Contest: Whimsy Fiction
Word Count: 300 Max
Genre: Whimsy
Written on: September 2nd 2026
Prompt: Another Side Quest
Unique item: Dumbwaiter
Place: TBD
Matot was a dumbwaiter who dreamed of being a bird. When he was still in use, glasses and silverware would chide him. “You already go up and down, Matot. Why would you ever want to be a bird?” They didn’t see what he saw. Matot spent long hours looking out the window, watching birds fly wherever they desired. They didn’t just go up and down. They also went side to side.
His love of birds waned when pigeons roosted in him. During the years the house stood abandoned, pigeons came in, stacked trash, relieved themselves everywhere, and filled him with an irritating racket of coos.
QUEST! PICK A SPECIES!
A screen appeared in front of him. He saw Glenwood, the old rusted oven, morph into a large dog similar to one the old owners once had. Cupboard doors became mice, the sink a turtle, and slowly the house mutated into a menagerie. They remained trapped inside until the back door selected a large, gray, horned beast and started a stampede through the unkempt garden.
“Matot! It works! You can be a bird!” Glenwood yipped as Matot was already perusing the list of birds in front of him.
“I do not know which bird to pick,” he shouted back at Glenwood, trying to speak over the deafening sound of the zoo. “I did not know there were this many.”
“You can sort them from biggest to smallest! That’s what I did! I chose the biggest dog I could!”
Sorting the list by size, he picked the first option, instantly morphing into a black-feathered and pink-skinned beast. Perfect for hunting pigeons, he thought.
“Behold Matot the Ostrich, bane of pigeons and master of the skies!”