# A Real-Life Example of an Ultra-Short Story

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-example-of-an-ultra-short-story/684101>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 19, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-example-of-an-ultra-short-story/684101 "2014-03-19T18:26:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-example-of-an-ultra-short-story/684101/21 "2014-03-20T23:23:37Z")

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I saw [this](https://www.flickr.com/photos/34943992@N00/13297634084/lightbox/) one day walking around the neighborhood. Not much sleuthing required to put together what happened.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-example-of-an-ultra-short-story/684101/22 "2014-03-21T23:37:15Z")

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> [@aldiboronti](#):
>
> That’s from Fredric Brown, 50s SF/mystery author and master of the short short.

Actually, Fredric Brown’s story _Knock_, while it contains those lines, is considerably longer. He acknowledges the short story you quote as existing, but didn’t claim authorship of it.

Brown DID write some short-short stories, but they were all at least a paragraph long. Nonetheless, I agree that Brown is the king of short stories (and short-short stories, which, I think need to have more than one sentence to have some “heft” to them.)

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-example-of-an-ultra-short-story/684101/23 "2014-03-22T01:59:45Z")

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One of my favorites (from an old thread here on the Dope):

“I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy check for monsters under my bed.” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy there’s somebody on my bed.””

ETA: Sorry, just now saw the OP wanted real life examples. I apologize for not reading the thread more carefully.

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-example-of-an-ultra-short-story/684101/24 "2014-03-22T02:01:39Z")

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Edit: Double post

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-example-of-an-ultra-short-story/684101/25 "2014-03-22T03:22:28Z")

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> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy check for monsters under my bed.” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy there’s somebody on my bed.”

“Come on. I’ve told you and your brother not to play pranks like that.”

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