Stories of the outside world. Atlas Obscura: Celebrate Pi Day With These Mathematical Tales, White, March 8, 2024.
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Shopkeeper: When people walk in the door, I want them to see a big damn explosion of color. I want oranges and purples and spots and stripes. I want vibrant and exciting and joyful and (pauses) distracting. I want them thinking about color not about prices.
Painter: How cynical of you.
Shopkeeper: Okay, if that is too on the nose, think of it as putting my customers in a good mood.
Painter: (gets to work)
Shopkeeper: Any chance you could make it, um, persuasive.
Painter: No.
Shopkeeper: What if …
Painter: Not gonna happen.
Shopkeeper: How about …
Painter I don’t do that.
Shopkeeper: But …
Painter: It’s both immoral and illegal.
(Minor stand-off. Painter looks stubborn. Shopkeeper looks unconvinced.)
Painter: if that’s not enough reason, it’s also impractical. More and more people these day are carrying magic detection charms. What happens to your store when people find out that you are using magic to influence customers? Your reputation would be destroyed. Social media would tear you apart. I could show you some educational examples. The risk is not worth the reward.
Painter: (starts laying out lines for the mural.)
Painter: Also, fyi, I use chalk-based paints. It is resistant to magical tampering. For example, if someone tried to lay an attraction charm over the top of it.
Shopkeeper: I would never!
Painter: Of course not. And now you know no one else can do it behind your back.
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Afterword
Format. ~225 words. In the spirit of the 200-word pieces I did for the November Writing Challenge in 2025. [Fiction]
Inspiration. On Bluesky, author John Scalzi was asked about editing a short story anthology, “I’ve always wanted to do an anthology called BIG DAMN EXPLOSIONS where the only requirement for the stories is that they must have a big damn explosion in them. I think we could get an interesting range of stories with that.” Bluesky: @Scalzi.com 26 Feb 2026.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 