This is espresso stories, an idea by the writers Chris Worth and R.P. Bird. It explores a literary form for today's frothed-up, on-the-hoof, want-it-all-now consumer lifestyle: complete stories that take no longer to read than an espresso takes to slurp. The most basic rule is that they're just a sentence or two, totalling 25 words or less.

Less hard-and-fast - but equally vital - are a theme, plot, characters, and narrative development. In short, everything you'd see in any good story - but short enough to fit into the time it takes to reach the bottom of that bitter little cup. It's inspired by Augusto Monterroso's famous nine-word narrative, 'The Dinosaur'.

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