Weekly Prompt: Don’t Touch Anything

Write a story that includes the sentence, “Don’t touch anything.”

The temptation was too hard to resist. Impossible, really. The time traveler left me alone with his time travel machine, a silver disc roughly twelve inches in diameter with two buttons labeled “forward” and “backward,” and a date display that was controlled by a numerical keypad. He said, “Even time travelers need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back. Don’t touch anything.”

I touched.

Now I know that among all the dinosaurs, Brachiosaurus have the worst-smelling breath. But that was the least of my problems.

This week’s prompt is straightforward and, we hope, lots of fun: Write a story with the sentence, “Don’t touch anything.” You can put this sentence anywhere in the story you want: beginning, middle, or end.

Your story can be science fiction, romance, thriller, fantasy, literary fiction, a crime story, adventure, humor, horror, or anything you want. Your story can take place anywhere in the world, or on any world.

Please include one of the following tags with your story:

6wordstory for stories that are exactly six words long Pentina for stories that are exactly 50 words long Centina for stories that are exactly 100 words long OneSentenceStory for stories that are told entirely in one sentence PostcardFiction for all the rest, stories that are 250 words or fewer