The Puddle I’m Sitting In

I quite often put an idea for a short story into one of my favourite chatbots just to see what it gives back to me. Every now and then I will post one on the blog for no other reason than it appealed to me. Hopefully these stories will resonate with you as well.

The Prompt

I will always put the prompt in as well, and maybe a little bit about my thought process, if there was one! Today is a typical UK wet and miserable day. It is 4 o’clock in the afternoon and it is already dark outside. I’m indoors, warm and comfortable and experimenting with AI. It struck me that there are people out there who are not as fortunate.

So I put this prompt into Claude. (I personally think Claude is good at writing short stories.)

‘The scene is a wet and windy city centre. A homeless man is sat on a wet blanket outside a shop on the High Street. Busy people are hurrying by. Write an evocative 500-word monologue in the voice of the homeless man.’

Here is the story Claude gave me. It came in at 494-words (not bad for AI!) and I’ve made no changes to it at all. The image was created by Midjourney.

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The Puddle I’m Sitting In

The rain’s got that trick where it finds every gap, you know? Collar, cuffs, that worn bit at the knee. Been sat here since morning and I’m soaked right through to my socks. Not that anyone’s looking. They’re all doing that thing, eyes straight ahead, like if they don’t look at me I’ll just dissolve into the pavement. Maybe I will. Feel like I’m halfway there already.

She just walked past in them clicking heels, the ones that sound expensive even in the rain. Smell of perfume trailing behind like a ghost. I used to buy perfume. Claire wore this one that smelled like vanilla and something else, something warm. Can’t remember the name now. Can’t remember a lot of things, but I remember that smell. Funny what sticks.

This fella’s stopped, no, wait, he’s just tying his shoelace. They do that sometimes, crouch down near me but not too near, like I’m contagious. Maybe I am. Maybe failure spreads through the air, gets in your lungs. He’s off now, back into the river of coats and umbrellas and shopping bags full of things people need. Things people want. There’s a difference. Used to know that difference.

The shop window behind me is all lit up with jumpers and mannequins that look warmer than I’ll ever be again. They’ve got these blank faces, but somehow they look more alive than I feel. They’ve got purpose, them mannequins. Someone dressed them this morning, positioned their arms just so. Nobody’s positioned me. I just sort of happened here, like rubbish blown into a doorway.

Kid’s staring now. Little one in a yellow coat, bright as a daffodil. Mother’s yanking his arm, dragging him along, whispering something I can’t hear but I know what it means. Don’t look. Don’t ask. Don’t think about it. The kid’s still looking though, over his shoulder, these big confused eyes. He’ll forget me by dinner. I’ll be that weird thing he saw in town, like a pigeon with one leg or a busker who couldn’t hold a tune.

My sign’s getting soggy, the cardboard buckling. ‘Hungry. Anything helps.’ Took me twenty minutes to write that. Kept thinking I should put more, explain things. Tell them I’m not a drunk, not a junkie, just someone who ran out of chances and couldn’t find where they keep the spare ones. But then it seemed like too many words. Nobody wants to read a novel on a bit of cardboard.

The wind’s picking up, cutting straight through me. Sometimes I think about getting up, walking somewhere, anywhere. But where? This spot’s mine now. I’ve claimed it with my damp blanket and my soaked-through shoes and my little collection of coppers in the polystyrene cup. Eleven people walked past in the last minute. Counted them. Eleven pairs of shoes that’ll go somewhere warm tonight.

The rain’s getting heavier. They’re walking faster now. Heads down, dodging puddles.

None of them see the puddle I’m sitting in.

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Another Experiment

I used the image for this story to create a short, 5 second video, again using Midjourney.

Your Thoughts

I would love to hear from you. What do you make of the story? How could I have improved the prompt? What did you think of the image? What about the video? Drop me a line in the comments below.

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