[Pint and the Pen] 
Third Place Winner
The storefront shutter slammed down like a guillotine.
The streets were as empty as the refrigerator cases; the houses full as the freezer. Parents roasted by the fire; their children neatly tucked in blankets. It was 9 o'clock at night, but the snow blew in with a ferocity usually reserved for witching hour.
It was a chance that brought Nathan into the butcher shop that morning. Chance, and a generously sized sheet of butcher paper in the window, yellowed by the sun, with faded red letters that read "HELP WANTED."
[Pint and the Pen]
Second Place Winner
Hillary Clinton withdrew her nomination today and everyone's blaming me. The truth is, the fault lies with a careless mushroom-picker. Vincenzo is a 72 year-old stoner who supplies area restaurants with rare and delicious 'shrooms that he forages in the woods surrounding Boston.
[Pint and the Pen]
First Place Winner
Mom always sautéed our chicken dinner in too much beer – Bass Ale or Harpoon – so by the time us kids finished eating, we'd be looking at each other funny. Colby once fell over in his chair, and we all laughed. Alexis would jab her fork around the table in a threatening manner if Mom didn't serve dessert.
