Yes, the New Benicia Ferry is full of information about community services and activities that you can engage with, but it’s also where you can find intriguing made up stories about the wild array of characters who make up our town. This is what the Main Street Diaries Flash Fiction Contest is all about. Check out the menu tab above for more details on how to enter.

Here’s a sample flash fiction story based on the prompts: Benicia, five hundred dollars, and rain.

Billy
by Tio Stib

He was picking up leaves when he found it. Reaching down, he lifted the rain splattered envelope from the fallen foliage.

He looked at it cross eyed, not quite sure what to make of this discovery. Sure, it was an envelope, he’d seen plenty of these, but what was it doing lying on the ground in the middle of a rain storm?

Billy’s addled brain often had difficulty sorting out seemingly simple things. That was why he’d been in special ed classes all the way through high school. His mind worked well enough to get him through his daily routines as long as nothing changed much. But new things confused him.

And so he studied the wet blank envelope in front of his face. How could he return an envelope with nothing written on it?

And what was inside the envelope? Should he open it? Maybe it was something private, even secret. This thought stopped him momentarily as the downpour dripped from the brim of his Oakland A’s baseball cap. He scratched the back of his curly red hair and another thought struck him.

Mr. Rogers had given him that cap, took him to A’s games every year. Billy smiled, remembering the old man scolding him, “Call me Ralph, Billy. We’re friends now, call me Ralph.” But Ralph was gone, died in his sleep. Who was going to take Billy to the baseball games?

“Billy, what are you doing out there?” yelled a voice behind him.

He turned, Mrs. Downing stood in the doorway of her shop, hands on hips. ”Get in here Billy, you’re getting soaked.”

He obeyed, leaving his broom and trash cart on the sidewalk. He entered the gift store as Mrs. Downing backed up for the dripping wet street cleaner wearing the drenched black t-shirt with the big red heart on the front, his favorite “I love Benicia” apparel.

She smiled, shaking her head, “Billy, what are we going to do with you?”

Billy held up the envelope, “look. I found this.”

Mrs. Downing stared at the soggy refuse, “Okay, it’s just an envelope. What’s inside?”

Billy looked at her quizzically.

“Let’s open it. Maybe that will help with who it belongs to.”

Billy handed her the envelope and she carefully opened the flap. Her eyes widened as she looked back at Billy.

“Billy, this envelope contains five hundred dollars.”

Billy leaned over and peered into the envelope. Sure enough, there were five new one hundred dollar bills.

“Where did you find this?” Mrs. Downing asked.

Billy was just beginning his story when someone burst in behind him. He turned around.

A small, round Latina woman with rain soaked hair and water streaming down her anxious face looked up at him, gasping,

“Have you seen a white envelope? It’s my rent money, must have dropped it leaving the credit union when I opened my umbrella. It’s my rent money. What will happen if I can’t find my rent money?”

Billy took the envelope from Mrs. Downing and held it out to the bewildered woman.

Okay, that’s a sample of what’s to come with the Main Street Diaries. Sharpen your pencil or stretch your fingers and get ready to send us your own Benicia stories.