Here is your first prompt and, to get you started, the 157 words I wrote from it. It needs editing and adding to--either a beginning or an end or an expanded middle--but the point is, I have a starting point if I want to create a complete short story from what I've already written. It has possibilities!
Prompt: Opening a Time Capsule
Who would have put the old lard bucket under the floor and why? And why did the wooden floor choose this time to crack and partially collapse beneath my feet?
A musty smell rose from the pier-and-beam foundation of my grandparents' old farm house--recently come into my possession through a lengthy court battle. My brother wanted to demolish it and sell the land for six figures to a land developer.
Now it was over, and I'd come to look things over and see if the century-old home could be restored. As soon as I stepped through the double doors between the living and dining rooms, the floor cracked and splintered beneath my feet.
I lifted the bucket out of the hole and went outside on the porch where I pried the lid off with a screwdriver from the toolbox in my car. But when I began to life out the contents, I began to understand why they'd been hidden away...
