Micro-Mysteries
The whole thing started with Ernest Hemingway, the master of spare, telegraphic writing. As the story goes, Hemingway was having lunch with friends and bet those gathered that he could write an entire story in six words. Once the money was wagered, he wrote, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” on a napkin, passed it around the table, and gathered his winnings. Thus was born flash or sudden fiction—at least if you believe the tale which is, of course, contested by historical
