approaching Ernie from behind.
“I’m sorry,” said Ernie. “How do I get back?”
“That’s easy. The Guild of Playwrights has an annual competition. The winning ‘play what I wrote’ gets to tour the world above, and if it’s a hit above, the writer gets to remain.”
“You’ll pardon me for thinking that that is somewhat unfair on those of us who fall into your world.”
“Oh don’t worry. Just throw in a few good gags and the judges will lap it up. They’re still talking about that great Cleopatran line ‘All men are fools, and what makes them so is having beauty like what I have got’ decades after it was first performed.”
Ernie hadn’t heard that particular line before, but if that was the standard required, he thought he might have a good shot. “When is the next competition?”
“Next week.”
“Next week!”
“Don’t worry. Some of the best plays in recent memory were written in only a few days. You’ve got plenty of time.”
Ernie didn’t think he had much of a chance of writing a decent play, a decent comedy play, in the time he had, but he had to give it a go, or he’d be stuck down here for over a year. He had to give it his best, and hope it was good enough.
—
My offering this week went to Becky Jones.
Head on over to MOTE, and enjoy what everyone composed. I’m looking forwards to reading the responses.