I might lobby this to replace that quarry thing 
I wish I was better at dropping clues, but the grandfather basically made a wish to the watch for a mercy killing for the grandmother because she was suffering from brain cancer. The grandma knew he would do that, which is why she said the watch will stop at her time of death. I guess the grandfather just felt that Matthew was the most responsible person and should hold on to the watch.
Just bumping to remind everyone to read and vote - you still have 12 hours. Two of my favorites are tied for first - will they both win? And thanks to all who posted comments; it’s much appreciated.
The poll has now closed, but before I announce the winner, I would like to congratulate our participants.
Barkis is Willin’
Baker
DMark
Jules Andre
Madysin
Spoons
Jackdavinci
Savannah
chrisk
Heart of Dorkness
Sunspace
Puddleglum
The Mighty Boosh
cmyk
Elfkin477 and
GIGObuster - take a well deserved bow, all of you!
And a very special congratulations to cmyk, whose story Time and Time Again was chosen as the favourite! Well done!
I’d also like to take a brief moment to thank The Mods: twickster, Marley23 and Ellen Cherry, without whose help I would look very foolish indeed. Your assistance is greatly appreciated!
And my thanks to all of you who have taken the time to read, to vote and to comment on these stories. Of course, there is still lots of time to comment on these fine pieces.
I hope to run another of these Short Fiction contests sometime in late February. Meantime, I’ll be starting a Poetry Sweatshop before January is up…
My warmest wishes to all of you,
Le Ministre de l’au-delà
Holy freeholies. Last time I checked me and The Mighty Boosh were tied. Anyhow, thanks again all, some really good stories here that made it hard to vote. Anyhow, it’s always fun and a good learning experience!
Hope to see everyone next round!
Congratulations! Good job!
You too, Savannah, you were one of my votes!
Well done cmyk - a well deserved win. And thanks again to Ministre de l’au-delà for doing all the work - I’m looking forward to the next one. (Though maybe not the poetry. That’s beyond me.)
I thought we’d be able to share. (yours another I voted for, along with Project Fast Track).
I tried the poetry once… not my forté.
Congrats, cmyk, on a very nice story.
And of course, a very healthy thank you gos out to Le Ministre de l’au-delà for doing all the leg work. These things are a lot of fun. Poetry falls outside my writing comfort zone, but I will definitely try to participate in the next short fiction anthology again.
Yay, cmyk! That was a really great story, and you had some stiff competition indeed. I can’t wait for the next one - and the poetry as well. Le Ministre de l’au-delà, could you put me on your list?
Congratulations, cmyk! Great story!
Lots of good stories, and nice to see so many voters too! Many thanks to Le Ministre and the mods, and to those who commented. Looking forward to the next one!
Congratulations, cmyk, and well done everyone. (If I didn’t win, at least I can take some comfort that the winner voted for me! )
I’m going to reply to anybody who gave me feedback first, and then post my own FB.
I understand what you mean about characterization. Maybe I’ll try doing a rewrite in first person, and see if that improves the characterization.
Thank you very much! You may get your wish.
Thanks. I did a small rewrite last week that tried to draw out the suspense by having Darlene reveal her plan on the phone with Zeke, instead of talking it out with Bob first. I’m not sure if that’s an improvement or not.
Yeah, the ending is probably the weakest point - I was up against the 2,000 word limit. Sigh. But not I can do another draft and expand it a lot!
Thanks for the breakdown, this will be helpful when I revise!
I always seem to end up in ‘classic sci-fi style’ even when I try to be more up to date. Still, not a bad problem to have. 
Thank you!
I was hoping to flesh out some of my notes before I posted them, but I can’t seem to get back into the moment now, and figured that I’d better share something before I forget and let this thread fade into obscurity. Sorry for those who only got one-liners, and feel free to ask follow-up questions!
The Wager - interesting, kinda creepy.
Tick, tick, tick - again, an interesting concept, but I wanted to see something more done with it.
Tick tock - kinda fun, had a nice plotline and an engaging main character
Pocket miracle - I really like this. Great concept, nice payoff, a good glimpse into what matters to this character and the choices he made. Well written!
Seth - okay, that was just kind of disturbing. We’ve got a main character who’s emotionally disconnected from his parents, who feels annoyed at having to take time out of his busy life when they die - who apparently snaps at the grief-stricken old friends and kills them in a fit of temper, turning their own platitudes back on them. I can’t vote for this.
Discovering Roses - another charming tale. We’ve got a main character pulled in two different directions, and changing his life based on the advice of his dying mother. Not a very dramatic character arc, but a decent one for such a short story, I think. And the cross-dressing descriptions were fun.
The question and the answer - that’s a lot of great pop cultural references squeezed into the second paragraph! Despite that, through most of the story, with the stream of consciousness trains of thought zipping all over the place, I thought it wouldn’t get me to the right station, but the terminus was a good one.
The company of birds - an interesting character piece, but just a little bit too mellow and laid-back for me, I think.
Yours always - another character study, with a nice moral, but it didn’t really grab me.
Henchman - Fun concept, ordinary joe takes a job guarding a supervillain’s lair, and I like the voice of the narrator, but I’m not sure that the really short journal entries work for me as a story format. I’d love to see this one expanded somewhat.
The dream and the nightmare - This was interesting reading, but I feel like something didn’t quite come together. The main character finds a repressed memory of a burglar attack that happened the night after he dreamed the gorilla dream for the first time - but it doesn’t really lead anywhere. There’s no conflict in the present, no character arc, no sting at the end.
Watchman - I laughed at the end. There doesn’t seem to be that much to the story, though, beyond the joke - it’s a bit of a shaggy dog story in that way. I also wasn’t happy with the paradoxical motivations of the main character, (in a way that has nothing to do changing the past through time travel.)
Time and time again - An interesting concept, which dovetails nicely with my own premise, but somehow this one didn’t click for me either. There were a lot of little side references that I didn’t understand, and the faith revival interjections just got annoying. The description about just how he found the watch didn’t hold my attention, where I’d like to have seen a bit more about what he used it for and how he asked his wife to bury the box for him. (Was she supposed to do that on the way home from Church?) I’d be interested in reading a rewrite if you do one, though.
House of regret - very spooky opening, very nice character work, great ending!!
The airship of Kerguelen - There were some interesting aspects to this, but like other people, I had a bit of a problem with understanding the word choices and phrasings that kept me from really getting absorbed in the story as much as I wanted to.
Thanks chrisk.
I not only started a rewrite, but am working off my original longer draft that was around 3000 words. But after weighing in all the constructive critique, I think I’ll edit out a bit more of the first third, and get to the more interesting parts faster (and expand on the workings and his experiences using the watch).
I’d like to see any new drafts you do as well! Which goes for all participants… Why not take the opportunity to implement the criticism received, for those interested?
This is the only way I know how to warm myself up for my first attempt at entering NaNoWriMo this year. 
That reminds me - I wanted to mention the Toronto Star Short Story Contest. I’m sorry that it’s only open to residents of the province of Ontario, but that includes at least two of our writers from this round. (And me, as well.)
I’d also encourage anyone who is submitting to these contests to keep an eye out for newspaper or magazine Short Story Contests. You never know when your strongest idea is going to hit you…