All Comments on 'April's Fool Keeps His Promise'

Economical, flowed well and made it's point. Clearly, they didn't give a rats ass about him. Good riddance.

Short, sweet and to the point. But I have questions. The 750 word challenge has been over for awhile. Why now? Not that this wasn't entertaining. It was. But the timing seems odd, considering this is the day that the Erotic Horror story contest "Beyond the wall of sleep" starts. I guess it's simply bad timing. My only question about the story is whether or not he divorced her or just walked away? Did he go home to get the rest of his belongings? Those were big sticking points in my mind. Thanks for the story. It was certainly entertaining.

*****

He told them, they didn't listen. He keeps his word.

Its not even 750 words. Its 712! That is according to MS Word, I did not include all you wrote before the actual story. Even with that its 745.Why does lit bother having rules?

The 750 word challenge has been over for quite a while, and has been done much better.

. . . is fine, but the self imposed 750 word limit really hurt the storytelling. This could have been a good story.

Yes, I have NO problem with "short and sweet," but would this story have suffered if it was 760, or 775, or 800 words? I have no idea what was left on the cutting room floor to get down to 750, but sans an event, why?

I still gave it the score I felt it deserved, but from now on any 750 story automatically loses a star from me.

Everyone seems to be upset over the 750 words. It was a good flash story. Thanks.

...but I fully understand his response. This called for serious retribution, but probably not divorce. That said, sometimes you just have to put the source of your pain out of your life.

As for 750 words, I think it's an interesting challenge to write a minimal story well. You did a good job. I liked it.

Not a woman he should have kids with anyway. Too much stupid in that family. Unless she's adopted his kids would likely have some of their stupid genes.

Again, I have no problem with minimalist story telling, I simply question the need to place an artificial limit of 750 words.

Write your minimalist story, but if it ends up being 775 words, why the need to cut 25 words "just because"?

Idiot.

And that is all describing the husband.

If he had conviction, he would not have allowed them another chance to humiliate him. He can handle them convincing him that his mother died and causing him problems at work, but a silly fake porn is enough to lose half of everything, if not more. She didn't cheat, so he would just walk away? How much alimony is it worth to him?

Maybe he should be thicker skinned.

Or, maybe he should devise a way to get revenge.

By the way, as a forced 750-word story it was ok. But, if you had not declared it intentionally 750 words, I would have felt it was rushed and missing a lot.

KB

if I would have upset people less if I just said this was a flash story? Some of you are fixating on the 750 words classification. I know that challenge day had past but I decided to do it for myself when I finally had the chance to sit down an write, wondering how I'd do.

So, how'd I do?

Clear, concise, and well paced. He forgave them once; second time was indeed too much.

I have no problem with short stories, as a matter of fact I think some storie's go way overboard to try and prove their point.

Just_Words, I have enjoyed lots of your storie's but in response to your comment The writer never mentioned divorce, I guess we are suppose to assume (bad word) he filed but all he said was he left.

King, you know that I am a big fan of yours, but to call the protag a poor sport, a whiny bitch and moronic loser was a bit harsh. He stated he had just come home from a week on the road doing a job he didn't really like and was ambushed by relatives he didn't really like and had warned them before about their jokes.

Back to gldngolfer, you lft your story hanging with out true resolve. That could have been done by a epilogue with about thirty to fifty words. I would really like to see you finish this.

one person's thick skinned guy is another person's perennial victim whipping boy bitch.

Of course his leaving was justified! I'm confident that was not the limit of his revenge. If we ever get to read part two, I think you will find lots of very well planned and carried out retribution.

The problem I see is too much forgivness and reconciliation! Unless you reduce your enemy to a quivering wreck with serious mental problems they get away with it!

Use the match!

That was great.... Thanks for writing it!!

He's a man of his word and the word was: "Goodbye!"

Poor sport, whiny bitch and moronic loser........I was mistaken, I thought KB was describing himself.

For the read.

She hadn't cheated. Okay the first "joke" was disgusting and the second was in poor taste but he had an over the top reaction. Maybe him playing an equally bad taste joke would have been more appropriate.

I doubt he ever loved her as he would never have left if he had. Perhaps leaving for a few days and filming an equally poor taste film that he then sent to her?

No, I don’t think so. He had made it very clear in the past that these kinds of practical jokes were things he saw as personal insults, and he had responded to them the same way in the past. OK, fine, his in-laws were dumb as a box of rocks, but the story said that his wife wasn’t, yet she still went along with a humiliating joke. Either she knew he’d once again react very badly, and didn’t care, or after several years of marriage, she still didn’t know him at all.

He did have one other option: he could have told his wife that he was taking that job across the country, and give her the choice: go with him and completely separate from her family or stay there, and lose him. Still, the way the story was written, the author used the better ending.

@gldgolfer - To answer your question, yes, you hurt yourself by announcing this as a 750-word story.

@Tajfa Re: "Ridiculous" - His reaction was "over the top" because he had warned them about the stupid jokes. Pulling a revenge prank would be hypocritical.

He had cut these people out of his life for a YEAR after their last "joke," it shouldn't have come as a surprise that he wouldn't react well to another sick prank.

Some people say that this guy overreacted, but my take is that he was convinced that the stupid jokes would never stop, and after giving them fair warning more than once he decided to keep his promise. I thought it was a great story.

Crazy!! To leave a wife that he loves because of jokes and poor judgement from her family makes me think he is wierdly over sensitive and has a mental issue. The best solution would have been to take his wife with him to the new job. After all she had already backed off from these jokes and must have been cajoled by her family to take part in the latest joke.

May be all those bad jokes did make a wirel come loose!!

What constitutes a deal-breaker is not exactly the same for everyone. Some people don't mind if their spouses sleep with others . . . while many of us might consider that a deal-breaker, and end the relationship.

Heck, if a couple has an agreement that they will never let anyone else touch their bare elbows, and doing so will end the relationship . . . well . . . that's THEIR agreement! We can all THINK it's really strange . . . but it meant everything to them at the time it was made, and it's not our place to call it 'over-reacting ' if one of them leaves because the other broke that agreement . . . just as it's not their place to call us over-reacting if we find our spouse cheating (by a more common understanding of the word), and ended our relationship. No one should say "Your agreement is meaningless because I wouldn't react the same way.".

A vow is a vow. They broke an agreement, he did what he said he'd do if they broke it. That's how agreements are supposed to work!!

I liked this story . . . short n' sweet . . . very much to the point. Nicely done.

First, Authors - Call them Flash from here until the next ‘official challenge’

Second, commenters - If Hubby gets in a revenge joke, the game is wide open forever. Terrible choice.

Third . The story is over. The end is clear. Hubby’s gone and the rest of the family will suffer Sweetie’s ire until she remarries a jokester.

Fourth, GoldenGopher - I gave it a five.

PS comment is fewer than 750 words.

and excecution were fine. He didn't owe such a callous, disrespectful, and cruel spouse anything.

well apparently she and her family was not too interested i finding him.

guess they got what they wanted.

To all of you who put him down as overreacting to "just" a joke, they and you received fair warning of his Intentions if it ever happened again after the first tasteless episode. He made it abundantly clear over and over what he'd do if it happened again. Just because they and some of you commentors chose not to believe and take him seriously is not his problem. It's theirs and yours. Just because you feel a certain way about some situations doesn't mean everyone else should feel like you. Truth be told, not everyone does. Boo hoo hoo. The world doesn't revolve around you, you judgemental cupcakes. You have no RIGHT to say how someone else should feel. That's pompous arrogance at best and hypocrisy in the extreme. I say this because last I heard, telepathy still doesn't exist as a regular talent among the general population... means you can't read minds so you have no clue about what someone thinks or feels without them telling you outright.

5-stars & Favorite

Ok, maybe the blowjob one is. but a phone call announcing a dead mother is not a joke. It's the kind of sh!t that gets you killed.

Who needs that aggravation? Good choice to jettison now, rather than wait until the next deal-breaking joke occurs.

On the anniversaries of the day he left, he should have a laugh track delivered to each of the assholes.

You actually got a story into a short space. Thing missing was revenge, just running away should never be enough.

Besides why did you write a 750 word story? You coukd have really developed yhis into a fantastically great story.

It is not clear whether he had ever sat his wife down and explained his position. We know he had warned the relatives but he's not married to them, so walking out does them no harm. It's his wife who suffers.

Could the story have been slightly better if a few more paragraphs were added? Probably yes. gldngolfer didn’t HAVE to limit himself, since the challenge is over, but he took the challenge on nonetheless. NOBODY had to take on the 750-word challenge at the agreed upon time. Nobody has to take on any of the challenges, at any time. At least half of submitted 750 stories could have been a bit better if they had been able to add another 100-words.

The fact that gldngolfer did the April Fool’s challenge AND the 750-word challenge should be commended. And that he succeeded well at both then doubly so.

I say BRAVO gldngolfer.

Good story enjoyed

Warned disrespected caught and punishment

I've tried the 750 word thing twice now and neither of my efforts is anywhere close to this good. You got everything in, nothing missing, nothing coming up short, you nailed it!

Nice flash story! 5 stars!

A good 750 word story. These are harder to do right than the long ones. This guy wasn't playing.

I don't blame the main character for following through on a promise, as I would have done the same thing. 5 from me.

But I REALLY missed the ending. Did he not talk to April at all? Did he leave everything in the house except what he had in his two bags? Did he clean out the bank accounts and cancel the credit cards? Did he file for a divorce? There's a HELL of a lot of information missing. And that's the problem I have with 750 words. Too much gets left out. Where's the "rest of the story"?

Not really a good story. I suppose the single digit IQ range folks might think it was, but it really was just sort of dumb.

You Know

I don't blame him for leaving but this needed much more detail.

Read it again. You know, this joke was just a stupid thing on their part. However, that joke about his mother dying was something entirely different. How do you forgive that one?

Wow, JW, you think mom dying is worse than wife cheating?!? I’d be sad if my mom passed, but it’s going to happen eventually. That’s a horrible lie to fake it, but at least it’s something that you knew was coming if it was true.

Being told that your wife has betrayed you is NOT something you prepare for! Also, if they lie about your mom being dead, once you know she’s alive, it’s over. How do you believe them when they say that the adultery wasn’t real? There’s no way to ever know.

ZK

Well, based on the comments, we know who were bullies growing up. Seems like some of you still are! When your reaction to someone getting away from the people that repeatedly, cruelly, inflicted mental torture on him is that he “overreacted”; then you need to seriously take a hard look at the level of asshole you are!

ZK

Too bad the wife didn't learn from her husband's earlier reaction to cruel jokes. Perhaps a good reflection of how strong bonds in a family keep one person from doing what is right while that same strength allows another to break away form someone he loves but can't respect.

This could have been a good one to make into a 3-4 pager.

I guess the word limit put a damper on you finishing this story. It would have been nice to know whether or not he REALLY didn't talk to them or did he hire a lawyer to file for and handle the details of the divorce? Inquiring minds want to know.

They wouldn’t quit, so he did. I wouldn’t have stayed that long.

It seems bad jokes make for poor stories.

Good story but his wife must not have loved him very much not to talk to him or track him down and beg his forgiveness.

Good.

Good one, but wouldn't his wife have done anything she could to find him? Like ask his boss?

That was excellent but I wonder if he never really sam them again? Did he divorce her or just abandon her? Take all the money on the way out the door? What about the house? So many questions, so few answers. That's the one problem with 750 words......

Should have opened a big can of whoopass on those idiots.

I dont think I can give a score because although it may be finished to some it doesnt feel that way to me.