Hey, gang. Long few days here, as half my house has had strep throat, and a quarter of it is me, taking care of everyone. Then I learned there were only nine stories and I cried until I stopped.

It seems there are 13 “regular” writers at this point, though a couple serial non-submitters are on the ropes. There were two golds, two silvers and two bronzes from each judge this week.

There was a HUGE usage of italics in the stories this week, so instead of working in all kinds of HTML, I went ahead and made you a document:

Here are your results.

As for this Sunday, due the same time and with the same word limit:

“The Lonely”
Written by Rod Serling
Directed by Jack Smight
Originally broadcast Nov. 13, 1959

Jack Warden played Corry, a convict sentenced to a solitary life on an asteroid millions of miles from Earth. When the crew of the yearly supply ship leaves him a special package, he finds it contains a life-like robot (Jean Marsh, the future star of “Upstairs, Downstairs”). Though initially contemptuous of a mechanical creature that appears to only mimic the emotions of a woman, Corry and “Alicia” develop a relationship that predates the movie “Her” by several decades.

You will write a story about a character who has been isolated from society for a very long time (“a very long time” shall be defined by you). The story should include his or her first contact with another being, of any kind, since their isolation began. Cheers, Prosers.