Tuesday – Anything Possible – Finger Point Prompt – System

~ John W. Howell

 

Today I randomly opened The Last Drive to page 145 and, with my eyes closed, pointed to the page. The word nearest my finger is “system.”  That is our prompt today.

System by John W. Howell © 2026

“How do I get out of this?”

“I don’t think you can.”

“Why not?”

“You have to go through the system. No one just gets out.”

“But I don’t understand the system.”

“Ignorance is no excuse. If you do the crime, you need to do the time.”

“But that’s just it. I didn’t do anything.”

“If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a thousand times.”

“So you’re not going to let me go?”

“Nope. Only the judge can do that.”

“I want my lawyer.”

“Of course you do. Until your lawyer gets here, you’ll stay put.”

“Can you and I make a deal?”

“Oh, so now you want to bribe your way out?”

“Call it a gift.”

“You have nothing I want. I would just sit down and behave myself before more charges are added.”

“What charges are on me now?”

“Let’s see. Destruction of property, assault with intent to harm, public indecency, trespassing, running loose without a license, and avoiding arrest.”

“It’s not my fault.”

“And why is that?”

“My owner left the gate open.”

“So that gave you permission to tear up the newspaper, bite the animal control officer, poop in the neighbor’s yard, run uncontrolled through the neighborhood, and dodge the animal control officer.”

“Well, yes. I was confused. Out of my element.”

“Tell it to the judge.”

 

46 thoughts on “Tuesday – Anything Possible – Finger Point Prompt – System”

  15. Ha ha leaving the gate open is a big mistake. Our neighbor had a block party and one of his guests opened our gate and let our three dogs out. When I came home I saw our big Leonberger Bronco standing in the middle of a big crowd and our Pug and Japanese Chin were standing right behind him. A lady was giving him an oeur d’oeuvre and then running off laughing and cheering. I stopped the car and put the dogs in the car and I said the party is over.

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      1. Well, our Bronco was an unusually big dog, who seemed to love parties, and people were drunk and we did not have a lock on the gate (we fixed that after this). I have no idea how much party food he ate but it was probably not good for his diet.

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        2. He rarely got sick. He had a stomach of steel. However, we had problems watching his weight. He was supposed to be 140lbs but he weighed 167lbs at one point. That was not us overfeeding, it was him counter surfing and getting food elsehwere.

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  16. This is hilarious, John. 😂 That said, I loved hearing the dog’s rationale — very convincing.

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