I would like to invite all Steemians to write a short fiction story in under 300 words. I will try to read them all. I may vote some - or all - or at least vote the best ones. No guarantees though. It depends on my voting power which I would like to keep above 70%. You can see my voting power here, as well as what a 100% vote could be worth. If I vote you, which is not guaranteed, then my vote will be at least 1% strength, but could be up to 100% if my voting power permits it.

Anyone can participate. The story can be in any language. Please consider the benefits of also including an English translation, using Google translate.

Before, or after, you write your own story, please encourage others - especially newbies

Rules

1. The first tag must be "story-300words"
2. The story must be less than 300 words long
3. Your original work only. No plagiarism (copying stories from the internet)
4. Last day for this initiative is 8th January 2018

Fiction:

From Wikipedia:

• Fiction is the classification for any story or setting that is derived from imagination—in other words, not based strictly on history or fact.

To get things going, here is my short story. It is 247 words long.

Short Story in less than 300 words

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It was midday in the scorching sun. The road was long and deserted. Two adults and a young boy had been walking for 3 days.

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For food they had eaten olives, berries and leaves. The water bag was nearly empty.

They came across an olive tree and lay down to rest in its shade.

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Presently, a Roman Centurion and his young son passed by. They also took refuge under the olive tree.

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The Israeli boy started to play with the Roman boy.

“Don’t talk to Romans”, warned his mother. “It’s Ok”, replied the Centurion, “On this road, we’re just people”.

The children ignored their parents’ comments.

“I see you are out of water,” said the Centurion. He lifted his water bag and poured some into the couple’s bag. It was an unusual act of kindness. You wouldn’t expect it from a Roman soldier.

There was nobody here to judge.

The two young children carried on playing together, oblivious to their different backgrounds.

As the sun started to go lower, it was time to get going. The Israelis started to gather their things. They thanked the Centurion for his kindness and set off. Nazareth was still a long way to go.

As they parted in different directions, the Jewish boy turned and shouted to the Roman boy, “I’m Jesus. What’s your name, by the way?”

The Roman boy turned and shouted back, “Thanks for playing with me! I hope we can meet again. My name’s Pilate – Pontius Pilate.”

The End

Word count: 247

Explanation of the above story

At the beginning of the story you do not know the names of the characters. Then at the end, I drop the first clue “Nazareth” - which is well known to be the home town of Jesus Christ. You can maybe guess that the family are Mary and Joseph with Jesus as a boy.

You still can’t guess the other boy’s name.

The punch line - the one which is set to get you thinking - comes when we discover the other boy’s name is Pontius Pilate.

I don’t need to write any more as the rest of the story has already been told.

As many will know, Pontius Pilate, who became the Emperor, was best known for overseeing the trial and crucifiction of Jesus Christ.

At the end my story isn’t finished. It is part of one of the best selling books in the world - The Holy Bible.

There is no suggestion that this incident actually happened. It is fiction. Just a story. It’s not in the bible.

To see all 300 word stories written as part of this initiative, click here.

Please don’t forget to comment on other people's stories rather than just focussing on your own. #story-300words